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Iluska Ikeda
Buffalo, NY
Recent Activity
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Iluska commented on the article |Oh, forgot to mention that another thing I like about our program is that they have a required course on technology that includes social bookmarking (delicious an diigo), blogs, rss, microblogging, wikis, podcasting, etc.
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Iluska commented on the article |
As a pre-service teacher going through my program right now, I have a lot to say about this. I'll try to make it concise.
I agree that undergraduate education degrees fall short of the mark. While it's true that knowing a subject matter doesn't mean you can teach it, the opposite is just as bad. Knowing how to teach, but not what to teach makes for lousy education IMHO. One reason I chose the program I'm in is that they don't offer undergraduate education degrees; you have to be at the MA level already, with a bachelors in your subject area.
You also have a good point that some programs aren't long enough. I would argue that two summers are better than nothing, but more should be required for certification. I know NY state requires a lot of credits and specific courses in order to grant certification. Our ESOL cert program requires at least 4 semesters with a pretty heavy load of courses each.
One thing I don't like about our program is its emphasis on theory. It's great to know some of the theory behind the approaches, but too much of it bogs down some pre-service teachers. Practice is just as important, and we do get quite a few credits of observation and student teaching, but is it enough? I'd like to see more of it.
I am particularly interested in research, but that's me personally. I know that for many future teachers, practice and real classroom experience is much more interesting and useful than all the theory we get.
My two cents. -
Iluska commented on the article |I think the previous poster's comment about "no excuse" reflects a dangerous oversimplification of the issue. I'm not trying to pick a bone with anyone, but this is not the first time I hear it. In fact, there was an opinion column in the NYT where the writer warned of this same issue because the same thing had been said... by a senator. Oi. There are too many complexities that hinder the performance of too many kids to simply say "now with President Obama's example, they have no excuse."
