His experience with the MATCH
Teacher Residency has led Michael Goldstein (also founder of the MATCH Charter School) to think about characteristics that could help to screen for the type of person who makes for a good teacher. A recent blog post raises the question of whether compatibility with the "daily grind" aspect of teaching -- the relentless pace dictated by a rigid schedule largely outside of one's control -- would be a good attribute on which to evaluate fit.
In other words, Goldstein suggests that teacher recruiters need to do a better job assessing whether a prospect is naturally disposed to the daily grind--perhaps a new twist on the nature of teacher "dispositions." Is someone inclined to approach work in a steady, measured way (as opposed to letting work tasks slip until a day of reckoning) more likely to be successful in the classroom?
Goldstein smartly observes that whether in undergrad or grad school, the nature of the college schedule makes it anything but a daily grind. That means that prospective teachers are operating in an environment as far as possible from that of the K-12 teaching environment until the moment they must assume control of a classroom. For many, the change in demands may seem to require an entire personality transplant.
Whether screening teacher candidates for compatibility with the daily grind might be advisable is a question that had never occurred to us, although most of us "walked the walk" as teachers. Goldstein wonders if anyone (such as TFA) has "run numbers on this." We do too.
Julie Greenberg
In other words, Goldstein suggests that teacher recruiters need to do a better job assessing whether a prospect is naturally disposed to the daily grind--perhaps a new twist on the nature of teacher "dispositions." Is someone inclined to approach work in a steady, measured way (as opposed to letting work tasks slip until a day of reckoning) more likely to be successful in the classroom?
Goldstein smartly observes that whether in undergrad or grad school, the nature of the college schedule makes it anything but a daily grind. That means that prospective teachers are operating in an environment as far as possible from that of the K-12 teaching environment until the moment they must assume control of a classroom. For many, the change in demands may seem to require an entire personality transplant.
Whether screening teacher candidates for compatibility with the daily grind might be advisable is a question that had never occurred to us, although most of us "walked the walk" as teachers. Goldstein wonders if anyone (such as TFA) has "run numbers on this." We do too.
Julie Greenberg