absolutely super-human, and in many cases life-changing. However, I do think that
there is a growing difference between what one might call a good teacher, and what one
would call a bad teacher. This is because of two things: an aging population of teachers,
and a lack of support from the government and community.
To begin, here’s a frightening statistic from the University of Wisconsin: “In the
coming years, more than “40,000 teachers are expected to retire ... replacing them, only
30,000 new teachers are expected to enter the field.” Now, as one of the students
affected by this awful lack of new teachers might put it: “That’s nearly a 10,000%
decrease!” But in all seriousness, this decline is likely to decrease the teaching force by
around 30% over the next ten years. Here in Colorado, the teacher shortage is getting
worse. According to the Denver Post, teacher preparation programs churned out 2.2%
fewer new educators and administrators last year, the sixth year of decline. Since 2010
new teachers are down 24%.
This means that not only will teachers be getting older and older, but they will
also be less and less connected to their students. And this is nothing against older
teachers; there are many fantastic teachers who work through incredible odds. But every
profession benefits from innovation. Without new teachers, a certain ossification might
take hold.
Another horrible thing that teachers have to deal with is the lack of funding and
support from the community. The education budget has fallen by more than 13% since
the year 2010, and it’s more than likely to decrease more, with the president-elect
promising to redirect federal dollars from Title I funds to vouchers.
With all of this in mind, it is quite honestly incredible that teachers still wake up
in the morning and go to work. The simple fact of the matter is that teachers perform a
thankless job for less and less money, and if they do it right, then no one notices. If that
isn’t love for your craft, then I don't know what is.
Different Ways to Learn Math (besides Crying
and Giving up)
by Lia DeGroot
For many people, the words “math class” elicit painful memories of long class
periods spent cranking out numerous equations that never made sense, but somehow
worked when done the way the teacher instructed. Starting from Kindergarten, math is
taught as a process that must be performed to find a certain answer.When many people
think of math they think of nothing more than a set of instructions that can produce a
desired result, but it is rare that students fully understand the procedures. Because of
this students often classify themselves as either able or unable to do math and a stigma