What Does a Great Teacher Look Like? Watch and Learn
OK, I make my living off words. But there are some things that words can never really capture. To accompany my story on What Makes a Great Teacher, the Atlantic has posted three videos of highly effective teachers, courtesy of Teach For America. These are teachers who are moving low-income American kids forward at breakneck speeds--something many of us have quietly concluded can’t be done.
Each of the three teachers has a different style, but they all are good at the six things that Teach for America has found make all the difference in the classroom. The story explains what those six things are. But the video brings it all to life.
My personal favorite is Justin Meli of Texas, above. I love this video, man. I mean, I made my husband watch this video late on a Friday night when I had no business making him think about education reform. But I just couldn’t help it. Check it out.
Jokefest said on January 19, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Amanda—I see a pattern. Your TFA propaganda piece in The Atlantic, like your Time story on Michele Rhee, should give you continued access to self-proclaimed ‘get-tough reformers’ so you can continue to write fluff pieces that trumpet their causes; such work may even get you an advance from the Gates Foundation to write a book advocating the privatization of public education. However, I would think that the notion that Teach for America teachers—in their first and second years as educators—are the models everyone should follow should raise some questions in the mind of a skeptical and serious journalist. But perhaps someone who simply accepted and promoted Michele Rhee’s claim that she moved all of her kids from the 10th to 90th percentile in reading and math in just two years of teaching—a claim that cannot be substantiated is not skeptical enough to report on education issues right now.
Good luck and please take the time to scrutinize the platitudes coming from people like Arne Duncan, Michele Rhee, Joel Klein, and Paul Vallas when writing about education reform in the future.