Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Warning to Ohio Parents!

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said the following, as reported at NBC 4i:

Ohio Governor John Kasich signed a bill Wednesday to allow Teach For America, a company that trains people who don't have teaching degrees or teaching certificates to be teachers, to operate in Ohio.

"Today is a landmark day for Ohio education," said Kasich, who has had a rocky relationship with the state's teachers.

"The cavalry is coming. They're going to ride on white horses with white hats in to our schools," said Kasich.....

Kasich has invited Teach for America graduates to come into Ohio's schools.  I'm sure that parents will not be happy that the experienced teacher, with a Masters degree, umpteen years experience, a reading certificate, will be replace by a college graduate without any of that.  Kasich thinks that these TFA candidates will save Ohio's schools.  Even though these people have no education psychology, no training with regard to discipline, and don't have a clue about child development, John Kasich thinks that these TFA people will make a difference.  As a former teacher, I'm insulted.  As a taxpayer, I don't want unqualified teachers in classrooms that I support with my tax money.

There have been many, many problems with those involved in the TFA program.  One problem, in particular, has been classroom management.  If  inappropriate behavior occurs in a classroom and it does not stop, children will not be able to learn.  There are a number of articles that show that TFA individuals have great difficulty instructing because they are unable to control the behavior of students (examples:  CampusProgress, SusanOhanian, Feministe) and they don't have the experience to provide the full range of help that students require.