These articles not only made me think, but they made me angry. As most realize, I am very loud. I speak my opinion. Reading these articles at first I thought that these teachers may have been new. But as I continued reading, they were not new at all. They were just to afraid to lose their job. I would never have dreamed that children are losing their right to a good education because some certain teachers are too afraid to speak out and do what is best for their class.
I think as an aspiring teacher, my biggest dream is to do the best I possibly can for my students. I want to be able to help them learn as much, but have the most fun as well. I think to succeed in this dream, I have to have a critical voice. Too many schools now want to "teach to the test". They don't understand that "the test" is not everything that children need to learn in school. It just frustrates me listening to teachers who have the goal to do as many worksheets as possible in a year (not literally, but i think everyone knows about the teachers out there that do this). I feel this is the type of teacher that was teaching with the preservice teacher. I can't say that worksheets aren't appropriate sometimes, but as for having to test the students on everything, they can learn from fun hands on experience. I can only hope that I do not get stuck with a teacher like this for student teaching. The thought of that makes me miserable.
Anyways, I think that having a critical voice is one of the most important things in teaching. You have to stand up for what is right, and the children deserve the fight that you put in for them. You may be the best thing that has happened to them during their education. I don't know about anyone else, but that thought means more to me than having a job that I don't look forward to going to at all.
So, in otherwords...having a critical voice is very critical in teaching!
Totally agree with you Kasee. A critical voice IS critical. We DO need to have one.
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