This site is a class blog space for new Career and Technical Specializations and Heathcare Science teachers enrolled in the New Teacher Institute (NTI) at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Not the Career Path they want.
The one thing I would change is the way the counselors just through students into our class. These students don’t even want to be in our class and sometimes they will not participate and fail the class. I’ve even had some cases where the student would have a behavior problem just because they did not want the class. I thought the students were supposed to choose their path not just pushing them to anything that’s open. It’s right for the student and the teacher. I think the class would flow a whole lot smoother if everyone was interested in what we are teaching.
I agree with you Emmanuel. The students should be able to choose their pathway. The point of the course is to prepare them for a career field they are interested in. I do understand the need to spread the students around to fill classes, but there should be more order to the process. If a student is maintaining good grades, they should have first pick. From any angle you look at it the plug and play method is terrible for schedualing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post, Emmanuel. You are right on target with your thoughts. It is not easy to motivate students who are not interested in your subject. You probably have that in common with some of the academic teachers, ie. the math teacher with students who hate math. This has always been an issue in education and I am glad you are sensitive to it. Dr. J.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree Emmanuel. With a broadcast and video course, students can be misled by counselors as it being an easy course and purely fun course. Although my class is fun, it is a class you have to work in to be successful. When students realize this, they can be turned off. One group that is tough to deal with is the seniors that are placed in a level one course, for whatever reasons. This is a tough crowd to engage in a class that is not in their “want” or “need” bucket. Keeping students engaged is one of our primary goals, and the disinterested student can throw a wrench in the works. It may be a losing battle on the front end, but at the end of the day I see it has a challenge. Last year, I had several level one seniors with full blown “senioritis” and several others enrolled in my class by placement. They were very complacent in all activities, and one was disruptive in her behavior. By the school year end, all the seniors said it was their best class, and they wished they had taken the earlier courses in the pathway. Go figure.
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