Bill Gates to use in-ear wiring for TFA teachers to speed development as teachers.

[madfloridian]

No, this does not appear to be a joke. Apparently there is concern that there might be a problem since TFA teachers are new to the classroom with only 5 weeks training.

I find this amazing, quite frankly. Experienced teachers are getting the boot so districts can hire the TFA teachers, and they want to wire them so they won't fail?

Gates Foundation Puts Whispers in Teachers' Ears With NFL-Inspired Tech


Teachers will get live in-ear feedback just like NFL coaches thanks to technology funded by the Gates Foundation. Picture from FastCompany article

Teachers-in-training will have their very own personal angel to discreetly coach them through new lesson plans, with the same ear-bud wiring that feeds live information to NFL coaches. Teach for America is hoping that private coaching will speed up the painstakingly slow process of teacher development, allowing teachers to get both tailored instruction and the experience of being at the head of the classroom, without risking a disaster for students.

"Once a teacher understands what it feels like to be successful, it takes root immediately," Monica Jordan, coordinator of teacher professional development in Memphis City Schools, told Education Week.

The experimental group of teachers is willing, if hesitant. "I thought, what if they say something in my ear and I lose my train of thought?" said algebra teacher Cynthia Law. "And then I thought, so what if I lose my train of thought, I'll figure it out," Law continued, confidently, "I'm not a play-it-safe person. I'm willing for my kids' sake to look foolish."

They also mention the practical application of this in-ear learning on the job teacher training.

Conceivably, the technology could allow even more exciting (and controversial) applications. For instance, Indian PhDs could one day be remote coaching AP calculus teachers, especially in cash-strapped schools forced to fill classes with unprepared teachers. This is especially likely since American educators have long wanted to use the successful math curricula of South Asian countries but lack the proper training.

The Gates Foundation appears to be testing this method in several cities right now...Tampa, Memphis, and New York.

From Education Week:

Teachers Get an Earbud-ful of Class Coaching

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding the work in Memphis, Tampa and New York, hoping to prove that tailoring professional development raises the needle on test scores.

When Jordan asked for teacher volunteers, 15 came forward.

"We have both ends of the spectrum. People either enjoy it or they're saying this is not a good fit for me. That's OK. That's what we are trying to find out," she said.

I have a wonderful idea. Why not keep the experienced teachers who are being laid off or moved or fired to accommodate the hiring of TFA teachers? And why not stop taking money from failing schools and start giving those schools the resources they need to succeed?

[somone]

1. It's corporate welfare for the 'educational technology' industrial sector

Why don't they just use robots and get it over with?

[roguevalley]

81. He looks like a monkey. So, don't mentor them with veterans. Just

wire them up and indoctrinate them by whispering in their ear. Kill me. Now.

[ctsnowman]

100. As long as they use Windows.

;-)

[madfloridian]

2. I have great concerns about this for class privacy.

It's hard enough to have a good classroom atmosphere, but imagine knowing that your every move is being watched and your every word is analyzed remotely.

"The back-and-forth between the coach and teacher is happening through walkie-talkies now. As early as March 2, the coach could be anywhere in the world, coaching with digital video feeds from Memphis classrooms.

That alone, researchers say, holds enormous promise for the future of professional development programs, which tend to be delivered to teachers in one-size-fits-all doses."

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/02/27/408669tnwiredteachers_ap.html?r=175895977

If anyone took a class picture, or videotaped anything in our class....it had to have parental permission. When one of my interns had to videotape herself teaching, we had to send home permission slips with each child.

Things have really changed since Arne turned education over to Bill Gates and Wendy Kopp.

[proud2BlibKansan]

49. We send those release forms home at the beginning of the year now

or parents sign them at enrollment.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

115. "anywhere in the world" That sums it up.

I didn't think the teachers could be outsourced... I was wrong.

[Starry Messenger]

3. Just last night I was thinking

"Soon they will just replace us with robots". Well, we're getting there anyway. :(

[maryf]

90. More likely big screens...

maybe robots will hand out pencils and papers...

[rucky]

4. I'm surprised he's not using an animated paper clip to help them.

[Curmudgeoness]

20. LOL, that should really be helpful. I was never more confused after

the "help" than I had been before.

[RKP5637]

28. Yeah! n/t

[Honeycombe8]

5. It's worth a try. It might help. If it doesn't, then it doesn't.

As far as keeping the teachers who are being laid off, one has nothing to do with the other. And....it occurs to me that some of the teachers laid off were probably not very good teachers. Considering the state of poor education these days, which is caused by a variety of factors, some of those teachers weren't worth keeping. How do you determine which ones are the good ones, and which ones aren't, given that there's no evaluation system?

But if high tech feeds can help, why not? The teacher doesn't have to take the "advice." But if it helps them address a situation, since they're inexperienced, new teachers, then that sounds promising. But if it doesn't work, then at least something has been tried.

New things should be tried, don't you think?

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. It actually depends on who's on the other end of the earpiece

I don't expect it to be someone who actually understands instruction because Bill has yet to come up with an idea that actually works.

[petronius]

80. Maybe they'll try to hire the laid-off experienced teacher to be ~minimum-wage radio coaches

[madfloridian]

13. Oh, yes, most certainly one has to do with the other.

I have written loads about it, so have others here. The school for example where Obama appeared yesterday had to lay off half its former teachers. Then they partnered with TFA to hire new teachers with no experience and 5 weeks training.

That is happening all over the country now. And yesterday Obama gave it his blessing.

[traceydouglas]

116. OMFG!!!!

Barry has sooooo turned out to be NOT the change I can believe in. I'm starting to long for the days when Dubya and the gang were 'reforming' education. This is beyond disheartening. ...not to mention, criminal!!!:puke:

[Dappleganger]

48. "some of the teachers laid off were probably not very good teachers."

Do you understand the difference between laid off and being fired? I don't think you do.

Your attitude is part of the problem here as the administration and state governments lay off perfectly good, seasoned teachers who know what they are doing in favor of inexperienced TFA instructors who haven't a clue what they are doing inside of a classroom.

This isn't just about teaching one lesson, it's about reaching children of ALL abilities and helping them learn. TFA instructors do NOT have what it takes to accomplish this.

[sulphurdunn]

112. How do you determine who's

a bad doctor or a cab driver or a plumber or a lawyer? Much better evaluation systems exist to judge teachers than any of these. As soon as Bill Gates is able to use robot technology he'll be peddling roboteachers with Microsoft software programs as being better than any human teacher and cheaper. Jesus! Wake up!

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. As one of my DU teacher friends said, it's the 22-22 plan

Hire 22 year olds and pay them $22K a year.

[lunasun]

150. yes until out sourcing or robots cut that down to even less$$$

and to #5 >this is not the new thing to try and children are not lab rats to" let's see what may or may not happen with this experiment" just to cut taxes !

[Hannah Bell]

7. wtf? bill needs to go live in his antarctic seed vault & quit ruining this country.

[JDPriestly]

102. Bill Gates needs to be paying much higher taxes.

He is wasting money. Taxpayers would know far better what to do with it.

[livetohike]

8. So will someone also tell them how to handle discipline problems

through that ear piece? It's not muddling through a lesson plan that's a problem, it's classroom management and as far as I know, no one has figured that one out yet. (I taught school from 1974-1981)

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. And TFA has yet to address classroom management

They cling to the delusion that good teachers don't have classroom management problems.

[livetohike]

21. Everyone is an idealist until they step into a classroom and

actually try and teach - all day, not just for one period.

[Curmudgeoness]

25. That is exactly what I was taught in education classes in college.

Ask me why I am not teaching, even though that is what I went to school for. Obviously, we are all lousy teachers.

But seriously, they think that if a teacher is interesting, active, and has planned properly, there will be no discipline problems.

[Nevernose]

67. My TFA friends would be the 1st to admit that.

I don't work in a school w/ them anymore, but they were always and forever trying to cope with it -- like all new teachers. But unlike new teachers, they went to their weekly meetings and never got any help.

[proud2BlibKansan]

69. Those weekly meetings are all about deeper understanding

That's the TFA meme - that if you teach to deeper understanding you can perform miracles.

[bemildred]

9. McSchools to turn out McPeople. nt

[Leopolds Ghost]

14. Closer than you think. Entire US public school model was engineered to turn out low wage workers. nt

[bemildred]

23. Entirely accurate, IMHO. nt

[lostnfound]

73. "We need one class of persons to have a liberal education"

President Woodrow Wilson's take on it from "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by James W. Loewen.
"We need one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons, a much larger class of necessity in every society, to forgo the priviledge of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks."

Engineered to turn out low wage workers AND voracious mass market consumers.

[Raksha]

111. True, but even at that it worked a lot better than any scheme to replace teachers with robots.

Re "Entire US public school model was engineered to turn out low wage workers."

[Leopolds Ghost]

12. See, it's unions that are holding back innovation of this sort. /sarcasm

[DaisyDeedles]

15. What is it about teaching that makes people with no experience in it think they're experts?

It's amazing, really. I don't see people second guessing doctors and engineers like this. I saw some right wing politician the other day claim that you could replace all the teachers in WI with any of the unemployed people there. Yeah sure you could. Some laid off IT tech would be perfectly suited to take on a class of 35 ESL students. What part of teaching being a "profession" do they not understand?

[QC]

18. Rich people imagine themselves to be experts on every conceivable topic.

Gates does not limit himself to sharing his boundless wisdom on just education. Lately he has taken to attacking public pensions as well, declaring that they are even more dishonest than ENRON.

[DaisyDeedles]

31. True dat.

And isn't Gates a college dropout?

[QC]

38. Yes, he dropped out of Harvard, and had to make it on his own,

except for that enormous pile of money his rich daddy gave him.

[Missy Vixen]

74. Bill Gates never attended public school, IIRC.

He went to Seattle's Lakeside School. Feel free to check it out. http://www.lakesideschool.org/default.aspx

He went to Harvard.

His KIDS go to private school.

How the HELL does he know anything about dealing with public education, considering the corporate culture he implemented at Microsoft?

[dionysus]

63. in a way he's kinda right. workers pay into a pension, now bastards are trying to steal it.

thats probably not how he thought of it though.

[QC]

98. I hope that's what he means, but I doubt it.

He was commenting on what he sees as phony accounting in the pensions funds, which he thinks are undercapitalized and will bankrupt the world.

Apparently we sluggards are not paying enough into our pensions.

The truth of the matter is that public employees do pay their own pensions--the state diverts part of my pay into the pension fund. Of course, in the right's framing of the matter, we public employees are unwilling to pay anything into our own pension funds. We are like the royals partying away in Versailles while the peasants starve.

It's infuriating to be blamed for the rotten economy when we weren't the ones gambling with trillions of dollars of phony credit default swaps and synthetic collateralized debt obligations and then leaving the rest of the world to pick up our casino tab.

[dionysus]

109. oh, i agree, that's not how *he* meant it

[readmoreoften]

33. Probably because they rant and pontificate a lot, and then people do their bidding.

They don't understand that students aren't in an economically subservient relationship with them. Students aren't employees to be bossed around.

[Hannah Bell]

37. it's so laughable. it's rich people who are responsible for all that corporate-speak

-- sounds on the surface so inspiring, but when you see the words on the page, completely empty, nothing there.

they're useless idiots, all they know how to do is rape & pillage & propagandize.

[DaisyDeedles]

39. And they can't fire students like they can employees

Even with a charter or private school that can pick and choose the student doesn't just go away. He or she has to be taken somewhere else in the organization. Microsoft doesn't have to hire everyone who applies there. The public schools don't have that choice.

[readmoreoften]

58. No, they can't. I bet Bill Gates has never dealt with a drunk student he can't fire.

In a state where its okay to have guns on campus.

[lunasun]

151. prof I know dealing with that right now and scared

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. Because everyone has been in 3rd grade

And some assume that sitting in a desk in a 3rd grade classroom qualifies them to be educated critics.

[livetohike]

45. Welcome to DU!

:hi: Good points....and once they see the salary they will receive as a first year teacher, that will be the end of that.

[speltwon]

47. It's not just teachers. It happens to cops all the time

How many times in this website do people make opinions on appropriateness or lack thereof in regards to
1) arrest/non-arrest decisions
2) use of force (up to and including shootings) to include tasers, soft and hard empty hand, impact weapons etc.
3) verbal commands
4) crowd management tactics
5) etc. etc.

And I'm not saying this is a bad thing. People can have their opinions about teaching w/o an education degree, just like people can have opinions about policing w/o graduating a police academy, field training program, and probationary period.

Professionals in both fields can have an immensely powerful negative or positive influence on scores of people throughout their careers. The differences they make in people's lives are profound.

I just find the disconnect interesting. I know many people will say "it's not the same". Except it is.

[AnneD]

72. They second guess Nurses too.....

You would not believe what customer service crap management comes up with....or their solutions.

We are getting rid of 2 shifts of housekeeping but you aren't busy so you can do it. Oh and we are getting rid of evening respiratory techs, lab techs, transportation techs, and runners. But you aren't busy at night so you can pick up the slack. Nursing service will not get credit, so you won't get money for more Nurses, but got to keep costs down. They keep telling you this will only take a minute of your time and before you know it, your 12 hour shift is over and you have had precious little time with your patients.

[JVS]

124. It's that they've been students.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

16. Hell, why not just issue earbuds to the kids and let them teach themselves.

Perhaps they could hook them up to IVs to spare them feeding themselves and install colostomy bags to avoid restroom breaks.

Wait, why not do away with kids altogether and replace them with Gates built robots?

[madfloridian]

17. lol

:rofl:

I am laughing rather than crying....

[QC]

19. Maybe Disney has a few Animatronic figures to spare.

Just prop one up in front of a classroom and watch it teach!

[WinkyDink]

27. Just stay home. "Algebra? There's an APP for that!"

[NBachers]

22. Why not? It worked great for George W. Busch during the debates

[lunasun]

152. yea i worry who is on the OTHER side of the ear bud more than

the inexperienced teacher in front of the class....I imagine a buch of Karl Roves changing not only history as we know it but education all around.
Creepy

[WinkyDink]

24. Classrooms to be like "The Truman Show", with teachers spied on and instructed.

[madfloridian]

99. Good thought...I had forgotten that movie.

And that would be no way to run a classroom.

[RKP5637]

26. Years ago I attended some classes where they used cable TV to teach 5,000 students a

day with one instructor, and grad students were classroom monitors. Really, they are taking the individual out of teaching, might as well just have mass teaching by the Internet the way it's headed, and hire a cop to stand guard, and IMO that sucks. We're in a race to the bottom IMO.

In fact, are humans obsolete! I think as a species we're pretty F'ed up and forgetting what life could be about.

[WinkyDink]

32. College lectures are both a different animal and GIVEN to different animals (as it were).

At that level, people know how to learn, how to take notes, how they really should have read those ten chapters that the video-lecture is based on, ....

[RKP5637]

35. I've always enjoyed interactive learning with a real person. IMO that is the best

model for a learning environment. All of us really hated the televised lectures, it was the joke of the campus. Yes, quite true, many of us were motivated to learn, a far different environment.

[readmoreoften]

29. As someone who lectures for a living, this is the craziest idea I've ever heard.

If you are confused about something, you can't teach it. Period. You will create confusion and anxiety in your students. If you teach something incorrectly, and then you are invisibly corrected by ear bud, and say "okay that's not right, what I meant was..." you are creating lunacy in the classroom.

[madfloridian]

40. "creating lunacy in the classroom"...yes, indeed.

Will lead to weird conversations with people that no one else can see. It's laughable, really.

[Exultant Democracy]

30. Obviously they shouldn't be in the classroom. Poor kids. n/t

[MilesColtrane]

34. I see that Bill is facilitating the smooth transition to EduBots that...

don't draw a salary, waver from the approved curriculum, or organize to collectively bargain.

"Hello, class. My name is Miss Havermeyer, and I'm a PC."

[RKP5637]

36. Yep, sadly all part of the grand plan. n/t

[Leopolds Ghost]

41. We lost that battle when this country embraced Ritalin.

Now we have an entire generation of zombies reaching adulthood, and they vote.

[tigereye]

76. many children are able to focus and learn because of

medication for ADHD. Improved executive function doesn't necessarily translate into zombiehood or poor voting choices. :shrug:

[NashVegas]

55. Why Not? He's Already Done It With So Many Other Professions

[readmoreoften]

59. That is the real end goal.

[radhika]

88. And the EduBots can train the NEXT group of EduBots...

Eliminating even the need for human trainer-teachers.

Then ---now it gets juicily demonic -- download suicide instructions into the minds of the kids. Spare only a few beauties, jocks and Einsteins to meet the novelty and stimulation needs of the Oligarch.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

43. Who's going to be on the other end of the wire?

Clearly, someone is going to have to be monitoring each classroom to be able to provide useful input to the TFA "teacher." For that input to be meaningful, the monitor will need to be a real teacher with the experience to handle the situation. How many classes can one person monitor simultaneously? Secondly, if only one 10th grade Spanish class is being taught at a time, then you have one monitor feeding info to one TFA clone. Where is the efficiency in that?

Another point: How long do you think it will take the students to catch on to what's happening and figure out a way to mess it up, either by their behavior or their knowledge of technology. It's not hard to get your hands on a frequency scanner. Once you know what frequency the teacher's getting their commands on, it's just the matter of transmitting on the same frequency. You can probably get a frequency generator on Ebay.

This just gets weirder and weirder. Eventually we'll start buying Japanese robot teachers.

BTW, if you go back and watch Bush's performance during the debates -- especially the ones with Al Gore -- you'll see him stammer and stumble for the first few seconds after the question is asked and then suddenly become coherent. My thought at the time was that he was being fed answers.

[madfloridian]

51. Excellent question and goes to motive.

And whoever is at the other end has a very controlling role in public education. First they had to make sure that older teachers were gone to make room for the newbies without experience...then they have to keep control with earbuds.

:eyes:

My head is spinning.

[madfloridian]

44. Memphis ordered 11 180-degree cameras at $4,500 each.

Just multiply 11 x 4,500 to see what is NOT going to truly help public education, and what is being spent on a few inexperienced teachers who are taking the place of experienced ones.

"Memphis ordered 11 180-degree cameras at $4,500 each. When parent permission slips are returned, the cameras will be set up in classroom corners.

"We're asking teachers to watch themselves and reflect," Jordan said. "What does it feel like to be your own observer? ... What would you tell yourself if you had to give yourself feedback?"

The technology is so new that the cameras, which also record audio, are being built as they're ordered.

"Memphis is right behind Harvard's order," Jordan said."

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/02/27/408669tnwiredteachers_ap.html?r=175895977

[proud2BlibKansan]

50. They just put cameras all over one of our problem high schools

I guess enforcing the rules and kicking kids out who cause problems is more expensive. :sarcasm:

[emsimon33]

84. The Technology comes from a company in Salt City area

Therenow and the technology is IRIS:
http://www.therenow.net/how-does-iris-work

[boppers]

137. Holy crap, that's one overpriced webcam.

The way people mercilessly soak defense and education dollars is awe-inspiring.

IT'S A WEBCAM.

$80-100 bucks at most.

I guess the other $4,100 in costs are basically graft, bribes, "consulting fees", and the absurd amount of waste in the US educational system (hint: the money isn't going to front-line educators).

[boppers]

128. Geometry FAIL.

A 180 degree camera.... in a corner?

[southernyankeebelle]

46. Schools as we know it are going. Before long we will all have to pay as you go schools. The

people that can afford more will get the elite schoolling. That will be one way of helping the white students getting ahead and keeping monorities behind.

They will have different levels of pay as you go schools. What will be left are the ones who will be left paying for basic education in the public schools with the left overs. All the thug kids who don't want to be there will be corralled. Watch and see if I might have itright. How extremely sad that the democratic party with a traitor for a president never stood up for the working people in this country. I worry there will be a war between the working poor and the middle class and that will be just fine by the wealthy in their gated communities.

[Canuckistanian]

52. Indian PhD's are going to be doing the coaching?

What's wrong with American PhD's? Too busy working at Starbucks?

[QC]

53. Indian PhDs work a lot cheaper, an d that's what "reform" is really all about. n/t

[madfloridian]

54. Yep

:hi:

[Canuckistanian]

56. I knew that

I just didn't think Gates would be that blatant.

[reformist2]

126. What they really want are Indian PhDs teaching the kids on giant TV screens.

I guess they'll have to hire a few guards to enforce discipline, too. But no pesky overpaid American teachers...

[madfloridian]

57. Help TFA teachers with "the painstakingly slow process of teacher development"

That's an amazing statement, actually an admission. We always had fellow teachers helping beginning teachers, mentors. We often taught as teams, helping each other. That was before Arne decided that the only way to be a good teacher was to compete with others. Baloney.

At least they are admitting TFA need help just like any beginning teachers.

[tigereye]

77. there was a great study here at PItt that talked about

how the thing that really improves teacher abilities and student achievement is mentoring. Real mentoring from experienced teachers and team support.


Wow, if there was ever a time when folks needed to stand up for teachers in our country, this is it. :hi:

[madfloridian]

78. I can't imagine being in charge of a classroom and depending on remote support.

I simply can not. All teachers need help and advice at some point, but you are right about the mentoring...that's the way it should be done.

[tigereye]

104. a lot of what you post about is correct, mf- I find the

attacks on teachers really exasperating. People need to let teachers learn to teach with support and time- and give them a chance to learn to teach. It's not an easy thing to master- takes time. :hi:

[NYC_SKP]

60. I like this idea.

For the sake of discussion of how better to prepare teachers, I'm isolating the audible coaching concept from the funding source (Bill Gates and the target teachers, TFA).

I think real-time audible feedback is a great way mentors to work with teachers, far better than observing them making mistakes and telling them about it later, IMO.

Also, the idea of cameras in the classroom for the purpose of teachers observing themselves work seems to be reasonable.

I'm reminded of the process of board-certification that includes considerable self-reflection through video. At least it did when I went through the process ten years ago or so.

TFA as the target and Bill Gates as the funding source (instead of mainstream new teachers and their state dept of ed) is another, but separate, topic worthy of discussion.

Intern teachers with real-time audible coaching?

I like this idea.

:patriot:

[snappyturtle]

95. The only place I can see audible feedback as being useful in teaching

is when teachers are training in a certified degree program; not in the field.

I've taught school. There's so many dynamics going on in a classroom, an ear plug would only cause chaos.

We were frequently observed by our department head and administrators (who had actually taught school during their careers). We learned what we were doing well as well as how to improve. These were are mentors who were readily available to answer questions. We knew our subject areas to begin with and what we learned from our mentors was tweaking our techniques to teach. This OP leads me to believe the TFA 'teachers' don't know the subject areas.

[MilesColtrane]

129. I agree.

Learning a complex skill requires being in the moment, not having your attention divided by trying to do the task and trying to respond to some remote evaluator yapping in your ear.

In the traditional way of learning a task requiring a high degree of complexity there is a mentor physically there with you to take over when things inevitably become confusing or overwhelming.

Would we approve of Driver's Ed. students taking the wheel with someone only remotely prompting them?...air traffic controllers?

Teaching is not just regurgitating facts to be absorbed. It's about engaging student's minds and learning to respond seamlessly to the constantly changing dynamics of the classroom.

[fascisthunter]

61. billionaires dishonestly pretending to know what's good for us all

please don't let the money go to your he--.... ooops, too late.

[northernlights]

62. the absolute worst teachers I've had

are practitioners. I'm working on a clinical science degree, doing the clinical training right now.

Without a doubt, the *worst* teachers I've had were the PhD scientists who really would rather be doing research, the nuclear engineer teaching statistics (who had a single, extremely verbose way to explain each concept and you either got it or didn't) and the lab managers who have no concept of how much information is reasonable to expect a student to absorb in a single lecture, no idea how to present information, and no idea how to write an understandable test question.

It got so bad in my clinical microbiology class that the program director had to re-grade the 1st 3 exams and re-write the 4th exam so that the entire class -- including students who had scored in the upper 90s-100 throughout the program -- wouldn't fail out. :rofl:

I dread to think of what's going on in our classrooms today, with kids who have no way to defend or protect themselves from the abuse. :(

[Lucinda]

64. So....when do we start doing this for surgeons?

Just because it may work in broadcast news doesn't make it a good policy for everything.

[madfloridian]

65. I am concerned for the kids. That is a scripted environment...

without a normal give and take atmosphere.

This is putting the needs of an inexperienced teacher over the needs of the students. TFA and Gates claim teachers don't put children first, but they do.

This tells me they are not thinking of the effect on the classroom setting.

[NYC_SKP]

68. Scripted, but not permanent. I think it's intended to be used in a very limited fashion.

I think it's meant to be used very infrequently and only during the beginning teachers' first year.

Instead of observation by the mentor or support provider sitting in the back of the classroom, this sounds like real-time critique-as-you-go and seems like it might work better than having a constructive conversation after the fact.

Either instance has an effect on the classroom, neither are natural, but one is done in real time and the other is done after the fact.

It seems worth looking into.

When I was an intern, I was video-taped conducting a large group activity and the feedback was great, but in one instance, when my mentor teacher said, "you should have given the student more wait time", I wished she had been able to say something then.

THAT opportunity passed and it won't return and the student lost in that moment because I blew it and the mentor didn't say something.

This earbud mentoring thing might be helpful, it seems worth trying.

:patriot:

[madfloridian]

70. I am thinking of the teachers they are replacing.

I am not opposed to new ideas, but I do not think a good teacher should need monitoring like that.

It destroys creativity and spontaneity.

[Igel]

71. They need monitoring like that for a few reasons.

They must not be allowed to think for themselves. There are saviors and messiahs in the universities that have definitely and absolutely determined, once and for all, the One True Way to teach.

That this One True Way is different from last decade's One True way, also definitely and absolutely determined, is a minor footnote. That last decade's One True Way was different from either of the two later One True Ways is a detail lost to history. That the previous decade's One True Way, also absolutely determined once and for all is distinct from the later three is comparable to a gnat buzzing around the wings of a mighty dragon.

They must be trained in the most recent One True Way. Otherwise the self-appointed saviors can't feel themselves entirely savior-like. Think of the earpieces as a modern equivalent to the Holy Spirit. The saviors had said that they have the One True Way and have said that the reason their One True Way(s) didn't work before is that they weren't followed. Enough. Which is to say, precisely. As they evolved and were updated. Rather than say the theories failed in practice, they say that the practice failed the theory. Uh-huh.

But if the new teachers learn independence, they won't say "Oh my God" and expect Gates or Duncan to say, "Yes, what do you want?" Saviors need worshipping, otherwise they become wroth, then you have the Gates of hell breaking loose upon you.

Part of the nonsense is that you need somebody who can effortlessly scrawl theorems about Li groups on the blackboard of Algebra I classrooms and blithely solve Schrodinger's equation for hydrogen in first year chemistry. To teach parallel circuits you must also be able to produce VLSI chips in your spare time, and be nominated for a Nobel Prize in literature to teach 9th grade lit. Meanwhile, while the scope and sequence for Earth and Space science isn't what it would have been 30 years ago it's precisely the same for physics and chemistry. Except that they don't get nearly as far in the kinds of schools Gates wants to have his icons in--not because of the teachers but because of the kids.

Meanwhile, I actually think Gates is simply appearing to be an angel of light (Jobs, too). The single biggest distraction in the classrooms I've seen are iPods, iPads, cell phones, and other such electronic fluff.

[madfloridian]

75. "absolutely determined, once and for all, the One True Way to teach."

Heh heh, for now anyway. Till the next time.

All my years of teaching...there have been so many "One True Ways" I lost count. :hi:

[AC_Mem]

82. I'm going to check into this

My grandchildren are in a Gate's funded Memphis City School. I'm a member of the PTA and they have alot of volunteer opportunities coming up (because they are in such need of money). I'll take the opportunity to ask questions about this.

Annette

[pnwmom]

105. I think the Gates envision it as being used in an ever-increasing fashion.

As they expect their technology to be used in general.

If you read the article, you'll see that they've also already envisioned the technology to be used to have low-paid Indian PhD's put words into the mouths of low-paid American teachers of higher mathematics. Because, of course, it is impossible to train our own math teachers. Or, at least, it's much cheaper to turn them into human robots.

[NYC_SKP]

120. Outsourcing?

Crap. I was hoping that teachers were among those jobs that can't be outsourced.

They can't be thinking about hiring unskilled human drones at minimum wage to serve as talking heads for underpaid Indian PHDs in asia, could they?

:wtf:

[pnwmom]

141. Having read the article, I think that's what they ARE thinking.

Hire unskilled, low income people here to carry out tasks for highly skilled, low income people elsewhere.

What a world.

[Generic Other]

66. ventrilidummies run by real teachers? wHAT THE HELL!!!

bwahahahahaa

[Politicalboi]

79. Let's just skip the teacher

And hook the kids up with the wires, and someone can give them the answers. LOL!

[Jakes Progress]

96. That is the goal of this movement.

Education people can be divided into two groups - behaviorists and constructionists. Behaviorists love Skinner and Pavlov and memorization and rote. Constructionists favor Dewey and Piaget and hands on development and learning to learn.

My kids aren't rats in a maze, and I don't want them treated that way.

[roody]

83. Yeah, that's going to make managing children so easy!!! What a joke.

[truth2power]

85. Will someone answer a couple of questions for me? ...

I went to the TFA site, but it's really thin on the information.

First, will every TFA teacher need at least a bachelor's degree? If so, then at the high school level, will they have to have majored in the subject they are going to teach? How will their expertise in a particular subject area be determined?

For example, who will teach math? Who will teach calculus? You can't just bring someone in off the street and expect them to be able to teach high school math. So, how will this work?

[madfloridian]

86. They are all college grads. Well-educated. Very hard to be chosen.

My gripe with TFA is that they are being used for purposes beyond what is said. There are plenty of high-quality teachers to work with at risk schools...at least for now. They won't want to go there when merit pay is begun, but neither will TFA.

There are many teacher layoffs, and then TFAers are brought in to replace them. It costs a district money to recruit them, and TFA gets the money.

It's being used to break tenure, bust unions, and bring in low paying teachers who will leave after 2 years only to be replaced by other new teachers who are cheaper than experienced ones.

It is not about their quality of education, just that they are only given teacher training for a few weeks. There is a hell of lot more to teaching than be covered that quickly.

[truth2power]

157. Thanks for the response, madflo. I still don't get it, though...

I won't dispute that they're probably well-educated, but that doesn't mean they are qualified to teach in their subject area.

In your last few lines, you seem to be talking about methods courses, which are important. But I fail to see how firing a math teacher, let's say, and bringing in someone from TFA who may not have the comprehensive math knowledge is helping the students at all.

[Sancho]

87. these people are nuts

and tfa doesn't work

[HubertHeaver]

89. This needs to be a comedy skit.

[maryf]

92. That's a fantastic idea...

Hope someone picks up on it...

[maryf]

91. Love your ideas!! Now if we could just wire them into Bill Gates' ears...

K&R, of course. Solidarity!

[bongbong]

93. From the article

"For instance, Indian PhDs could one day be remote coaching AP calculus teachers, especially in cash-strapped schools forced to fill classes with unprepared teachers."

Incredibly ironic if you give it a bit of thought. Why train* kids in America at all? There are no jobs in the wonderful world that this scenario envisions.

Perhaps the next big breakthrough will be a cheaper burger, so a proliferation of new burger chains can create a Brand New America!


* (they're not being educated)

[lunasun]

153. next big breakthrough will be a cheaper burger

Soylent Green no doubt
already doing it with farmed animals(eating their own)

[Jakes Progress]

94. One nation under billionaires.

Our nation's craven habit of making idols of the rich goes on.

For DU's part, we have some here who still toe the line for the neocons by spouting RW propaganda against teachers and schools. With no knowledge of the situation, using only msm driven emoto-speak, they trash teachers, blast unions, and generally befave like bill bennet wannabes.

Of course the reason for this is that our president and his basketball buddy are part of the neocon movement against public education. Had george one or two tried even half of what this administration is doing, the very same people would be storming Washington.

Democrats have lost their soul. Here's hoping that Wisconsin can help show the Democrat newbies and the current administration where to find it.

[JackDragna]

97. This seems to fly in the face of human psychology.

Having someone whispering in my ear would drive me bonkers. I also think it's a good thing for teachers to be thrown to the wolves and learn by making mistakes and getting their hands dirty. The larger problem, of course, is that America is using an increasing amount of unprepared graduates from a specialty program in lieu of what are supposed to be trained professionals.

[JDPriestly]

101. Please tell me this article is from the Onion.

Because if it isn't, we humans are doomed. And, no thank you. I do not want someone in India to teach my child math.

It's hard enough to try to understand what they are saying when some stupid company hires them to do customer service.

This has to be a joke.

[madfloridian]

103. I would like to tell you it is a joke, but it does not seem to be.

[LWolf]

106. Good ideas aren't the point, are they?

:grr:

[pnwmom]

107. Nice. Human robots. Just what we need. Way to go, Gates!

:sarcasm:

This is sickening on so many levels.

[pnwmom]

108. On second thought, here's why they KNOW this will work.

They already used this ear-bud system to get W. through his entire Presidency. Too bad they didn't use a smarter "coach."

[madfloridian]

110. heh heh

They sure did, didn't they?

:hi:

[pam4water]

113. I'm surprised he is not trying to out source all teaching to India.

[Rex]

114. This is the worst fucking idea I've heard in a LONGTIME!

Jesus, just spit on the kids why doncha! This is fucking INSANITY! Bill Gates is one of the worst creatures to ever get rich. He is a flunky that hates education and will destroy it as soon as our leaders give him the GO.

[YvonneCa]

117. You can't wire them for empathy and you can't wire them...

...for two-thirds of what an actual teaching job encompasses. They think the job is just to stand up and deliver a lesson. They are wrong.

This idea just reinforces, for me, how little they really know about the teaching profession and what teachers actually do.

[jonthebru]

118. I was actually a big supporter of the "Gates Foundation ";

up until the minute I read this article...

[madfloridian]

119. They do good things. But they do NOT need to control education.

Not a good idea. It's like Arne turned it over to the foundations like Broad and Gates and Walton and Skillman. They have their own best interests at heart.

I can't get over the heartless way they are going after long time teachers.

[lunasun]

154. You need to read more - cuz there is alot more than this about Gates!!!!!

[blackspade]

121. Un-fucking-believable!

Does the assault on teachers and the profession have no boundaries!!??

[KamaAina]

122. Why don't they just go ahead and put telescreens in the classrooms?!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

:grr: :banghead: :argh: :nuke:

[reformist2]

127. No joke. That is EXACTLY what they want.

[MilesColtrane]

131. Don't forget the two Discipline Enforcement Officers on either side of the classroom, with...

earpieces and tazers at the ready.

[boppers]

136. Seriously, some are. Turns out to change discipline issues.

When a parent can log in at anytime, and see what their child is doing, or the parent can get a playback, students cannot, well, make shit up.

[KamaAina]

123. Memphis is mixed up in this?!

My senior Memphis correspondent, who brews his own IPA (!!) and whose fiancee runs a string of community gardens in their Midtown neighborhood, will NOT be pleased.

[madfloridian]

142. I think Memphis, like the Tampa area, has received millions from Gates.

In Tampa it was 100 million. I don't know about Memphis.

[Bonobo]

125. This is totally consistent with America's lack of respect for educators (and education). nt

[madfloridian]

140. You are right about that.

Not just lack of respect anymore...turning into hostility.

[boppers]

130. After reading all the responses, I'm not getting the outrage.

Then again, I grew up in a world where nobody is entitled to keep their job, where rapid adoption of new technology is a goal, where the very idea of a chalkboard in a classroom is absurd (chalk gets wiped away), and where everything I do for an employer is logged down to the last keystroke.

If remote help can improve teaching, why not try it?

[madfloridian]

132. Getting tired of that sig pic.

He is insulting teachers everytime he speaks, hardly able to be nice to any of us.

[boppers]

133. "any of us"?

He's (Obama, I assume, since you referenced the sig) not nice to charter and TFA teachers?

(bumpity bump)

[madfloridian]

134. No, he is not nice to public school teachers.

It's pretty obvious, and I can't imagine joking about it.

[boppers]

135. Oh, so it isn't teachers, as a profession, but a subset.

Just making sure the distinction is made.

[Rex]

138. You should try teaching in a public school sometimes.

You would quickly learn why Bill Gates needs to move on and leave education alone. He couldn't cut it in college so I don't think he is qualified to make those kind of decisions nor do most teachers. Bill lacks the discipline needed to understand the problem...to him you can patch problems with an update. Remote desktop won't fix this problem, because Bill doesn't want to understand a real solution for teachers. He just wants to be the hero and then find his next 'hobby'. Quite frankly, I'd love it if billionaires would focus on things they can fix and not on things they don't understand due to a lack of experience.

Please Bill, just go back to fixing WinME and Vista before trying the harder stuff like education reform.

[boppers]

139. BTDT.

Bill is an idiot, like I am an idiot.

He has more money, though, which some folks seem to care a lot about.

If NT's stop freaking out, the world would change faster.

I doubt that will happen, though.

[Rex]

144. Don't ever expect that to happen.

Not in our lifetimes.

[eilen]

155. Bill deserves to be punched hard in the neck for UAC nt.

[msanthrope]

146. It's interesting as a concept, but I seriously doubt it will work in practice.

I can't imagine taking live play-by-play and teaching. It will be interesting to see how the experiment works out.

[boppers]

147. I have my doubts as well.

A couch spends a lot of time listening, planning, and making decisions, while a well-ordered team executes the instructions given... a classroom simply isn't a game field, where the students always know *how* to execute the instructions.

[msanthrope]

148. That's a good point.

I would not have had time to stop my lessons to take instruction.

One thing it could be good for, though, is if the person on the other end is a pre-arranged backup for a particularly difficult lesson. When I had to sub math class there were some lessons I could have used some help on. But again, very difficult to envision this working effectively.

[Shireling]

143. This is waaay too 1984ish

This is just another way to stifle dissent and control what we do.

:wtf:

[DeadEyeDyck]

145. could a virus give you an ear infection

[sam sarrha]

149. with 5 weeks training all they are qualified to do is teach another Frigg'n TEST.!!!

[eilen]

156. Don't worry, the 5 week training will be shortened to

a 2 day inpatient procedure in which the previous earphone/microphone will be implanted in their brains. (Cost of which will be deducted from paychecks in 24 easy payments). You must serve your entire contract term to get it removed on the district's dime. Surrogates 2 coming to a school near you.