It was the end of her first semester as a Michigan teacher. Her students had gone home, and Wendy Zdeb-Roeper sat at her classroom desk, writing a letter to her alma mater. “I remember the feeling before the school year began,” recalled Zdeb-Roeper, now executive director of the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals. “I […]
Building a better teacher
Posted inTalent & Education
How to get more teacher trainees in more classrooms sooner
MSU education students Alex Benitez, left, and Caitlin Gallagher, center, and other MSU students portray characters in the American Revolutionary War as they sit in and and take part in Haslett Middle School teacher Ben Pineda’s 8th grade social studies class. In Haslett, college seniors and eighth-graders sit in the same social studies class. About […]
Posted inTalent & Education
No room for mediocre teachers in this school
Principal Mary Lang doesn’t suffer mediocrity in her classrooms. High-quality teaching is crucial in her North Godwin Elementary where the deck is already stacked against most students. ““Two or three ineffective teachers, and these kids are done,” Lang said. From her closet-sized principal’s office, Mary Lang doesn’t need to talk about more rigorous teacher training. […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan classrooms loaded with rookie teachers who soon wash out
“I started teaching in a charter school in Taylor. I showed up and they said, ‘Here’s a curriculum,’ and they handed me a USB (drive) and a pile of books and said, ‘Teach this,’ and you’re kind of left alone. You’re almost creating your own curriculum, and as a 23 year old, I didn’t have […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Poor students are more likely to get Michigan’s least experienced teachers
The Michigan children most in need of experienced teachers are the students least likely to get them. A Bridge analysis of state data found that inexperienced teachers appear to be clustered in Michigan’s poorest schools. The students in those classrooms will, on average, learn less than their suburban peers taught by more experienced teachers, widening […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Vagaries of student teaching give newcomers vastly different experiences
How long will they student teach? It depends on which university they attend. From left to right, Haslett student teachers Kayli Carter (GVSU), Melissa Lynch (CMU), Sam Georgi (MSU), Justine Dailey (CMU) Anaite Castaneda (MSU). (Bridge photo by Ron French) Theory ran into reality the day Melissa Lynch walked into a fifth-grade class in Haslett, […]
Posted inSpecial report
Passing Michigan’s teacher tests is a breeze – and learning suffers
The state’s teacher certification exam was “a joke,” says Godwin Heights second-year teacher Kelly Compher. “The tests don’t measure what happens in a classroom.” (Photo by Ron French) You don’t have to take Michigan’s basic skills teacher certification exam to read this story. But if you did, you’d probably pass. The exam, taken before a […]
Posted inSpecial report
Michigan fails students with poor teacher prep
Julie Western looks through a stack of resumes for teacher openings at Croswell-Lexington school district. (Photo by Ron French) Julie Western slaps a stack of resumes on the desk of Superintendent Kevin Miller. Croswell-Lexington, a rural school district in the thumb, posted a single teacher opening on their website. A week later, they’re swamped with […]
Posted inSpecial report
Teaching in Windsor: A few miles away, a world apart
Kristen and Eric Wideen have taught in Michigan and Ontario, and believe Michigan’s lower student test scores are linked to the state’s teacher training system. (Photo by Ron French) Eric and Kristen Wideen are among a small number of teachers who’ve led classrooms on both sides of the Ambassador Bridge, and the differences run far deeper […]