Comments about ‘Measure aims to let experts be teachers’

Utah and americas education system is losing out on the vast amount of experts in all fields and jobs from people who have retired. We are losing real world experience and information not available in text books. A touch of reality from the working experts can do a lot to supplement theoretical training in class rooms. Experts can answer question that teachers can't or must spend a lot of time to research. The current program has its faults as it is not generally open to the public and a tightly held secret. There is a vast resource of retired individuals that would gladly open their careers to children and students in technical and trades schools, a more realistic education would make a lot of difference in the education system. No one has all the answers but 20-50 years of experience cannot be bought. This country is the only one that shuns the elders from education and passing on their lifes work to new generations of children. Education needs all the help it can get and its here for the taking.

Why on earth would an expert want to become a teacher? This is just another slap in the face because teachers are experts in behavioral sciences.

"Buttars refuted those who don't agree with his bill.

"We have teachers who couldn't teach anything and they have super degrees," he said. "So to make the assumption you can take these classes and automatically teach, is ridiculous.""

The flaw in Buttars reasoning is quite evident. To make the assumption that you can teach with no classes is more audacious than to think you can teach with the classes.

If 800 experts applied last year and only 300 were hired, then we really don't have problems with a teacher shortage. A shortage is where actual positions exist that go unfilled.

Educrat,

There is a problem with the advanced education degrees in Utah. They are top-heavy in social pedagogy and void of curriculum that advances expertise in specific disciplines such as science and math, the very areas Utah students are behind in. This bill will pave the wave for experts in these fields who have retired to give back to the community by teaching in our K12 schools. Certainly a brilliant win-win situation for everyone.

As one with an M.Ed. I agree, but only to a certain extent. The social pedagogy is important, but without challenging and effective curriculum we will merely spin our wheels. What you leave out is the fact that teaching ideas and practices are learned more in workshops and such than in classes. Most of our teachers are very capable in subject they teach. What they need are more ideas on how to present what they know to kids so that they "get it."

While I think the idea of bringing "experts" into the classroom is good and sound, I worry about things like classroom management. The general public has no idea what it takes to succeed in the classroom. This is reflected by the fact that more than 50% of those who start out teaching leave the profession within a few years.

is a good program, but to say you take "a few" classes is clear misrepresentation. It is a rigorous, up-to 3 year program where the hopeful teachers are teaching full time for the first time, and also required to take MANY courses - in pedagogy and in the subject area, depending upon how the state views their college transcript.

A little tweak would be great - keep the pedagogy classes, offer them in the summer or evenings BEFORE they start teaching, and then let the rest go. I have not found that the other classes help the teachers prepare for teaching and just distract the teachers from the business of preparing to teach every day (as they have homework from other classes to complete). I am a school principal and have hired several ARL teachers with great success - but the two-three years they are completing the program is stressful and fraught with unneeded busywork for them.

I plan on retiring from my current job with 12 years before I plan on leaving the labor force. I checked into getting the education/certification necessary to teach math in high school--something I know is needed because I'm an adjunt instructor at the college level and I see everyday our students lack of preparation to do basic math. However, it would have been so time consuming and cost so much that it was just absolutely not worth my time or effort. Yet, I know I could teach high school math with no problem at all.

Yes, come work for us with your 30 years of expertise in your field of work. We'll pay you $28,000 a year to deal with 12 and 13 year olds all day long while getting nothing but disrespect from your legislators...

The problem isn't with teachers not being "expert" enough to teach the content...the problem is with knowing HOW to teach the content in a way to reach the kids and mangage the kids at the same time. I can guarantee that while an "expert" has much to share with the students that their style would most likely be through lecture and note taking. We foret that we're talking about public schools here...not university. With our public schools it's a, "come one, come all," philosophy, so knowing how to reach the kids is much more important than what you're lecturing to the kids. I speak as one who is currently mentoring an "expert" that went through the ARL and for her it has been a nightmare. Despite all my suggestions she has no control and has been on the verge of a nervous break-down. The kids have just eaten her alive. I am all for "expert professionals" teaching, as long as they're told straight up the realities of being in the classroom. Come with a realistic, flexible attitude and an adaptable approach and I think anyone can be successful.

This is not a good idea. Our experts in the field are already teaching at the college level...and most college professors can't TEACH. They know the material, but they lack communication skills and the ability to interact effectively with those who are having troubles understanding.

Most public school teachers can TEACH. Most experts can't. Go to conferences, workshops, church, etc. Legislators ought to worry more about doing their own job better.

Teaching junior high in Utah has nothing to do with being an expert in your field. It has everything to do with crowd control.

I invite the experts to come present to my students. I appreciate their willingness to share what they have learned. We definitely have a lot to learn from them and it is great for my students to see an "expert".

95% of them wouldn't be able to handle a class on their own for longer than a day.

That being said, I honestly believe there is very little one can learn at a University in regards to dealing with kids. It is a gift you either have or don't have.

Let the come teach for a month. See if they have the gift.

Any expert with that gift is welcome to come teach at my school any time.

I agree with you 100%. It is a gift and it's also a love for teaching children at a level they can relate to. I was invited as an expert in my field to teach a class at a local Jr High. I spent hours preparing for a two hour class. I went there and LOVED doing it. The students were riveted...eyes wide open, jaws dropped. Other than me teaching you could only hear a pin drop. I was swarmed afterward by students asking questions, wanting to talk about my presentation. I'm sure doing it day in and day out must bring a different reality to teachers but I will never forget the teachers I had that truly had a love for what they taught...and a genuine interest and concern for their students. I'd love nothing more than to teach. Just don't make me teach english please...lol. Having a love for the subject material is important.

Then what is the point of my having gone to school for 6 years to be certified?? Was that all for nothing?

Let them try.

Anyone who teaches knows that being an "expert" in the field does NOT make you a success in the classroom.

Teaching is soooo much more than knowing your subject.

These "experts" will come in, get burnt out (or be fired), and be gone within the ususal 5 years.

The ridiculous approach some people here take is that experts don't know how to teach because they don't have a degree. Utter nonsense. Most experts in their field have probably already trained dozens of people over the years. In most fields of work, graduating college is only a door opening. Once a college graduate is hired, they usually have to go through some form of on the job training anyway. Who in the heck do you think gives them that training? Do they call in a high school teacher? No, they call in the expert. I've trained dozens of people over the years in my field. I've also gone to public schools and taught students. You wouldn't know the difference between me and any other teacher there...other than I don't have a degree on my wall. Well I certainly had the student's attention...that's for sure.

Yes, you either have it or you don't. You can work with kids or you can't. But, what is wrong with increasing the teacher candidate pool with these "experts?" As long as they are not completely ignorant to the management issues and other challenges in public schools, I think they should at least be given an opportunity to teach if they are found to be competent professionals. Why not? They will learn soon enough (just like new certified teachers do) that a public school is not a place where they can simply walk in and share their "expertise." They will learn soon enough that teachers are also social workers, counselors, parents, whipping boys, scapegoats, mentors, police, oh yeah... and .... of course, teachers.

I am a music teacher with specific training through both undergraduate and graduate work and many, many years of experience in the field of teaching music skills to children, though I have no public school teaching certification. Currently I teach weekly children's music classes of varying age groups as a self-employed contractor for my local Parks & Recreation division, and at my home studio, and use some of the most progressive and well-researched music curriculums available. I would love to transfer these skills and these programs to a private or public elementary school setting, but have been told it would take a few years and at least $20,000 to get to this point. If public school certification is so important maybe it should be built into many more of our college degree programs, particularly mine which is a Bachelor's in Music Pedagogy.

If you went to school for 6 years you are to be congratulated. But requiring a subject matter to sit in a class for 6 years simply because you had to do it is a bit silly. They either know the subject matter or they don't. There will always be a place for teachers who've spent that 6 years learning things like grammar and such. There aren't many people who's sole job out in the world is grammar. Good grammar skills are probably just a portion of their job. On the other hand, a person who has years of experience in say engineering and is top in their field is irreplaceable in a student's life as opposed to a teacher that took a few courses on the subject. This is about real life skills, skills that are needed out there in the world. Would you make an expert sit there 6 years just to sit there? If you would, then you'll simply drive them away. That is a tragedy for the young kid with a fascination with engineering. Buttars is right. Make it easier for them to get into teaching, not harder.

you miss the point. We should not be training students to be professional students or professional attendants of classes. We should be training them to be expert professionals in the field. In the real world. With all due respect, that is where the road meets the rubber. Yes, of course the experts need to captivate their audience, yes of course they need to present their information in a way that students can absorb. Subject matter experts have probably in most cases already accomplished that by training new hires as they step on board a new company. And so what if they are gone in 5 years? That's five years of students that got their training from the real world experts. If they burn out and replaced with fresh blood then you get another 5 years of expertise. It's not a put down of teachers who've worked for degrees. It's about the students. If the field expert can teach, let them teach. Test them first to see if they have what it takes...

This is a good idea, assuming there's a way to determine if a person really is an expert, and if there's some way to oust those "experts" who don't at least manage to keep up with a nonexpert education.

I know that when I was in High School, having a school coach teach computers was horrible. I didn't realize it until I got to College and discovered that my teacher didn't know squat about computer science. I remember the first time we sat down to teach recursion, and after the lecture, being stupified at just how simple the concept really was... to one who understood the mechanics underneath.

--Ray