Importance of teacher quality (From Machines Are the Easy Part)

From Machines Are the Easy Part; People Are the Hard Part. 

Illustrations by Brady Johnson

17. The importance of teacher quality.

It’s my job to see that technology is effectively used by teachers and students in the district. I “advocate” for its use for the simple reason my job sort of depends on it. And I’m rather fond of my job.

But here is my problem. Now and again I run into an absolutely terrific teacher who utterly despises technology. These modern-day Socrates get kids passionate about learning, begin important discussions that carry on into the hallway and weekends, and somehow instill not just facts or skills, but true knowledge and even wisdom in their students.

Most parents would rather their children had a great teacher with mediocre technology than a mediocre teacher with great technology.

I don’t try very hard to “improve” the truly gifted teachers with technology.

18. If you can't afford the whole cure, don't even start it.

I call this the Antibiotic Law of Educational Change.

If you get a prescription to kill a germ, you are sternly warned to keep taking the medicine until it is gone – not just until the symptoms disappear. If you don’t, the bug can come back, strengthened by new resistance to the antibiotic.

We in education kill ourselves by ignoring this rule. We formulate a budget for a program, a grant, or a project then happily accept less than the full amount of the funding request without changing the promised result. We then get half-assed results that demoralize the participants and increase skepticism of those who funded us.

Don’t accept project funding if it is not for the full amount.

19. No parent has ever had an ugly baby.

Ask any group of people if they themselves are the parents of an ugly baby. No one is.

Ask the same group of people if they have ever seen an ugly baby. Nearly all the hands go up.

This phenomenon is why all of us need reality checks of our programs, our policies, and our teaching styles. The things we do usually look pretty darned good to us.

Who can tell us if we have an “ugly baby” that we may not be aware of?

• Advisory groups
• Outside evaluators
• Anonymous surveys
• National or state standards

It’s in out students’ best interest to get an objective opinion on the things to which we are closest.