January 2nd, 2011 
jvremec
Teacher Inservice Workshops And Professional Development Courses Are What University Teacher Training Should Be
By Ruth Wells
Today’s teachers are prepared for yesterday’s students. The truth is that college and university teacher training has been stuck in the 1950′s for the past 50 years. Content and testing have remained the central focus of teacher preparation, while students’ behavioral and emotional problems became the central focus of the classroom. In essence, most teacher training programs prepare teachers to work with a student who no longer exists. Contemporary teacher training gives today’s teachers yesterday’s tools, leaving even the most talented educator sometimes feeling ill-prepared to cope with students of the 2000s who have moved far beyond a time of bobby sox and poodle skirts to cyber sex and nipple rings.
Putting aside those concerns for the moment, in an ideal world, what might teacher training programs cover beyond content and testing? Here are the top 5 critical things that teachers are never taught but may really need right
now:
1. Give Teachers Basic Juvenile Mental Health Training
More and more students have serious mental health concerns yet most teachers don’t know a conduct disorder from an attachment disorder. That’s like not knowing the difference between arithmetic and spelling. When teachers don’t know basic mental health information, it creates the perfect conditions for safety concerns to simmer and boil throughout the school and in the classroom.
2. Offer Teachers Real-World Violence and Safety Training
Schools are more out of control than ever before. School shootings, gangs and bullies can pose enormous potential safety concerns yet few teacher training programs devote extensive course work to practical, preventative methods. Using character education– the current violence prevention method of choice today– to stem this type of violence is naive and ineffective. While character ed can work well with many students, it will always fail with some youngsters. With some populations, such as conduct disorders (who are an estimated 11-14% of students), empathy-based approaches like character ed will actually make the situation far worse. It is an approach better suited for Archie and Jughead, not the South Park kids.
3. Show Teachers How to Teach School Skills
Years ago, families reliably taught their offspring to show respect, arrive on time, dress appropriately, and to have an appreciation for the importance of school. Now, many families cannot or will not instill those beliefs and teach those skills. If families do not teach kids how to be students, then schools must perform this function. Until then, teachers are working with untrained, unmotivated students. Teachers need to be taught how to systematically train youngsters on all aspects of school functioning from punctuality to homework management, from how to raise their hands to how often to talk in class, and so on. Motivation should be given special attention, but typical contemporary teacher training includes almost no practical focus on that today.
4. Show Teachers How to Teach Coping Skills
Because families are more likely today than years ago to be fractured, abusive, troubled and otherwise impaired, teachers need to know how to manage the problems that result when family problems come to school with students. A special focus should be given to what methods work with school refusers, withdrawn kids, work refusers, depressed students, traumatized children, and students in crisis.
5. Show Teachers How to Teach Social Skills
If a student can’t sit in a chair, talk one at a time, or keep his hands to himself, it makes it almost impossible to teach that child academic content. Yet today’s teachers see dozens of socially maladjusted students each day. If parents cannot or will not train their offspring to have basic social skills, teachers must pick up the slack. A child who can sit in his chair, talk one at a time, and keep his hands to himself, is far more likely to be a teachable student. There are no shortcuts around the serious social skill deficiencies that educators cope with today. Until Susie can acquire at least minimal social skills, educating her may be impossible.
It is way past time to drag teacher training into the new millennium. If you are a teacher struggling to make sense out of your troubled, challenging students, the problem isn’t you. The problem is that your professional training fits students who walked your corridors a whopping half century ago. If you want to learn the practical, updated, more effective methods that they didn’t teach you in college, your only option now is to find an inservice course, workshop or professional development seminar that can upgrade your skills to fit contemporary youth.
Source: www.isnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=12709&ca=Education
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can you please make some grammar or spelling suggestions? thanks?
The NMC (2005) stated in consultation proposals arising from a review of fitness for practice at the point of registration that the NMC is aware of the difference in level of competency among the newly qualified nurses according to the opportunity of leaning they had during their training. Therefore the NMC selected preceptorship provision to bridge that gap and support the new registrant adjusting to new responsibility and gain confidence. The NMC (2002) stated in the Supporting nurses and midwives through lifelong learning that newly qualified nurses should have a period of four month of guidance by preceptors, and preceptors should acts as a resource to facilitate the practitioner’s professional development.
I believe it is do with the efficiency and role the NMC plays in facilitating nurses through the before, during and after stages of training. Albeit they are working towards an expected level of competency with the precursors (preceptors) they speak of so highly. All in good taste, in the aim of professional development. I’ve no idea why four months is important?
I’m presently making best use of this learner’s site:
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/grammar/archive/mainindex_wide.html
If your leg have severe scars, will you wear short skirt?
My lower part of the leg have severe scars. If you were me, will you wear short skirt?
I like to wear short skirt and I know that people may or will see my legs have scars. But I guess they will just take a glace only.
I going to attend a psychiatry program (about mental health development), I got depression.(no, not living in the hospital, just go there couple days per week). And I went for the interview, there is the psychiatric nurse, psychiatrist, ask me questions and tell me about the rules of the program.
While I was at the interview, the psychiatric nurse “keep” looking at my leg. What I mean by keep looking is stare at me, then my leg, then stare at me again, then my leg, continually.
I feel so upset and my feeling is so hurt. Why would a ‘professional psychiatric nurse’ do this?
Even people who isn’t a psychiatric nurse, just some people in the resturant or on the bus, I think people would not stare like that, right? Since that’s rude, and it will hurt that person feelin
I want to wear short skirt because I like to, not because I want to show off.
It’s like doing crafts, you just do it for fun, you don’t neccessary have to do it for showing off.
Both my lower legs have severe scars. People stare at my scars, I know they will, but that psychiatric nurse stare at my scars, all the way thru the interview &(*@#&@^$$
“People are just curious and probably want to know what happened to your leg.”
I agree, but that stupid nurse, just…..
I have a tatoo on my right leg and I will be damned I wont where a skirt. But thats just me. If you like it wear it . You can never please everybody. We al have flaws. Life is too short.
As a patient what would you rather….?
A health professional (be it nurse, doctor, therapist etc) who was able to see you on ward or at home when you required
OR
a health professional who is unable to see you in person because they are too busy filling out their development plans, setting objectives and attending supervision meetings where they talk about patients they cannot see for the above reasons!!
I saw only 3 patients last week (work 3.5) days because I had too many meetings, paperwork to complete about how to achieve poxy objectives like “supervision of students” , “completion of literature review” and running around getting info for managers to take to meetings.
What has happened to good old fashioned patient centred care!!!!
I agree with you there is far too much bureaucracy in the healthcare system nowadays!
Which health care professional would be responsible for providing an ultrasound to a pregnant woman to visu…?
Which health care professional would be responsible for providing an ultrasound to a pregnant woman to visualize the fetus and its development?
a phlebotomist
b registered nurse
c dietitian
d radiologic technician
d
Bad and Good experiences?
I am interested to hear about peoples experiences as a relative visiting a family member in hospital. I am have been nursing for 7 years and feel I have been let down by the people that cared for my family member in his final hours. I am determined to learn more from other people’s experiences, therefore aiding in my own professional development.
My dad went through a nine week illness brought on by a cardiac arrest. He was eventually declared to be in a permanent vegetative state. At the beginning, he was in a Cardio Intensive Care Unit at a hospital that specialized in cardiac cases. The staff there were great – it was one on one and everyone seemed to really enjoy and care about what they were doing. When he was transferred back to a regional health centre, i would find that he was neglected. He didn’t have a voice so nurses would not pay attention to him until i started being more demanding along with my mother and sister. I had found packaging on his bed, blood on his pillow and needles on the floor. It was simply unacceptable. However, eventually he was transferred to a palliative unit where the nurses and doctors were much more in tune with patient needs. He died peacefully with support of his family and the staff at the palliative unit. it is true that a bad hospital experience can make a traumatic time (such as an illness or death) needlessly worse. Good luck with your professional development.