Too smart to be a good Teacher?

[subze]

Hmmm...since I considered teaching before perhaps nobody minds if I barge in, besides I wanted to be a lazy (unless the wage is right) college teacher in the near future. Sorry, I'm not that noble ...

My girlfriend is coming here in the U.S. to teach in summer classes provided to high school students in the 98%...by John Hopkins. She will be assigned in Easton, Pennsylvania. I haven't heard same programs in the Philippines. Isn't it nice to live in a rich country:)

Anyway, in my opinion, a good physicist is someone who is intelligent in physics. And, a good teacher is someone who is intelligent in teaching. Perhaps, one should focus on the nature of the class, how to effectively impart the knowledge and away on excercising ones brain. I always wanted to stay in the academe so I could learn more and partly to watch myself teach (really ignoble**covers face with a towel**). It's interesting to learn but that's not why you should teach. I suppose another area to consider is that intelligent teachers--or more appropriately individuals--presumably, uses their brain to understand the lesson rather than to create better ways to make the students learn it.

Well, there are always problem in any profession...otherwise they'd pay a monkey to do it. I'd better shut up and take care of mine

Subze

[MarcoPolo]

I should have done a better job of clarifying what I was saying about gifted programs in the state of California. Honestly Arista probably knows more abot this stuff than me and many other teachers here, since it is her area of interest. As I understand it, GATE is a funding program for school districts to use as they see best for providing education to gifted individuals. At the high school level what they do with most of the money is provide for AP programs, which in my definition is not quite the same as a gifted program. Any regular ed teacher who feels knowledgeable enough to teach an AP class is welcome to do so, and you would be surprised how many teachers do not want to do it. This will make it easier for me to do it if I continue teaching. As I understand it special education is an entirely different program than GATE, and there are no teachers at any level that are hired to teach gifted children full time. I don't know exactly how they use this money at the lower grade levels other than they cannot hire full time gifted teachers. When I first started I asked teachers, including special ed teachers, if there were any gifted classes at schools in the district. Their response was no, the closest thing there is are AP classes, and they are not based on intelligence test scores.

[Arista]

Yes, at the high school level, gifted programs do not exist in just about every state. The gifted students have choices based on what is available in each school; typically they will take AP courses, honors, or IB- International Baccalaureate. Sometimes they may end up in an AP class with all gifted classmates, but the class is open to other students who meet the qualifications (such as an A in the Honors class that preceded it, or test scores.) Which county do you teach in, Marco Polo? I am amazed that they say there are not any gifted classes. I think that is illegal. How do they serve the gifted kids then? Curriculum compacting or acceleration?? In my school, I taught a pull-out class one day per week. I had 5 classes of students grades 3-5 who each saw me once per week. There was another part-time teacher who served the 1st and 2nd graders 1/2 day to 1 day per week, and we had two AAIM classes which were self-contained classes for gifted grades 3/4 and 4/5. The AAIM program is a county model in which students are nominated based on their IQ score, talents, portfolio of work samples, achievement, leadership, and creativity. These classes had to cover the grade level content and standards as well as gifted curriculum. They moved at a much faster pace than the regular classroom and were able to delve deeper into certain topics.

[MarcoPolo]

I think they have an accelerated program where you can go to college early. I know in Washington State there was this program that allowed students to go to the local community college and take classes that count toward college and high school. It was possible for someone to get their associates degree at the same time they got their high school diploma.At Here in this district in California, Individual students can also take independent study courses. They actually had me tutor someomne for independent study for part of the year(they liked to shuffle classes around and their shuffleing left me with no regular sixth period). She was an "accelerated student". They really seem to go out of their way to avoid the term "gifted". However, I don't think they use psychometric testing as a selection criteria. I don't know everything about the gifted programs avaliable, so don't take my word as the final authority. Oh, and I'll tell you in a pm if you really are curious about what county it is in.

[kenshoro]

For me, one of the better concise definitions of "intelligence" is the ability to solve the problems you're handed; maybe you hand yourself problems, or perhaps someone else is always given the "honor": other options exist! This is what I would call an "island" definition of intelligence, which is different than the mainstream "universal" comparison definition; the former is the "formers" opinion of themself, with respect to what they encounter, while that of the latter is you, always being placed by others on a "ladder" of---unfortunately often--- purely academic skill, taken "overall"; the generic "Billy" always seems to place low compared to those that are branded "gifted".

Anyway, teaching, like so many other professions, has its own set of problems. The analysis of what needs to be done to improve the quality of instruction, the formulation and eventual implementation of a plan to achieve this "problem solution": all while leaving a reasonable margin for error. If an extremely smart person, under the "mainstream" definition of intelligence, is focused on teaching well, they may or may not be up to it.

Maybe they are focused on teaching well, but are focused on other things that destroy their teaching ability; okay, lets just assume they are "intelligent" enough to quit while they're ahead. Maybe they have a problem with what engineers call "user interface"; a computer can be insanely good at a certain type of math-----but, If no one can understand what it's saying: what's the point? I'll again just assume they can maneuver their way around the given problem.

I'm tired and so, without further ado, the bottom-line is this: it tends not to be how "intelligent" they are in "general", but how intelligent they are, or can become, at particular skills necessary for the teaching profession; psychologists call it "achievement" and "motivation and aptitude". Really, I disagree with the concept of aptitude, at least as it is used by psychologists, but that's a separate issue.