BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
In the midst of a national storm about the quality of teachers are the educators themselves, caught between doing their best in the classroom and doing what they can to battle negative opinions.
A handful of Northern Kentucky teachers say their colleges did a good job of preparing them for a teaching career -- one filled with education reforms and ever-changing requirements.
A study to be released Monday by the Kentucky Institute for Education Research shows that the majority of the state's recent education college graduates give their schools high marks for teacher preparation programs.
These same teachers say they'd like the public to come to their classrooms before forming opinions about the quality of education they offer.
"When you hear about all these studies you can take it for what it's worth, but if you came to a school you will see that the skills you need as a teacher are wide in scope," said Matt Freeman, a second year social studies teacher at Scott High School in Taylor Mill. "Even people in other fields are going into education, and that makes the profession stronger."
It's obvious that Mr. Freeman, 25, loves working with his students. He pushes them to push themselves, by making them participate in class discussions and encouraging them to get up in the front of the class and explain their work.
Last week the topic was geography. Students described the characteristics of different pictures of terrains and human activities and their importance to geography.
Mr. Freeman teaches that culture and economics are part of geography, too, not just locations on a map.
What Mr. Freeman likes best about his job is the interaction with his students and the support their parents offer to the school. "You probably noticed that you can't always reach everybody," he said after a morning class. "But you can see it in their faces. Their eyes light up. You can tell when they get something. That's what's rewarding."
Mr. Freeman said Northern Kentucky University helped him discover new ways to teach the same material and innovative ways to reach different students. Professional organizations, weekend and summer workshops also help.
The study conducted by the Kentucky Institute for Educational Research followed 2,212 teachers in the first, second and third year of teaching and found that six of 10 new teachers said they were extremely well or very well prepared for the classrooms.
The study also found that:
Teachers were also asked to make suggestions on how education colleges could provide a better education for teachers-to-be. Thirty-nine percent of new teachers suggested more and better practical classroom experience; 26 percent recommended better training in curriculum design, instruction, assessment, and teaching strategies.
Of NKU graduates, 41 percent suggested improvements in the area of field and practical application and 20 percent recommended improvements in curriculum, instruction, assessment and teaching. The Kentucky study follows other findings embarrassing to the teaching profession.
In Massachusetts, 60 percent of prospective public school teachers failed the state certification exams. The state board of education proposed to lower the passing grade to permit more teachers to pass, but never took that action.
In Long Island, a school district gave an 11th-grade reading comprehension test to all job applicants. All of the applicants had college degrees but 75 percent failed the test.
Amy Duesing, a second-year teacher at Glenn O. Swing Elementary in Covington, said such reports can create negative attitudes. "It makes us feel bad as teachers that society thinks we're not doing our job when here we are in the classroom trying to prepare our children for life," Miss Duesing, 24, said.
"I want to say to these people, "Come into the schools, spend some time with us. See what we're doing and then make an opinion."
Miss Duesing became a teacher after watching her mother, Pat Duesing, go back to school 10 years ago. Pat Duesing went to college while Miss Duesing was in high school. Both graduated from NKU and both women said they love children.
"I really like teaching children how to read," Pat Duesing said. "I think that's really exciting. By the end of first grade to look back and see all they've learned, it's like painting a picture." The women also said NKU prepared them well for the classroom. "I think that education has changed so much," Amy Duesing said. "At Northern they've really stayed with the times. They're using the new math, they prepared us to teach portfolios."
Darrell H. Garber, chair of NKU's School of Education, said it will work on improving two areas of instruction.
Faculty will focus more on teaching teachers how to work with family resource centers in the school and how to use technology in the classroom. The college has purchased new multimedia equipment and created a multimedia classroom.
And to foster better relationships, the college is sponsoring a talk with Education Commissioner William Cody on Sept. 28. The event is open to all area teachers.
Dr. Garber said, "We're always trying to get closer to the schools."
