There’s an expression in education known as “teaching to the middle.” This means gearing the majority of instruction and curriculum towards students performing at grade level or in the middle of the class.
I’ve never cared for this concept since I believe it produces a mediocre mindset in teaching, and thus, mediocre results. Rather, I resonate with the idea of teaching to the top of of the class, which means setting the bar high and expecting students to eventually meet those expectations.
I think the same concept holds true for teacher candidates—those in teacher preparation programs training to teach in their own classrooms. If we want to develop high-quality, competent, passionate teachers, we must set the bar very high and encourage these emerging teachers to reach these heights. We must avoid caving to pressures to lower expectations in an effort to recruit more students to programs or improve completion rates. While we should provide support structures to struggling candidates, we should also avoid placing all our attention on these candidate at the expense of challenging those performing at average-to-higher levels.
Teaching is an incredible demanding job, and if we are to effectively prepare candidates, we must hold them to incredibly high standards. The alternative is we allow them to complete programs that fail to prepare them for such demands. Professors, university supervisors, and mentor teachers, and others involved in preparing the next generation of teachers must supervise to the top.
What does supervising to the top look like in a teacher program? Here are some examples:
Like students in the classroom, teacher candidates will rise to meet the standards that we set for them. Raising the bar will help ensure that these candidates are trained to meet the every-increasing challenges of the classroom and promote a culture of excellence. Let’s supervise to the top.
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COPYRIGHT 1996 - 2024 BY EDUCATION WORLD, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.