Alternative Teaching Programs vs Traditional

What happens in a Teacher’s lounge stays in the teacher’s lounge.

As a kid I use to wonder what were my teacher doing in the lounge as we sat and ate lunch in the cafeteria. What was in there? What did they talk about? There was no sign on the door with a student sitting at a desk crossed out like the say no to drugs sign in the 80’s, but I know without a doubt I was definitely not allowed. Did I become a teacher to finally be able to go into the lounge and see what it looked like and find out what goes on in there? Whatever the reason I became a teacher, I now know that what goes on in the teacher’s lounge stays in the teacher’s lounge. I am doing what has been dared to be done. Disclose the unthinkable. Tell you what happens in the lounge. We eat, we relax for a moment and prepare our minds for the afternoon classes. We TALK! oh boy do we talk!

Discussion of topic #1: Alternative Teaching Programs vs Traditional

As I enter the lounge, the topic was already under way. “Somethings just can’t be taught. You just have to have a gift to teach.” I learned from my mother to lesson twice and speak one. So I let the conversation continue as I took a seat and began to eat my lunch. “These teacher from these alternative programs cant teach.” One after the other teacher put their “two cents” in about a first year teacher who was going through an alternative certification program.Trust me the two cents were not in favor of her of competency in the classroom. All the comments in favor of “traditional teacher” included me to my surprise. Finally ,I had heard enough opinions to put my own little “two cents” into the discussion. “Well, I went through an alternative certification program.” “But Mr. Walker you.....”

Alternative certification programs in my opinion are great. They offer adults the opportunity to change careers to become teachers. I graduated with a degree in Business Management and Communication and did very well at the company I was employed with at the time. After going through a very trying and personal life experience I decided that I wanted to work hard to improve someone life than help someone make money. Compton Fellowship Alternative Certification Program allowed me to do this. When I started on my teaching journey I was filled with compassion and I wanted to save the world. Let me not fail to mention that one of the teacher said, “They come in here with this imma save the world attitude and don’t have a gift to teach the students.” Well, to me this save the world idea is a gift. It comes with compassion According to the Merriam/Webster online dictionary compassion means a sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it. If i have compassion I will do what is necessary to be a great teacher. Pass the course work, and internalize the knowledge that I am imparted with to be a teacher that really teaches.

The alternative certification programs instruction is equivalent to the traditional programs. We learn about all the components of a lesson plan. How to engage the students. We learn and practice classroom management strategies while completing the required student teaching experience during summer school. We have different subject area classes that teach us with how to incorporate differentiated strategies into our lessons to meet the needs of the learning styles. You name it, we learn it. Just like in a traditional program. So, Yes I can be a great teacher by saving the world one student at a time. I think I’ll ask for the next topic of discussion, Is teaching a gift or can it be taught? Stay tuned for the next Teacher’s Lounge post.