WebLog V: Canaan Ch. 1-2

Why is there such a high drop out rate among first year teachers? Is there anything that can be done about it?

The new teachers are faced with teaching students coming from the poorest communities. The new teachers are overwhelmed with the workload. They are new to the building and feel uncomfortable asking for help from veteran teachers. The new teachers become stressed and change their profession. I think a lot can be done about the situation. One thing I think would help is if all teachers in upper class districts and poor districts received the same salary. However, because upper class districts pay more money they hire more experienced teachers and the beginning teachers are stuck working in poor districts. Another way to help the drop rate is if student teachers had to get hired in the same district they student taught at would help beginning teachers feel more comfortable in their building.

In chapter 2, Vanessa, a teacher in the TFD program was very discouraged by amount of minority teachers in the program. Do you think the history of her education made her feel discouraged?

I think her history of education made her feel discouraged. She grew up Atlanta, which has a dominant African American culture. She also attended a historically African American college. The TFD program did not have a racially diverse set of teachers. However, I think the problem was her in-exposure to diversity. She always grew up in African American communities and attended an African American college. I am not sure how her teacher education program was handled but it seems that she had little experience working with Caucasians. I think because she was never exposed to Caucasians I could not consider her to have a diverse understanding of all children. She only knew how work with her own race.