Minnesota House takes up alternative teacher licensure

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=900178


I am surprised that Minnesota is able to even think about a law that would put the No Child Left Behind's whole part about Highly Efficient Teachers.  I find it refreshing to see their reasoning, at least in Kare11's view.  Their reasoning is that an alternative teacher licensure will allow for more diversity in all fields of teaching.  I think that that is an admirable goal, because we need enough teachers and it seems that right now, we don't have enough teachers.


Now, a good question to think about is "What about the pedagogy?"  Pedagogy means "the art or science of teaching; education; instructional methods."  So, the question is what about the pedagogy?  I have to admit, being in junior block right now in the Special Education Department really has taught me a lot about pedagogy.


I tried to take SPED 200 a few years ago when I was in my second semester at college and I dropped it because I felt that it was too early for me to start teaching.  I knew nothing about how to teach reading or anything like that as well as I felt that I was not mature enough to be in the classroom.  Thinking back on it, you may say that I am more immature now, but I realize that being immature is a good way to meet the students for where they are coming from.  I am immature, but respectful and try not to be demeaning to the students.  I just act like myself, which is very childlike to begin with.


Since my first SPED 200 and last semester when I took it and did not drop it, I learned a lot about pedagogy and how to teach students with learning disabilities (or those who have a hard time with reading or math.) and I feel that really helped me, personally, because when I was in the classroom, I had all of these weapons of mass instruction that I could pull out and use with the student.  It felt good to be able to see the students when they got something when I was helping them.


So, that is an interesting idea.  I accept that we need more teachers, therefore, maybe my special education degree is not all that important, but I feel that it is.  Because in this degree, you learn how to accept a student for who they are.  You learn how to teach the student, and you learn (in my opinion most importantly) how to see that the student is not their behavior and their behavior is not them.