What with the Khan academy online, homeschooling, charter schools, etc... are there

[applegrove]

going to be much fewer teachers needed in the near to late future? Is that why the GOP are jumping up and down hoping teacher's salaries go down (fighting inflation for the rich so they can keep making money without the once a decade tight money policy that used to be the way inflation was fought: a small recession used to be the way to fight an overheated inflationary economy).

[NYC_SKP]

1. Well, first, charter schools have real teachers, ours have union member teachers exclusively...

...they are public charter schools.

So I don't think they change the numbers of teachers or otherwise enter the equation. Of private charter schools I am less confident.

Homeschooling: some of it sucks, some of it has better outcomes than average public schools, and some of it is supported by schools, school districts, and offices of education. Not sure of the impact.

Khan Academy and Safari Montage and others are fantastic assets to educators, we are using them to free up class time for more integrated project based activities and applications.

Khan and Safari are improvements over direct instruction: students can pause and replay as they might need to, they can learn at the pace that's comfortable for them, but still get to talk to teachers.

Information is growing exponentially.

We will always have and always need schools and teachers.

The GOP just sucks, it always has, and lately they're really picking on teachers and unions.

:hi:

[TygrBright]

2. On the contrary: There will be a need for larger numbers of teachers...

...with more varied arrays of teaching skill-sets.

The days of large-class, standardized, building-based education are drawing to a close. To be effective, education will need to move into smaller groups and 1-1 encounters using individualized curricula and learning programs, and based in multiple venues as needed.

There will be a need for teachers who can do in-person teaching of several different varieties, from multi-subject to single-subject, from age-group specific to multi-age group, from single/short session workshop-style to multi-session curricula, from classroom-based to expeditionary and multi-media and experiential learning styles.

And there will be a need for teachers who can do on-line teaching, coaching, and "learning supervision" and "resource advisory" roles, and a need for teachers who can combine online and in-person skill sets.

The matrix of teaching/learning roles is changing rapidly--far more rapidly than the infrastructure of school systems, education departments, teachers and teachers' unions, education funding agencies, and legislators can handle. Trying to "fix" an infrastructure that is based in (essentially) early- to mid-20th century technology, standards, structure, and expectations is using up valuable energy and resources that should be being spent on re-designing education to meet the needs of a far more complex, distributed, economy and society.

speculatively,
Bright

[madfloridian]

3. Did you know that those things are already required? That teachers now do those things?

Before I retired I was a jack of all trades by necessity. Teachers are mostly very flexible, intelligent, and able to cope with new situations.

Right now the goal of the reformers is to turn education over to the really wealthy guys and let them do it their way.

As Eli Broad said when Arne Duncan was appointed..."the stars are aligned."

[NYC_SKP]

4. Your reply is filled with insight and truth, TygrBright. Very refreshing!

While it's true that many teachers have long had to be multitaskers, the reality of today's learning environment requires not only flexible and adaptively able staff, but also open-minded administrations and even school buildings.

The "classroom" of tomorrow might be at home one day, at city hall the next, and on a campus some of the rest of the time.

As you said, "The matrix of teaching/learning roles is changing rapidly--far more rapidly than the infrastructure of school systems, education departments, teachers and teachers' unions, education funding agencies, and legislators can handle".

I wish I could have stated it so well.

:thumbsup:

[madfloridian]

5. There ARE "flexible and adaptively able" teachers and staffs...

most everywhere in this country. It is called public education, and it is on the firing line.

[Grey]

6. Please watch this video....

Salman Khan talk at TED 2011 (from ted.com)

[applegrove]

7. I have an old computer. Tell me what Khan says?

[Grey]

8. From Wikipedia......

Salman Khan (educator)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2011)
Salman Khan

Native name সালমান খান
Born New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Residence Mountain View, California
Nationality American
Other names Sal
Education Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Harvard Business School
Occupation Educator
Website
khanacademy.org
Salman Amin 'Sal' Khan<1> (Bengali: সালমান খান) is a Bangladeshi American<2> educator and founder of the Khan Academy, a free online education platform and nonprofit organization. From a small office in his home, Khan has produced over 2600 videos elucidating a wide spectrum of academic subjects, mainly focusing on mathematics and the sciences. As of October 2011, "Khan Academy" had attracted more than 200,000 subscribers.<3>
Contents
1 Early life and Education
2 Career
2.1 Khan Academy
3 Recognition
4 References
5 External links
Early life and Education

Salman Khan holds three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: a BS in mathematics, a BS in electrical engineering and computer science, and a MEng in electrical engineering and computer science. He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.<4><5>
Career

Salman Khan worked as a Hedge fund analyst before quitting in late 2009.<6>
Khan Academy
Main article: Khan Academy
In late 2004, Khan began tutoring his cousin, Nadia, in mathematics over the internet using Yahoo!'s Doodle notepad.<7> When other relatives and friends sought his tutoring, he decided it would be more practical and beneficial to distribute the tutorials on YouTube where he created an account on 16 November 2006.<8> Their popularity on the video sharing website and the testimonials of appreciative students prompted Khan to quit his job as a hedge fund analyst in late 2009 to focus on developing his YouTube channel, 'Khan Academy', full-time.<9>
His videos attracted on average more than 20,000 hits each. Students from around the world have been attracted to Khan's concise, practical, and relaxed teaching method.<8>
Khan outlined his mission as to "accelerate learning for students of all ages. With this in mind, we want to share our content with whoever may find it useful." Khan also plans to extend his "free school" to cover topics such as English and history. Programs are being undertaken to use Khan's videos to teach those in isolated areas of Africa and Asia. He delineated his motives:
With so little effort on my own part, I can empower an unlimited amount of people for all time. I can't imagine a better use of my time.

[applegrove]

10. Oh I agree Khan is a great tool.

[NYC_SKP]

9. Let me tell you about what we're doing in our programs...

Inspired by the Khan Academy (in which Kahn made youtube clips to help his cousins learn specific lessons, math at first, I think).

We call it "Flipping the classroom".

Traditionally, teachers directly instruct students in some daily lesson, then students do homework and solve problems.

We Flip it: We instruct kids to go home to get the instruction, then they work on problems in class, individually, in pairs, in groups.

At home they can pause, rewind, rewatch the lessons in ways impossible at school.

And at school, they can get help from teachers or other students in solving problems, something they could never do at home.

It's brilliant, it's working, we love it.

And the local big traditional schools won't touch it, not because of the teachers but because of the "institution".

Schools have to stay flexible and adaptive and creative!!!

:hi:


.

[applegrove]

11. Sounds great.

[exboyfil]

16. This is actually like a recitation class in college

For example Calculus I had three lectures in large lecture halls by some of the best lecturers I have ever heard. Then we had two sections with Teaching Assistants in which no new material was presented but problems were discussed. I think it is a great model that could be employed in public schools which, in general, are five days long.

[NYC_SKP]

17. Thank you!

We actually follow a few different university models and operate a four day schedule with Friday lab/project time.

We keep the labs and schools open til 5 or later because that's some of the best time there is at school.

We promote kids wanting to be at school, many if not most prefer school to doing nothing or going home or to the mall.

It's inspiring to see kids, especially high school students, who want longer hours at school.

I love it!

:bounce:

[Grey]

12. Someone smarter than me will have to chime in here,

it really is worth the trip to your local library to watch this clip from TED Talk. It's about 20 minutes long and very interesting. http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html

My grand kids use these videos to help they with homework. They love to learn and collect points and badges.
One grandson went from failing to a B+ average.

[applegrove]

14. My question was less about the quality of a Khan education and more about

how giddy the GOP seems to be with the wages of teachers going down. If teachers wages go down across the country that allows the rich to keep the stock markets roaring. They make more money. I like the idea of the Khan program. It will do wonders for Africa, etc.

[madfloridian]

15. They want to deprofessionalize teaching. Turn it into a temp type job.

We always did online stuff in the classroom. Of course I retired several years ago, and the internet access was not as super. However regular teachers can buy software for their classes, and they do.

So all of that is already being done. They have other goals than just internet teaching, because teachers are quite capable of doing that now.

[NYC_SKP]

18. They want to do that to everything, every damn job is falling in pay except hedge fund mgr, etc.

It's not just the teaching profession, not by a long shot and it's been going on since Reagan.

This doesn't change the fact that we need to serve our students' needs and schools (admins and boards and staff) have to be responsive.

Great teachers, unfortunately, aren't enough.

It's going to take a generation to implement meaningful reform in the mainstream public education institution, a generation we can't afford to give up to the cause.

We can't wait.

We won't wait.

That's why reform from within the system has to happen where an enlightened administration will allow it.

Public charter schools and small learning communities with flexibility allow that adaptability.

Longer school hours (til 5:00 or later in our case), kids who want to be at school, engagement with local NGOs and businesses and public agencies and non-profits, tearing down fences and silos.

That's what works for our students, other communities can do what they want.

:patriot:

[graywarrior]

13. The Khan Academy is the only way I can get through my damn algebra class!