Tag Archive for 'Utah'

Anyone Can Teach!

Published by Robert Pondiscio on February 13, 2009 in Education News, Teacher Training and Teaching. 11 Comments

Training or experience? Pedagogy or subject matter expertise?  Utah lawmakers are weighing what makes a good teacher as they consider a bill that would allow anyone with a bachelor’s degree to become a licensed teacher by passing competency tests in the subjects they wish to teach or demonstrating skills in those areas. The bill, SB48, was given preliminary approval Thursday, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

Now, most people who lack education degrees but want to become teachers must get approval from the districts in which they hope to teach and then pass subject and pedagogy tests. They may also go through an alternate process that requires them to take education classes before becoming fully licensed, among other things.  SB48 would allow individuals to go directly to the state Board of Education to become licensed and would not require pedagogy classes or tests.

“I know a lot of guys who have retired and are absolutely fabulous and would make wonderful teachers because they understand the marketplace,” says the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Chris Buttars said. “This is long past due.”

“This bill really is an insult to education,” counters another Senator. ”Teachers have a skill set that is unique, developed and is nurtured and trained. I think this bill expands the profession of teaching into a hobby of teaching.”

The bill requires a bachelor’s degree and passing a “rigorous” state test to teach elementary school. Anyone wishing to teach basic middle school and high school subjects would also need at least a bachelor’s degree and would either need to pass a state test or demonstrate competency in the subject with a major, graduate degree or coursework.

The Utah Education Association has come out against the bill.

Digital Divide

Published by Robert Pondiscio on October 3, 2008 in Educational Policy. 0 Comments

Utah’s Board of Education today will take up a proposal to require the state’s school districts to put guidelines in place governing the use of cell phones and other electronic devices in classrooms.  Past board discussions have run the gamut from banning cell phones from campus to using them for educational purposes, the Deseret News notes. 

Utah’s education officials and lawmakers point to recent incidents of students using camera phones to take nude photos of themselves and others. Texting is being used for harassment or bullying. But many adults admit there is an opportunity to harness this technology that teens are so obsessed with and potentially use it to promote education.

The state’s legislators rejected a measure earlier this year to require all school districts to adopt an electronic-device policy. The bill didn’t pass, the paper notes, but state education officials took notice.

Meanwhile over at The Tempered Radical, teacher Bill Ferriter worries that “those who are in the position to make decisions about how dollars are spent or how instruction should change struggle to understand the range of ways that digital tools can be used to facilitate the work of groups or the learning of individuals.”