Dan Brown 2

Dan Brown is currently posting about a new initiative by the government to make the teacher preparation programs better. From the government's website "We need to give schools the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and give teachers the flexibility to teach with creativity and passion." They plan to do this by imposing regulations on teacher education programs. This could be a good idea or a bad idea. It is generally a good idea to want better teacher education programs. No one can argue that. The problem is, what determines what is a good program? Teaching is not an exact art. Different things work for different teachers. If they were able to pinpoint exactly what makes a great teacher, the US wouldn't be below average in many educational statistics. So I will take a wait and see approach with this new reform. However, I will not be too optimistic based on the failures of No Child Left Behind and so on. 

The Male Teacher post 2

This post from the Male Teacher is about managing stress at school. This is not a blog post that is targeted just to male teachers like the rest, this post is applicable to everyone. He offers great tips to follow in how to manage stress. The first he mentions is managing your time better. This is important because I know many teachers that work long past their contracted hours. This isn't healthy and you need to have your own life outside of school or you will go crazy. That goes for any profession. The best tip from the Male Teacher is to "be a comedian". I like this tip because it is exactly how I handle stress. If I am stressed the best way for me to reduce it is to make someone else laugh. It is almost medicinal.  I'd recommend this post to anyone having trouble with the stresses of their job.