Milner, H. R.(2009) What Does Teacher Education Have to Do With Teaching? Implications for Diversity Studies. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(1-2) 118–131. http://jte.sagepub.com/content/61/1-2/118
Milner tackles the issue of teacher preparation for the increasing diversity in P-12 classrooms and concludes that changes need to be made in teacher education. Today’s new teachers and teachers who have worked in schools for many years should “develop the cognitive and analytic skills to continue learning through processes of improving their work” (Milner, 2009, p 118). The emphasis on continuing teacher education reminds us that any professional needs to be aware of and stay knowledgeable about developments in the field. Auto mechanics, doctors, electricians, nurses, and child care providers take refresher courses. Many professionals have renewable licenses with requirements for continuing education.
I can remember some teachers that I had and several that my children had who were unresponsive to change and to individual students. The changing faces in today’s classrooms not only include children from other countries and other cultures who might speak limited or no English. Classrooms also contain children of varying abilities, different learning styles, and different temperaments. If a teacher has a class of twenty-eight or more students who are widely different in their capacities to learn, it is vital that the teacher be prepared to offer the best possible education to each individual child. Milner notes that teachers need a “repertoire of knowledge, attitudes, mindsets, belief systems, and skills for success” (p 118).
I’ve come to believe that all teachers, whether they teach general studies or a particular subject such as English or math, need to be educated about how to teach all kinds of students. Milner talks about a transformative approach to teaching by “infusing (not just adding) multiple perspectives” (p 128), into classroom activities. This can be achieved when students use critical thinking to work together to solve problems and learn. A transformative teaching approach can be used for teacher education courses as well as for teaching children in school. When people work together in small groups to solve a problem or finish a project, the interactions may be frustrating and difficult, but the end result should be increased understanding of the subject and other people. When students of all abilities and diversities are treated equally as critical thinkers and problem solvers, they are being recognized as capable of independent thought and analysis. A teacher teaches with the students and learns with the students. I think this is the classroom of the future, no matter what age group is in the class. Now all that has to happen is to convince the teachers of this.
