Throughout all the questions he spoke about, made by the students, he had a lot of "it depends" answers. Every circumstance is different. If colleges were able to hand a teacher a book on how to be an exceptional teacher, they obviously would. However, because all kids are different, have different backgrounds and beliefs, no one can tell a teacher how to deal with these situations. A lot of things come from experience. Learn by dealing and coping when situations come up.
He also discussed the teacher program "Teachers for America" where people could go to school for six weeks and after that be a "qualified" teacher. That seems absurd. We Doane students attend for four years here, have practicums, numerous lesson plan writing experiences, and lots of time and effort put into the program, yet people are able to take those six weeks and be as highly educated and qualified as us? I would understand if there were a shortage on teachers, but should these students attending four years, paying bookoo bucks, and focusing all that time on teaching be on the same level as them?
In addition, he seems like a very humble and honest guy. One of the questions he was asked involved if his students knew he has a famous book. None of his co-workers seem to care about it. Some of his students even read the book after he told them due to being questioned about leaving because he had to go speak somewhere. I think that he is honest because he told us he is not highly qualified for teaching reading, yet he still is.
Overall, I thought the night was great and beneficial. His stories were very interesting and he had great feedback to all that was thrown to him. I highly advise anyone who has not read it to do so!
