Research On The Teacher Training Of Teach For America In Michigan,USA

As an important approach to solve the shortage of educational resources in remote areas,oriented teachers have been vigorously developed.It has helped to provide a large number of subject teachers in short-supplied remote areas in all provinces of China.However,how to improve the quality of the teachers’ teaching under the guarantee of the quantity remains to be explored.In-service and on-service training to promote such teachers’ lifelong professional development is the vital ways to solve the problem.But at present they are not effective enough,which results in the lack of professional development of such oriented teachers and the failing to achieve the purpose of promoting balanced development of urban and rural education."Teach for America" which is similar to China’s oriented teacher training programs in remote areas is the most representative teaching services program in low-income area in the United States.It has trained a large number of teachers,has effectively promoted the lifelong professional development of the "Teach for America" teachers,and has supplied a large number of high-quality teachers for the low-income areas.The experience of this program can be used as a reference for improving the training quality of teachers and the design and implementation of the oriented teacher training system in China.This study regard “Teach for America”in Michigan as a whole system.Based on the system theory and the theory of teachers’ practical knowledge and concentrated on the ineffectiveness of the in-service and on-service training of oriented teacher in remote area,this study utilize the literature method,comparative method and case study method to reflect on the oriented teacher training in China and America.In the course of the study,it takes the teacher training for America in Michigan as the research object,and sorts out the historical evolution of the development of Teach for America in Michigan.Based on the system theory,the study analyzes the components,the structure and the guarantee conditions of the training system of Teach for America in order to show the complete ideal configuration of the structure and operation of an oriented teacher training system.Based on the theory of teachers’ practical knowledge,the characteristics of the oriented teacher training system of Teach for America in the Michigan State are extracted and its possibility to reference is analyzed.Efforts have been made to construct operational and guarantee measures to improve the effectiveness of oriented teachers’ on-service and in-service training in China.In the first part of the main body,by illustrating the Michigan Teach for America program evolution process in stages,the study finds: according to the radiation scope and influence of Teach for America in the whole United States and Michigan,Michigan Teach for America’s historical development process can be divided into three periods,the incubation period when they scattered the program all over the regions in the United States,the produce period when they attempt to establish organization in Michigan for the first time and the development period when they rooted and run multi-cooperation in Michigan.In the first period,Teach for America acquired the experience of selecting and training teachers for low-income areas which accumulate experience for its program in Michigan.During its produce period,Teach for America tried to send teachers for primary and secondary schools in Michigan where teachers were in short supply.However,at that period Teach for America was resisted by local teachers’ associations,primary and secondary schools and school districts and had to quit.During its development period,Teach for America adapted to local conditions and obtained the policy and financial guarantee from the Department of Education of the Michigan State Government.It formed cooperation with the University of Michigan,primary and secondary schools with teacher shortage,and has been developing since then.In the second part of the main text,through the analysis from the perspective of overall elements of Michigan Teach for America’s teacher training system structure and the security of the whole project condition,the study suggests: from the horizontal point view,under the supervision and support of the department of education,Teach for America has formed the collaboration with the University of Michigan and built a training program.From longitudinal point view,the teacher training system constructed by them is divided into three training stages: the eight-week-in-service training period,the two-year-on-job-service training period and the post-two-year-service training period.The concept that all children will have access to a good education covers the overall program.Seen from the training content,it does always adhere to build all teachers training courses with the experience of teachers and established electronic portfolio as a means of evaluation and lifelong development.It attains rich security of financial supply,academic guidance and social support.In the third part of the main text,it first analyzes the operational preparation of Teacher for America in Michigan and finds its requirements: emphasizing diversity,equality,creativity,learning and cooperation in teacher selection and placement;After analyzing its implementation process,it found that: the organization concept,regional multicultural differences,teachers’ leadership and practical knowledge should be highlighted to carry out targeted professional training theoretical courses and combine with the teaching practice of local primary and secondary schools.Finally,the electronic teaching portfolio of new teachers should be evaluated and reported.In the fourth part of the main body,based on the composition and operation of the teacher training system of "Teaching for America" in Michigan,this paper summarizes the characteristics of it,and finds that the training objectives of each stage are targeted and operable;the cooperation and coordination between training institutions and trainers are maintained,the training contents are practical and purposeful the curriculum evaluation is emphasized;the security system is complete and expansible.Through the analysis of the common demands of Chinese and American teacher orientation training programs,such as achieving balanced development of education,recruiting diversified teachers and seeking lifelong development of teachers,and the homogeneity of Chinese and American teacher orientation training programs,such as both facing the problems of improving the follow-up training quality of directional training and directional delivery of teachers.This paper concludes that the teacher training of "Teaching for America" in Michigan is of great significance and can be used for reference to China.The fifth part is the enlightenment.Through the comparison of Michigan "Teach for America" teacher training design and implementation,the study concluded: for the training strategies,based on the theory of teacher practical knowledge,our country should phased design training objectives;based on teachers’ practical experience;let professional teachers train teachers;increase practical and local content;build digital teacher evaluation platform.In terms of security measures,we should strengthen the security system of financial support,academic guidance and social support.