Fledgling Teachers

I just finished reading “Fledgling Instructors Try to Ease Staff Shortage” (Sept. 4). I was surprised to find that so many vacancies were filled by unqualified teachers.

One month ago I called the Los Angeles Unified School District to request an application for special education teacher. I have three California teaching credentials and have taught in all areas of special education. I was told that there were no available positions, not even for substitutes.

If “the district anticipates needing more than 300 special education teachers and probably will have substitutes fill most of those positions,” why was I so easily dismissed? Obviously the teacher supply does not meet the demand in special education.

Most special education students thrive on stability and consistency. Some people are shocked by the behaviors they exhibit. “Bribing with cookies” certainly was not a part of my teacher training.

GAYLE WOODS-BIALEK

Los Angeles

* When I volunteered to teach a two-day workshop on basic teaching skills to newly hired LAUSD personnel, I had concerns about people who were going to teach with no experience or training. At the end of two days my concerns were increased.

These aspiring teachers approached their new jobs with a real desire to help children coupled with a mixture of bravado, anxiety and confusion. Their questions ranged from discipline to how to structure a basic reading or math lesson. Some, who had begun teaching in July, had bits and pieces put together but nothing that made them feel secure or clear about how to proceed. Their questions also reflected how inadequate a two-day crash course was going to be: Is it permitted to stand children in the corner? How do I get students to pay attention? How do you teach fourth-graders with limited reading skills? In the two days we were to cover discipline procedures, classroom management, lesson planning and writing skills. It was impossible and frustrating.

The LAUSD is now focusing on reform through LEARN; however, these reforms seem doomed to failure without trained, experienced teachers to implement new approaches in the classroom. Our top high school and college students will not select teaching as a profession if they have a minimal salary and limited benefits to look forward to after five years of college. Salaries need to be a top priority instead of a poor second to new programs.

Many of the faces I saw in the workshop will not last long in the classroom. These people may go on to other careers but the children may have missed the opportunity they needed to succeed.

MARJORY WOOLF

Woodland Hills

* The article on new schoolteachers (Sept. 6) conveniently excludes a whole group of the highest qualified teachers, those who would exult with a starting salary of $26,000, those with decades of experience in practical, applied math and science, some with 10 to 20 years as part-time teachers, some who would outperform even Jaime Escalante himself--the older aerospace engineers.

No school district dares to utter the words, but age discrimination seems to be the only apparent reason for choosing younger teachers over the older set.

This writer has over 15 years teaching, over 20 years of engineering, over 370 college credits, repeating the calculus series to ensure professionalism, was a substitute math/physics teacher in nearly 20 school districts, yet is still waiting for the first serious offer. In 1982, L.A. Unified begged this engineer to teach electronics in the district for $17,500 while volunteering at Narbonne High in the adopt-a-school program. Today, the phone is strangely quiet.

CHARLES A. SENDREY

Huntington Beach