Isaac Latterell Must Think He Is a Teacher, But That Will Not Deal With the Teacher Shortage

Isaac Latterell, Representative of District 6, was one of 18 house Representatives to vote against a resolution that recognizes the teacher shortage that is hitting South Dakota.  Cory Heidelberger does a nice job of going into details about the vote.  Mr. Latterell chooses to vote with BFF Jenna Haggar instead of listening to the facts of a bi-partisan panel that investigated the problem.  

The reason he might not think there is a shortage is that he feels he is an accomplished "teacher" of government.  Back in October Mr. Latterell with Jenna Haggar shares this video about the basic structure of the republic form of government.  

(I WOULD POST THE VIDEO, BUT A 49 MINUTE VIDEO IS A LITTLE TO MUCH FOR ANYONE AND I AM HAVING TROUBLE WITH VIMEO)

Here are a few friendly teacher tips:

1. Don't lecture for 49 minutes.  You should have a variety of activities to help keep the class engaged.

2. Teaching is about encouraging students to develop his or her own thoughts, not to make political statements.  

3. Avoid words like "peons" (around 9 minutes in).  This just makes the students giggle.

4. Avoid comparing other forms of government to slavery.  (9:30 minutes in) You may like drawing chains, but it is a poor analogy that may offend members in your school district and students you are teaching.

5. I wouldn't take stands on the government shut down.  (20 minutes in) Your statement and the way you just shrug it off might be a problem for a student whose mom or dad work with EROS datacenter, a FDA inspector, a member of the National Guard in Sioux Falls, or a rancher that could not get assistance after a horrible, horrible blizzard.

6. By the way, Tim Johnson is also a Senator from South Dakota.  You just mention John Thune.

7. Never a good idea to start lecturing about the teachings of the God or the Bible when teaching a government class in a public school setting.  You may offend the atheist in the class room, the Buddhists, the practitioners of Hinduism, (you get the point).  You are also violating the concept of Separation of church and state.  

I could go on, but hopefully you will take this opportunity to reflect about how you did using the Danielson model and redevelop a new lesson plan explaining how you are meeting the state standards and teaching to all of your student learning styles.  I also expect that you will get this done while attending multiple committee meetings, coaching an activity, staying around to help a student improve from the last unit or make up work missed while on vacation, and working another job to help make your family bills.