“Teachers who reflect on yesterday make better decisions tomorrow.” -Janelle McBroom, Teacher The Teaching Profession How do Teachers spend their time?

– Beginning teachers and what happens to them – Beginning teachers’ beliefs and how these beliefs influence their behavior – What is it like to be a teacher? – How pre-service teachers can prepare for their first year of teaching CChapter Objectives

This I Believe Survey

How Teachers Spend Their Time 3.5Private time 5.3Travel 19.8Desk and routine work 25.2 Peer interactions Working with students Instruction Testing and monitoring Supervision Total working with students Percentage of Day Activity ©2005 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Teacher’s Week 45 and 50 hours – average being around 46 hours for 9 months with students 45% of a day Which compares favorably with other occupations – requiring a bachelor’s degree 46 hours

Class Scheduling Four-by-four block schedules, which increase the length of classes, often doubling typical periods. – Four classes a day In an alternating-day block schedule, classes are approximately minutes long, students take eight classes a semester, and classes meet every other day. –A–A –B–B

Obstacles to Year- Around Schooling 1 st Parents: summer vacations and summer camps, and family time. 2 nd Money: air conditioning 3 rd Teachers: salaries or time to work on recertification, new areas of certifications, or a master’s degree. 4 th obstacle- school lacks the administrative staff to run during the summer. (advantages of 4 day school week)

Comparison with Other Countries As opposed to their U.S. counterparts, – Japanese teachers work a 240-day school year (yr-around) – compared US: 180 days (9 months). Teachers in Japan spend about half as much time as U.S. teachers in “direct classroom instruction,” (actual teaching). Students spend more time on individualized instruction in Japan. The rest of the time is spent in professional planning, conferring with colleagues, and helping to govern their schools………… Monday in preparation – More days involved – Less time with students (direct instruction)

Advantages of Private School Employment May not require teaching license Smaller schools with less bureaucracy Smaller classes, less children in a class. Focused mission Greater parental involvement

Professional Dilemma: Do you want to spend more time working with students? Professional level, greater teacher involvement in school governance implies greater power and autonomy, resulting in increased teacher professionalism. However, more time spent in governance and working with other teacher means less time spent with students.

Survival Skills for the First Year of Teaching Organization: maximizes time Classroom management: #1 concern of beginning teachers Effective instruction: increases motivation & decreases management problems Knowing students: shows caring & helps create productive learning environment

First Year of teaching 1 st yr….15% leave 2 nd yr…15% more 3 rd yr…10% leave 5 th yr…45% of new teachers leave

Working Conditions New teacher Challenges: 1) Require teachers to spend too much time on nonteaching duties, 2) Offer them too little time on planning, 3) And provide no time for themselves

Caring Professionals Refers to teacher’s abilities to empathize with and invest in the protection and development of young people. – “Understanding student problems” and “Being kind and friendly” (Boyer,1995) – Building relationships Knowledge of content and classroom management were rated as being much less important by students, but are essential for teaching.

Gender in Teaching Interestingly, despite attempts to attract males to the elementary level, the percentage of males there has not changed significantly in the last 10 years. At the preschool level, the percentage of males is even lower, less than 5 percent.

Female Teachers Today the figure is closer to 75 percent 12% minority teachers VS 1800’s 85%

Public School Teachers’ Gender by Assignment 1684Special Education 2080English/Language Arts 6238Social Studies 4852Math/Science 991Elementary MaleFemaleArea ©2005 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Minority Teachers and What They Bring to the Profession The number of minority students in U.S. schools continues to grow. (mid 21 st century) Nearly 1/3rd of school-age children in the United States are cultural minorities. (4 of 10) Efforts to recruit greater numbers of minority teachers include early recruitment programs aimed at high school.

Race-Ethnicity The percentage of minority teachers has declined slightly in recent years, a trend that has many educators concerned because the percentage of minority youth in our schools is steadily increasing. – Need minority role-models – Alternative perspectives – Effective minority instructors

Teacher Compensation Plans

Mentoring Teachers Conflict in beginning teacher expectations? – Knowledge a skill development – School culture – General instructional management – Reflection Rate at which new teachers leave the profession? – Move the mentee from dependent problem-solver to independent problem- solver. – Cognitive Coaching

National Board Certification Professional Teaching Standards Knowledge of Learners Knowledge of Content General Pedagogy Pedagogical Knowledge Cultural Knowledge

Summary Who Will You Work With? – New teachers differ from the existing teaching force in several ways. – They are more likely to be White, female Science/Math teachers, and young/Novice teachers. Teachers working in time frames – Internet, accountable, Blackboard Multiply roles of teachers – Collect data systematically, analyze, reflect, self-assess, collaborate