The Teaching Profession and You Chapter 1

Choosing a Career  Childhood memories…what careers were contemplated, who influenced these thoughts?  “The Pros and Cons of Teaching” challenges and frustrations (video)  The Good News and the Bad News…seven wide perspectives…which is most persuasive to you?

Ever since I was very young I knew that 1.I never wanted to grow up and work 2.I always wanted to be a teacher 3.Choosing a career would be hard 4.I wanted to be rich 5.I mostly wanted to have a family 6.it didn’t matter what I did for work

The Pros and Cons of Teaching  Cons: Heavy workloads, extra responsibilities, discipline issues, negative attitudes of students, unresponsive administrators, lack of support from parents…and salaries  Merit Pay…linking teacher performance and teacher salary…how do you measure teacher performance?  Tenure…expectancy of continued employment

A Professional or a Tall Child? Criteria of a profession:  provide essential services,  identified with an area of need or function,  unique body of knowledge,  decisions made in accordance with principles and theories,  undergirding disciplines from which it applies knowledge and skills,  professional associations control the work

Criteria of a Profession  Performance standards for admission  Protracted preparation period  High level of public trust and confidence  Strong service motivation and lifetime commitment to competence  The profession itself determines individual competence  Relative freedom from direct or public supervision  Respect and Salary for Teachers (video)

Criteria for a semiprofession  Lower in occupational status  Shorter training period  Lack of societal acceptance of autonomy  Less specialized and less highly developed body of knowledge and skills  Markedly less emphasis on theory and conceptual bases for practice  Individual tends to identify with the employment institution more than the profession

Criteria for a semiprofession  More subject to supervisory and administrative control  Less autonomy in professional decision making  Management by persons prepared in the same area  Preponderance of women  Absence of the right of privileged communication between client and professional  Little involvement in life and death matters

I’m convinced that teaching is a 1.Profession 2.Semi-profession 3.Something other

Percent of teachers who say  Work they love to do…96%  Would choose it again…80%  See it as a life-long choice…75%  Get a lot of satisfaction…68%  Fell into teaching by chance…12%  (data comes from teachers who have been teaching 5 years or less)

From Normal Schools to Board- Certified Teachers  The Crusade to Educate Teachers (video)  Teacher Education: 1823 Reverend Samuel Hall established a normal school in Concord, Vermont…formal training in teaching skills  Horace Mann, 1839 in Lexington, Massachusetts…first state-supported normal school…two year teacher training in academics as well as teaching methodology

History of teacher training  As the twentieth century progressed, professional teacher training gained wider acceptance…many colleges and universities expanded teacher training programs to three and four years (many normal schools evolved into state teachers’ colleges)  1980s…A Nation at Risk…and the reforms to reshape education (Holmes Group issued Tomorrow’s Teachers; Carnegie Forum issued A Nation Prepared)  NBPTS…board certified teachers

Before U.M.D. existed, it was 1.Duluth State Teachers’ College 2.Duluth Normal School 3.Duluth Technical College 4.University of Duluth

How Teachers are prepared today  Traditional four or five year undergrad programs  Post-graduate programs (U of M, TC)  Alternative licensure, e.g. Teach for America, on-the-job training

Legends about Teaching  Teachers are born, not made  All you really need to know is the subject you are teaching  Teacher education students are less talented than other college majors

I really believe that 1.The best teachers are born not made 2.The most important thing is to know the subject you are teaching 3.Almost anybody can qualify to be a teacher 4.Good teaching takes special knowledge and skill 5.There are few good teachers

Educational Associations  NEA: 3 million members, largest professional and employee organization in the nation, political action  AFT: 1 million members, streetwise union, liberal history of backing civil rights  The Fight for Teachers’ Rights (video)