teaching profession essay in english

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Teaching as a Profession Essay

Teaching is a respected profession which demands consistency and patience. Educators are not only seen as knowledge distributors but also mentors and role models. This article “ Teaching as a Profession Essay” sheds light on the value of such teachers and what the world would be without them. Let’s get started with the importance of teaching profession.

Many teachers dedicate all their lives to empowering students and making them better and more successful human beings in their lives. Furthermore, they even help them financially so that they’re not left behind in life. These are those children who can never afford to be admitted to coaching classes for competitive exams. Anand Kumar teaches, guides, and motivates students to dream big and fulfil those dreams.

Table of Contents

Some Respected Teachers in History

The first Anand Kumar from Super 30 (played by Hrithik Roshan) made a record of selecting 18 students for IIT out of 30 students.

The next example in front of us is Siva Subramania Iyer. He was the teacher of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and he was responsible for giving India its Missile Man. He taught him to fly high and inspired him to make it big.

Thus, not only teaching a profession a thing to pursue but also a passion that can take you to heights.

What is a Teaching Profession?

We all know what it is teaching profession. But still, we need to be aware of the importance of teaching profession. They mentor and motivate students to perform well in their studies and be passionate about their careers.

Let’s explain teaching as a profession. Teaching is a job made to make students more capable and teach important academic and life lessons even about values like respect, sharing, ethical values, and cultures.

Teachers are the ones who teach students to live life with discipline and high value and also play a crucial role in shaping the minds and lives of students, allowing them to attain knowledge, skills, and values crucial for personal and intellectual growth.

Importance of Teaching Profession

Teaching is the most desirable Profession nowadays. The importance of the Teaching Profession incorporates tomfoolery and learning together. Being in the teaching profession doesn’t mean you have to share your knowledge.

Teachers play a vital role in student’s life by assisting them with achieving their goals. Therefore, choosing the Teaching Profession offers perpetual career opportunities. However, Teaching isn’t the only Profession; in fact, it is the activity to serve education. Let’s check out the reasons explaining the importance of teaching profession in this “Teaching as a Profession Essay”.

Improves Communication Abilities

Teaching is a systematic strategy to communicate with more and more people. In this manner, being in the teaching profession will improve communication abilities. Therefore, one can interact more confidently with others.

Fun and learning together

Among all careers and professions, we found teaching much better. The Importance of the Teaching Profession is that one can have fun and learn together. Other than training students, teachers can be involved in other educational program activities.

Experience To Handle Various Youngsters

School or college is a place where various students with various mentalities reach. The teacher should have the ability to handle all youngsters normal, savvy, or physically disabled.

Brilliant Organization Abilities

The teaching profession makes one multi-tasker; notwithstanding teaching academics to students, teachers, and Organizational abilities. Being organized means one can manage time and resources proficiently and really for improved productivity.

Ethical And Restrained

One characteristic of the teaching profession involves morals and discipline. Teachers teach ethical values which make students more focused. 

Setting up Role Models for Others

Being a teacher isn’t a lot of complex however being a favorite of all is what matters. Teachers should inspire students to find their secret talents and achieve their aims. An inspired teacher can make students motivated by setting up Role models.

Assemble Future Leaders

Teachers are the source of affecting tomorrow’s leaders. 

Inspire and Influence

Teachers have the added responsibility of shaping the future generation and also have an opportunity to make a distinction. They will have the exceptional opportunity to guide a mass in the correct direction.

Improvement and Learning

It will associate with young, curious, personalities all day, you would actually want to propel yourself and get better consistently. At the point when you are in an environment that asks a lot of questions and is curious, you grow and develop consistently.

Work Satisfaction

Teaching provides job satisfaction that resembles no other and the joy of making a distinction and making a change in the correct direction is like no other.

Teaching is a deferential job and look up to teachers for work. They guide and direct students and also they inspire and shape future generations.

Potential for Growth

It is a clear career path with a lot of opportunities and with online teaching apps and virtual classrooms on the rise you can teach from the comfort of your home and without any geographical restrictions.

Role of a teacher

While writing an essay on teaching as a profession, the role of a teacher must be included. Teachers should find different ways to teach students and apply them in teaching so that the maximum information and knowledge reach the students.

They are responsible not just for teaching the syllabus but also for inspiring students by exchanging thoughts, sharing a bond, and being with them in every up and down.

Teaching skills, knowledge, personality, and ways of imparting pieces of information are some factors that affect the learning patterns of students. It helps teachers to become successful teachers and mentors for their students.

Academic Path For A Teacher

To pursue teaching as a profession, you can follow some of the below-mentioned ways:

Nursery Teacher

To become a teacher of pre-primary, you should complete your 12th and pursue a Nursery Teacher Training (NTT) course of 1-year duration. You can also go for a Kindergarten Training Program or a Montessori Teacher Training program for about 9 months to 1 year. Even after completing graduation, you can opt for these courses. With the right qualifications and skills, you can try your career in teaching.

Also, by pursuing the child development program of Anganwadi Workers (AWW) – Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), you can begin your career as a teacher in Anganwadi.

Primary School Teacher

In the primary section of teaching, you can have the chance to teach students a variety of subjects and enhance the learning experience. If you want to make your career as a teacher for primary classes, then you have the following options:

The option of a Primary Teacher Training (PTT) program of a 2-year duration is also available for pursuing.

You can also take part in the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) to get recruited as Primary School Teachers in Government schools and Government primary schools.

Secondary and Higher Secondary School Teachers

If you want to be a teacher of higher secondary classes then you can do a Master’s degree after graduation and then pursue a B.Ed. degree.

If you want to qualify as a teacher for central government-run schools, then the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) will be the option for you. CTET is conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for applicants to be eligible to be a teacher at the secondary and higher secondary levels.

You can also opt for the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) or a State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) for recruiting secondary-level and higher-secondary-level teachers.

College and University Teacher

If you want to teach students in colleges or universities or want to be called a lecturer in government or private colleges and universities, then follow the available options:

How to Become a College or University Teacher?

If you want to choose teaching as a career in a college or university, you must get a degree in a Master’s program.

Once you complete a Master’s degree, you can apply for the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). NET requires a postgraduate degree and a certification of eligibility for entrance.

It is an essay on the teaching profession that can help you on your pathway to becoming a teacher.

Characteristics of Teaching

However, many teachers teach in schools/academies/Institutions or colleges, yet not all may prevail with regards to being great teachers for students. So, what are the characteristics of the Teaching Profession that make teachers more successful in the classroom?

Those who enjoy investing energy with youngsters and will make others educated with their abilities can choose Teaching as a Profession.

To become an exemplary teacher, one may possess relevant qualities like creating a dynamic environment, being adaptable, and kind, classroom management, a good comical inclination, an active personality, being Innovative, calm demeanor, experience, and so on.

Teachers’ unions and teachers’ associations

In most countries, there is one major teachers’ organization to which all or nearly all teachers belong and pay duty. Sometimes participation is obligatory, sometimes voluntary.

In the former Soviet Union, where a significant part of the political and social existence of the people had been organized around unions, there were three teachers’ unions — preschool teachers, primary and secondary school teachers, and teachers in advanced education. These unions provided pensions, vacation pay, and debilitated leave pay and in this way touched the welfare of teachers at many points.

England, for example, has two distinct associations for male and female secondary school teachers, two unique associations for male and female headmasters of secondary schools, and a separate Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions.

These associations are parallel to the National Union of Teachers, which is open to any qualified teacher from nursery school to college level. The National Union has no political affiliation except for being politically powerful by its own doing.

France, in contrast, has a wide variety of teachers’ organizations, with various political leanings, however, they do not manage everything well together and are politically less successful.

In this “Teaching as a Profession Essay”, we learn the importance of teaching profession and how to explain teaching as a profession. Teaching provides a way to give back to society and teachers have so much potential in the field, that they should be given every opportunity possible to use it.

Teaching is a profession of imparting knowledge and skills to students in a way that will help them achieve their full potential and such as teaching can be an incredibly rewarding career. Teaching is one of the few professions that allow you to work with children and then retire from the same occupation while still young.

• Important Principles of Teaching
• Basic Requirements Of Teaching
• Level of Teaching – Memory, Understanding & Reflective Level

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Essay on Teaching Profession & Its Benefits

Teaching is an often under-appreciated profession, but the impact of a good teacher cannot be overstated. Teachers are an essential part of society, shaping the next generation’s future.

But what makes a great teacher? There are many qualities that make someone successful in this role. Great teachers balance the needs of their students with their own needs for success; they work to create engaging lessons; and they prepare students for all aspects of life after high school.

Teaching also provides a chance for personal growth and development as well as the ability to make a difference in lives. This essay will explore some benefits of teaching profession.

Essay on Teaching Profession

Teaching is a noble profession. It requires a person to have a deep knowledge of the subject matter, be able to convey it to others, and have the patience for those who don’t learn as quickly as others.

A good teacher is not only knowledgeable on the topic but also has a set of relationships with the students that go beyond the classroom.

Teaching might not be an easy task but it is an important one. Teaching can change someone’s life by teaching them new skills or providing them with a more thorough understanding of something they were previously confused about.

1 – Why teaching is important?

Teachers make a real difference in the lives of people who are ill or suffering. Students learn to develop their own learning styles Students get to know one another and develop social skills and begin to know their place in the world.

The teachers serve the community because they are there to help educate the youth of tomorrow. By having a profound impact on the lives of students and their families, you are helping people reach their potential and providing them with opportunities they might not have otherwise.

Teaching is important because it makes a huge impact on development of society or a country. It is a profession that has the ability make a stronger nation.

2 – Reasons to Become a Teacher

The role of the teacher is to be a caretaker of others; responsible for bringing out the best in everyone you come into contact with. There may be a lot of reasons to become a teacher but some are listed here.

• Teaching gives you the opportunity to teach and motivate others to do great things, even if it is a student in your classroom.
• The ability to help others learn, both inside and outside the classroom.
• Learning new skills and adapting your ways of teaching and learning in order to satisfy the needs of different students.
• Learning how to work with others and collaborating to achieve a common goal.
• Making a difference and positively influencing lives.
• Get credentialed.

3 – Teaching is Great for Personal Growth

Teaching allows you to make a difference in students’ lives, which can be very rewarding for teachers themselves. Teachers can teach lessons about creativity, patience, perseverance, creativity, and responsibility, among many other things.

These lessons are crucial to a child’s life and can help mold the next generation of successful people. Teaching Makes you a better person. One of the best things about teaching is that it makes you a better person.

Children inspire teachers and, in turn, they can teach children to follow their dreams, achieve their goals, and be independent. By teaching students, you can inspire the students you once were. As a teacher, you have the opportunity to teach students the value of education and the joys of learning.

4 – Benefits of Teaching

The job satisfaction level of teaching is particularly high. Many teachers tell us that they are really able to connect with their students and share a passion for what they are learning.

In addition to developing other professional skills, teaching also allows students to learn the essential skills necessary for success in college and in life.

Research shows that children are more successful when they are taught at a younger age, and it is generally recommended that teachers serve from 6 to 18 years of age.

There are many rewards that come with becoming a teacher. Some people become teachers for the financial benefits but others choose it because they have a passion for the subject they are teaching and want to share that love with others.

Teaching also provides opportunities for personal growth and development.

5 – The Need for Teachers

Teachers are needed in all professions, but the lack of teachers in certain occupations, such as in the military, means that there are a lot of people who could benefit from a teacher’s presence. There are about 2.5 million teachers, or 18% of the total teacher workforce, in the U.S., but most of those people will never see the inside of a classroom.

In fact, the vast majority of students who need teachers are not even aware that they need them.

In a culture where children learn at a faster rate, they want more hands-on learning experiences. At present, America’s children spend less time studying and doing traditional lessons and more time doing research, in comparison to their counterparts in other countries.

The teacher’s role in this situation is to provide this hands-on learning experience. Being able to instill in children an enthusiasm for learning is what teachers do best, and the best teacher in the world is one who inspires children to learn.

6 – Challenges of teaching

Teaching is a stressful job, which means that some people are discouraged and turn down the opportunity to teach. However, teachers do not have much time off, since the students usually need to meet with them on a daily basis. Therefore, they have to be at their best and available. The job also requires a lot of patience, because students can be difficult to deal with. Experience of teaching Teaching requires a high level of knowledge, and a good knowledge of the subject of study is necessary. Many teachers also need a thorough knowledge of the educational system in the country they teach in. Teachers also have to be able to read and write in multiple languages, which may be a challenge in the Philippines.

Teaching jobs come with a lot of challenges and stress. Some of these challenges are occupational and some are related to age. Regardless of the challenges you face, the biggest challenges facing teachers are the following: Overcrowding Class sizes are high, especially in public schools. In addition to the extra people in your classes, some schools have open classrooms that are designed so that students can come in and out at will. As a result, teachers spend a lot of time with their students when it is not a class period. This is important to learn about so that you can set up a classroom that will be able to function well. You can train your students in the art of teaching so that they can accomplish more on their own. Relationships Teaching is a way to be in a community.

7 – Teaching as a career

You’ll be able to teach a variety of different things including preschool, home-school, and higher education. You could teach middle school or high school and teach at the college level or teach kindergarten or elementary school and work at the elementary or junior high level. It can be a career you can pursue in order to make a difference in lives. You can learn valuable teaching techniques and then use these techniques for your students. You can take up other interests after teaching. It’s possible to work in the summer to earn extra money. Teaching Essay: What do you need to know? If you’re thinking of becoming a teacher, then you must start reading a lot about the subject. This will help you to find out all the details about it, the job, the pay, and the work-life balance.

Teaching may be the most popular career option in the United States. Even though the job market has not been as favorable to young people as many may think, many remain devoted to teaching. Having a job as a teacher means that you can also be a job seeker. It is important to consider all of the factors before deciding on a career, especially if you plan on staying at one position for the rest of your life. Other careers Teaching may not be the most popular choice for young people, but it is not out of the question. Other options include becoming a police officer, a teacher in a foreign language, or a nurse.

8 – How to become a teacher

As the link between life and education, the teaching profession is not something that you can just wake up and decide to do. You must be attracted to the teaching field and have a great passion for it. In a market where many people are on the lookout for teaching jobs, you must be outstanding in what you do in order to win the position. In the last 15 years, there has been a steady increase in

Becoming a teacher can be simple and economical as well. You can learn the necessary skills in no time by getting some guidance and the proper materials. You can also find free tutorials online on how to become a teacher. You can also find online videos and books on teaching at all levels of education. With these, you can effectively teach the course you need to teach. What to expect when you become a teacher In addition to all these, there is a good deal of satisfaction when you teach because you enjoy teaching. But you can make your teaching life even more rewarding by meeting the students and giving them the experience of learning something from a person. You can give them what you did not have as a student, and then you can teach them more effectively.

9 – Conclusion

Teaching provides a way to give back to society and to help improve the lives of those who come after us. Since teachers have so much potential in the field, they should be given every opportunity possible to use it. Don’t let yourself be left out of the perfect opportunity. Be the one to bring change and be the one to inspire others. Become a teacher, and it will change your life.

Teaching is the profession of imparting knowledge and skills to students in a way that will help them achieve their full potential. As such, teaching can be an incredibly rewarding career. What’s more, teaching is one of the few professions that allow you to work with children and then retire from the same occupation while still young. Teaching gives you the chance to make a lasting impact on the world by inspiring a new generation of thinkers and leaders. Teaching is also a way for people to find meaning in their lives after struggling in other areas.

For some, the feeling that comes from helping others is a driving force that motivates them in life. If you enjoy helping others and have a desire to make a difference in their lives, teaching might be the right profession for you. Helping others, seeing them achieve their goals, and seeing them grow can build a lasting positive impact in your life. Job Security Some people worry about job security in this day and age. Teaching, while not the most secure of professions, is at least considered to be a stable career. There is always going to be demand for teachers because kids need an adult in their life who is always there for them. Teachers will always have a place in the workforce because they help children to learn.

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The Teaching Profession pp 61–100 Cite as

Teaching as a Profession

• A. Reis Monteiro 2  
• First Online: 01 January 2014

1907 Accesses

5 Citations

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Education ((BRIEFSEDUCAT))

According to international and national reports and studies, the overall status of the teaching profession is not very prestigious (and indeed far from it), as already mentioned. Underlying its widely degraded status—and being decisive for its future—is the crux of grasping its very identity. Teachers should consider themselves and be considered as professionals of the right to education and of pedagogic communication, the centre of gravity of their professionalism being interpersonal relationship. At the core of the teaching profession is its unique and far-reaching ethical dimension. The improvement of its quality should therefore begin at … the beginning. The human quality of the candidates to exercising the profession should be taken into account when deciding on the criteria for entering professional education and evaluating professional performance. Besides selection, education and evaluation, improving the quality of the teaching profession should also include other aspects of its professional and social status, such as working conditions, as well as pay and career perspectives, without overlooking the relevance of school management. The future of the teaching profession is obviously tied to that of the school. Teachers should become professionals of example. Professional exemplarity should be understood as an exceptional incarnation of a blend of qualities, values and knowledge. The teaching profession should be principally responsible for attracting the best human beings. How? by means of outstanding professional self-governing bodies, composed of people holding a passionate and inspiring vision.

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www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---sector/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_162259.pdf .

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See the database of the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (CSEP, created in 1976), Illinois Institute of Technology (USA) ( http://ethics.iit.edu/codes/coe.html ).

Kindly made electronically available by OAJ (February 2013).

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The European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations refers to its Code of Ethics as a “Meta-Code” ( www.efpa.be/ethics.php ).

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The philosopher Olivier Reboul (1925–1992) said that “every teacher is a teacher of Morals, even without his or her knowing” ( 1971 , p. 109).

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The NBPTS webpage reads:

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, known simply as National Board, is an independent, nonprofit organization. It was formed in 1987 to advance the quality of teaching and learning by developing professional standards for accomplished teaching, creating a voluntary system to certify teachers who meet those standards and integrating board-certified teachers into educational reform efforts. (See more at: http://www.nbpts.org/who-we-are#sthash.EMoRVWn1.dpuf )

Other organizations for voluntary certification, at federal level, include the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE), the National Center for Alternative Certification (NCAC) and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).

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The Ontario’s New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) is a good example.

They are organized according to the rules of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), created by the Bologna Process, and the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS, each one corresponding to 25–30 h of learning work, and each academic year consisting of 60 ECTS).

Accountability is an ancient English term whose etymology is ‘count’, but has gained a broader meaning that entered the dictionaries and encyclopedias only in the 1980s, following Dario Castiglione ( 2006 ).

An OECD ( 2011b ) Report comments: “Given the ‘teacher-bashing’ engaged in by the previous government, this show of trust in the competence and professionalism of the teaching force was an essential ingredient in repairing the rupture that had developed between the profession and the government” (p. 76).

In connexion with this, the Report of the 2013 International Summit on the Teaching Profession notes:

Jaakko Meretniemi, a teacher from Finland, struck a different note. He said that teachers in Finland are well educated – all have master’s degrees. He did not see the need for a formal teacher-evaluation system. Teachers get plenty of feedback from their students and colleagues. He worried that the Summit was going in the wrong direction, that increasing teacher inspections might kill teachers’ passion for their work. (Asia Society 2013 , p. 17).

http://core.roehampton.ac.uk/digital/froarc/comgre/ .

Translation: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001202/120260e.pdf (p. 123).

Karl Marx (1818–1883) put it this way in “Theses on Feuerbach”, first published as an appendix to Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy (1886): “The materialist doctrine concerning the changing of circumstances and upbringing forgets that circumstances are changed by men and that it is essential to educate the educator himself”. ( www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/Marx_Ludwig_Feurbach_and_the_End_of_German_Classical_Philosop.pdf ). This is a problem similar to the political one highlighted by Tom Campbell ( 2006 ): “The eternal problem of political philosophy is how we can guard the guardians” (p. 100).

www.oecd.org/dataoecd/53/16/46335575.pdf .

Learning to be — The world of education today and tomorrow is the title of an influential Report prepared by an International Commission appointed by UNESCO, published in 1972.

For instance, the Teachers’ Code of Ethics and Practice of the Council for the Teaching Profession in Malta, adopted in 2012, which elaborates on six “Key Principles”, refers three times to ‘role model’ (defined as “any person who serves as an example and whose behaviour is emulated by others”), namely: “A teacher shall endeavour to be a role model and shall act within the community in a manner which enhances the prestige of the profession”. Teachers should “behave in keeping with their unique position of trust and status as role models”. They shoul:

Be mindful of their position as a role models to students; and Both in their personal and professional life, be mindful of their behaviour and attitude, being that these may have an impact on the profession they represent.

( http://education.gov.mt/en/resources/documents/teachers%20resources/teachers%20code%20of%20ethics%20en.pdf ).

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Monteiro, A.R. (2015). Teaching as a Profession. In: The Teaching Profession. SpringerBriefs in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12130-7_5

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Chapter 1: The Teaching Profession

Unlearning Box

“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.”

“It’s easy to become a teacher.”

“Teaching is an 8:30-3:00 job. You have it so easy!”

You may have heard people in your own life share quotes and comments such as these. These quotes are hurtful and untrue. Teaching is a profession. Teachers are capable, intelligent, and held to extremely high professional standards. Quotes and comments like these demonstrate gross misunderstandings of what it means to be a teacher in the United States.

In this chapter, we will begin to peer behind the scenes of what it means to be a teacher in the United States. We’ll walk through a day in the life of a teacher, break down what is involved to become a teacher, and close with characteristics of effective teachers.

Chapter Outline

Elementary perspective, secondary perspective, special education perspective, profile of teachers today, undergraduate degree program, graduate degree program, accreditation of epps, provisional certification, residency programs.

• Maintaining a Teaching License

InTASC Standards

Professionalism & dispositions, teacher beliefs, a day in the life.

To get started, let’s drop into three different classrooms to get a feel for a day in the life of an elementary teacher, a secondary (high school) teacher, and a special education teacher.

The school doors open at 7 AM, and you greet children as they enter the cafeteria for breakfast. Once morning duty is over, you hurry to your classroom to await the 25 students that will come filing in momentarily. You make sure materials and directions for tasks are ready and calming music is playing. As students enter, you gather signed forms and respond to notes from families, help students with their morning activities, take attendance, and hold a morning meeting. The rest of the day, you are simultaneously teaching the content areas–English, math, science and social studies–and social skills as students navigate groupwork and friendships. Various other educators drop in throughout the day: the reading specialist to work with a group of readers who need extra support, the occupational therapist to help a student with some motor skills still developing, the speech pathologist to help students with articulation and language development, the instructional coach and sometimes the principal to give you feedback on your instruction.

Pauses throughout the day from the busy pace of classroom life include related arts, where students go to learn about music, visual art, library, P.E., and more while you meet with your grade level for team planning; and lunch and recess, which involve scarfing down your lunch while getting your students through the lunch line, figuring out who changed their lunch choice or left their lunch at home, opening mustard packets, reminding students to eat while they talk with friends, and hopefully scuttling off to check your school mailbox and take a bathroom break. After a post-recess water break, you return to classroom instruction, with a few interruptions for students leaving early for doctor’s appointments, a student needing to go to the nurse’s office, another teacher popping in to borrow a book, or sometimes even a whole-school assembly for a class play or anti-bullying program.

When it is time to pack up for the day at 2:30, you make sure all students know how they are getting home that day, have their materials packed and ready to go, and then you bid them farewell at the door with a hug, high-five, or handshake as they head to their dismissal area. Once your room is empty, you go to monitor a dismissal area to make sure everyone is safe. After school, you might have a faculty meeting, a debrief with an instructional coach based on today’s observation, or time to prepare tomorrow’s instructional materials. You marvel at how quickly yet another day has passed in the life of an elementary school teacher.

The bell rings at 8:15 AM, but you’ve already been at school for more than an hour–making copies, checking emails, and writing the plans and goals for the day on the board. As an English teacher, you’ve decided to work on writing fluency during this year, so as the students enter the classroom, they take out their journals and begin responding to the prompt on the board. Every day the class meets, the students will write for five minutes and then briefly discuss their responses with each other and as a whole group. You write alongside them to model what it looks like, and often share your own writing–at the beginning of the year, most of the students struggled to write for five straight minutes, but now nearly all of them have gotten the hang of it. The rest of the lesson involves a minilesson on figurative language, small group discussions about students’ literature circle books, and a whole group review game to prepare for the unit test on Wednesday.

The school adopted a block schedule last year, so your classes are 75 minutes long. You teach three of four blocks each day; today is an A day, so first block is 9th grade honors and the other two are 10th grade general English. Tomorrow, you will teach two blocks of 9th grade general and one block of 10th grade College Preparatory English. You hate these labels and what they do to the students in the room, and, as department chair, you have been working with your principal to remove such rigid tracking.

“Bear Block” falls between 1st and 2nd block, and ten students stream into the room to retake tests, make up missed homework, or just hang out and read. You glance at the learning management system and see that there are 45 essays waiting for you, but there won’t be time to look more closely at them until later tonight. During lunch, some of your journalism club students are in the room, partially working on stories and layouts, but mostly sharing the latest news about their friends and acquaintances.

For the Professional Learning Community (PLC) meeting during fourth block, you will meet with the other 10th grade English teachers to look at the results of a common assessment. At some schools in the district, the grade-level teachers all teach the same lessons, but luckily at this school you have more freedom in how you teach the material. There is a new teacher on the team who is struggling with classroom management, so the first 15 minutes of the meeting is spent discussing some strategies that have worked in other teachers’ rooms.

The end of the day comes at 3:15 PM, but it will be another hour or two before you head home–there are sub plans to finish for Thursday because you will be attending a district-wide training for working with English Language Learners, and you are hoping to send at least ten texts and emails to parents. The initial fear of parent contact faded quickly, and now it’s one of your strengths–you reach out early and often, connecting with families around student successes first. Later, if students begin struggling, contact is much more seamless. It’s been a long, exhausting day, but interacting with the students has made it all worth it.

You arrive early in the morning, an hour or so before teachers officially start the school day. You greet the office manager, principal, and custodian on the way to your classroom. Aside from these three, the building will be mostly empty for another half hour. You’ve found that this quiet morning time provides the best opportunity to catch up on Individualized Education Plan (IEP) paperwork, reflect on student data from the prior day, and make adjustments to instruction for the coming day. As the official start time for the school day draws close, you make a quick dash to the copy machine, fingers crossed that it isn’t broken and that there isn’t a line of teachers anxiously waiting their turn. It’s your lucky day. Your last photocopies shoot out of the machine just as the overhead announcement calls teachers to report to their morning duty stations. You quickly drop the copies off in your classroom, pick up your data binder, and dash out the door to the bus loop.

The bus loop is a flurry of activity. You greet students with high-fives, occasional hugs, and countless reminders to “use walking feet.” Amid all of these informal greetings, you are slipping in some IEP services by completing morning check-ins with several students who have behavioral or social-emotional goals on their IEPs. From an outsider’s view, these check-ins don’t look that different from your interactions with any other student. However, intermixed with those high-fives and hugs you quietly assess needs, remind students of the goals they are working on, offer supports where needed, and quickly make notes in your data binder. On this particular day, a third grader with autism reports that he is feeling like “a category 3 hurricane.” You know he needs some quiet time before joining his homeroom class, so you walk him to the computer lab where he has an open invitation to help the instructional technology specialist get the computer lab set up for the day.

The halls begin to clear as the instructional day begins. You spend the next six hours in constant motion, serving 18 students across four grade levels. You transition between co-teaching in general education classes and pulling small groups of students to your own classroom for intensive intervention in literacy, math, or social skills. When co-teaching, your job is to supplement the general education teacher’s deep knowledge of grade-level content with specialized instructional strategies that make content meaningful and accessible for students with disabilities and other learning differences. When providing intensive intervention, you implement research-based programs that target specific skills identified in your students’ IEPs. Data collection is on-going and individualized for each student, so your trusty data binder is by your side in all settings.

Normally, you would end the school day completing check-outs with the same students you saw in the morning. Today, you assign that responsibility to a teaching assistant so you can participate in a special education eligibility meeting. It is the initial eligibility meeting for this student and her family. A team of educators work with the parents to determine if the first grader has a disability and needs special education. Her parents feel overwhelmed by the process and fearful when the team concludes that their daughter has an intellectual disability. This is a moment when your job and your passion meet. You assure the parents that the future is bright for their daughter, that the educational label does not change who she is or who she will be, and that you will highlight her strengths and address her needs as you plan her education with them as equal partners. The decisions that you will make with this family are new to them, but for you they are a familiar and important part of your day as an elementary special education teacher.

Becoming a Teacher

The scenarios above describe some typical teaching days, but not all days are the same in teaching. In fact, each one will be different in some way. Deciding to become a teacher is an exciting commitment to shaping the future, and it is both demanding and rewarding. We’ll take a look at the profile of teachers today in the United States, and then discuss various routes toward earning the credentials necessary to become a classroom teacher.

The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) collects data on various aspects of education, one of which is the demographics of teachers and students. In the 2017-2018 school year, there were 3.5 million full- or part-time public school K-12 teachers ( NCES, 2020a ). (K-12 means the range of grades public schools serve, starting with kindergarten in elementary school and culminating with 12th grade in high school.) Of those teachers, 76% were female [1] , 79% were White, 90% held a standard teaching license (more on that below), and 58% had earned a graduate degree (at the master’s level or beyond). A majority of teachers were in the middle of their careers, with 40% having ten to twenty years of experience in the classroom. The average salary of a full-time public school teacher was $57,900, with the average first-year teacher earning $44,200. (Note that salaries vary based on years of experience, highest degree earned, and location.)

Stop & Investigate

Check out the demographics of teachers in your state or school district. How do they compare? Find the salary scale for teachers in your local school district. How does it compare?

Let’s revisit some of those demographics on racial diversity. Figure 1.1 depicts specific racial categories of public school teachers in the 2017-2018 school year, compared with the 1999-2000 school year.

Figure 1.1: Racial Demographics of U.S. Public School Teachers, 1999-2000 and 2017-2018

Note: Data for teachers who identified as Asian, Pacific Islander, and two or more races in 1999-2000 was unavailable. The 2017-2018 data for teachers who identified as Pacific Islander rounded down to 0.

The trends are clear: in the United States, we lack a racially diverse teaching force, and that trend has not changed much in the past 20 years. While the 2017-2018 school year included more Hispanic, Asian, and multi-racial teachers, teachers are still overwhelmingly White. In the same school year, however, students who attended public schools were only 44% White ( NCES, 2020b ). That means that generally, there are more White teachers and more students of color ( Geiger, 2018 ). This trend is concerning, given that research shows that having teachers of color benefits all students, not just students of color ( Wells, Fox, & Cordova-Cobo, 2016 ).

There are many reasons why teachers in the United States are not racially diverse. While the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education (further explained in Chapters 3 and 5 ) demanded all schools integrate to address some of the inequalities between separate schools for White and Black students, it did have other consequences that directly impacted the diversity of teachers in the United States. This case caused 38,000 Black teachers (about one-third of the Black teachers in the country) to lose their jobs in the years following the case (Milner & Howard, 2004; Thompson, 2019 ). Even though this historical antecedent did limit access to teaching jobs for Black people, racial discrimination in the hiring process continues to compound this issue. D’Amico et al. (2017) found that despite equally-qualified candidates applying for jobs in one large school district, White teacher candidates still received a disproportionate number of job offers: of the 70% White applicants, 77% received job offers, while of the 13% Black candidates, 6% received job offers (D’Amico, Pawlewicz, Earley, & McGeehan, 2017; Klein, 2017 ). Beyond the hiring process, retention of hired teachers is lower for teachers of color than for White teachers. For example, between the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years, only 15% of White teachers left their jobs, compared to 22% of Black teachers and 21% of Hispanic teachers ( U.S. Department of Education, 2016 ).

Critical Lens: Naming Races

You may have noticed in this section that races are capitalized (like White and Black). Capitalizing these names recognizes the people more than the color. In fact, the Associated Press recently changed its writing style guide [2]  to capitalize Black and Indigenous when referring to racial categories.

Pathways Toward Teacher Certification

High-quality, well-prepared educators are the foundation of our educational system. Well-prepared teachers are more effective in the classroom and also tend to have higher rates of retention, meaning they choose to stay in the teaching profession (Darling-Hammond, 2010). There are several different ways that you can become a teacher, depending on where you are in your life and career. These pathways toward teacher certification fall into two general categories: traditional or alternative preparation. Traditional preparation involves an undergraduate or graduate degree program affiliated with an Educator Preparation Program (EPP) , while alternative preparation can take many forms, including provisional certification or residency programs like Teach for America. No matter how you obtain your teaching license , you will have to renew the license periodically.

Traditional Preparation: Educator Preparation Program (EPP)

The most traditional way to earn your teaching certificate is through an Educator Preparation Program (EPP). An EPP could offer a few different programs that would culminate in your teaching certificate. Two popular options are an undergraduate degree program or a graduate degree program.

In this pathway toward teacher certification, participants enter a 4-year degree program knowing that they want to become a teacher upon graduation. Exact majors vary: sometimes you might major in education, or in a specific form of education (like elementary education). If you want to teach elementary school, you are expected to be more of a generalist: you will likely teach all content areas to your students. Therefore, you will take education classes in all of these areas. If you want to teach middle or high school or become a related arts teacher (arts, language, etc.), you will major in your future area of specialization, such as history if you want to teach social studies, or music if you want to be a music teacher. Regardless of the exact structure of the specific program, participants take classes that help them learn about pedagogy (the art and science of teaching), along with specific methods of instruction (such as how to teach the structures of different disciplines like literacy, math, science, or social studies).

Completing coursework is just one part of becoming a teacher in a traditional undergraduate degree program. There are also tests that future teachers must pass to prove they are prepared to teach. Some of these tests occur early in the degree as entrance requirements to an education program to assess basic literacy and math skills; some of these tests occur at the end of the degree as a culmination of all courses. These tests, run by ETS, are called Praxis tests. Their website [3] has information about testing requirements in different states.

Critical Lens: Bias in Standardized Assessments

While standardized assessments have been associated with measuring intelligence and learning for many years, some schools are moving away from relying solely on standardized tests as a measure of aptitude. You or someone you know might not be a great test taker, and you may have experienced first-hand (or second-hand through an acquaintance) how standardized tests aren’t always a reliable measure of what you know. Beyond test anxiety, standardized tests also tend to be culturally biased. That means that some cultural norms are assumed to be shared by all test takers, but this isn’t necessarily the case. A passage in a reading assessment, for example, might assume that a test-taker can build on background knowledge of certain experiences, like going camping, that they haven’t had, or use vocabulary words that are more common in middle-class White households. Another standardized test of intelligence, the IQ test [4] , was used early on by eugenicists to argue that White test-takers scored higher because they were the smarter race, using questionable statistical analyses and overlooking that the tests were written to benefit White test-takers. However, these standardized tests were often used to choose “highly qualified” candidates for jobs such as military leaders, therefore limiting access to certain professions based on race and socioeconomic status.

One of the most important parts of preparing to become a teacher is getting practice working in actual classrooms with actual students. In a traditional undergraduate degree program, you will engage in two different types of field placements. The first types of field placements are sometimes called practicum , which are part-time placements that are often tied to specific courses (like methods classes, where you learn about how to teach specific content areas like language arts, math, science, or social studies). You attend practicum a few hours a week in between your other coursework. In these practicum placements, you get to try out what you are learning in class with actual classrooms, teachers, and students. Sometimes you are observing to learn more; other times you are actively leading instruction in one-on-one, small group, or whole group settings. Your various practicum placements typically will be in different schools and different grade levels to give you experience working with many different types of students and teachers. The second type of field placement is called student teaching or an internship . This full-time placement occurs at the very end of your degree program. You spend all day, every day at your placement, just like the classroom teacher does. As the semester progresses, you will take on more and more responsibility for planning and teaching. By the middle of the semester, you will usually be responsible for all of the planning and teaching for all content areas for several weeks. After those few weeks, you begin passing the instructional responsibilities back to the classroom teacher. Both practicum and student teaching will require you to work closely with the classroom teacher, who may be called your mentor teacher . Neither type of field placement is an official job, so you should not expect to be paid for these experiences.

After you have completed all of your undergraduate coursework, your field placement hours, and your state’s required testing, you will earn your teaching certificate and be ready to apply for your first teaching job.

The first graduate, or post-baccalaureate, degree programs were developed in the 1970s as Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) programs (Darling-Hammond, 2010). A post-baccalaureate degree program is designed for people who want to become teachers, but who have already completed their undergraduate coursework in a field other than education. Therefore, a post-baccalaureate degree program allows people to learn how to become teachers while earning a master’s degree. In a post-baccalaureate degree program, courses are often offered in the evenings to cater to the needs of adult students who may be working or have family commitments during the day. Even though its structure is a little different, a post-baccalaureate degree program also has the field experiences explained above (practicum and internship).

After you have completed all of your post-baccalaureate coursework, your field placement hours, and your state’s required testing, you will earn your teaching certificate and be ready to apply for your first teaching job. The master’s degree you will earn in a post-baccalaureate program can result in higher pay for teachers in some states.  (Even if you earn your teaching credential in an undergraduate program, you can still earn a master’s degree in education and get a pay increase in many states.)

Research has shown that teachers who earn their teaching certificate through an educator preparation program (EPP) feel significantly more prepared to meet their students’ needs than those that pursue other routes toward licensure (i.e., Darling-Hammond, Chung, & Frelow, 2002). One reason for this finding lies in the high standards that EPPs must meet. EPPs must be accredited by either state or national agencies. Accreditation means that the programs have met specific standards of high-quality teacher preparation programs.

The first national credentialing agency was the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), which was founded in 1954. By 2016, NCATE was replaced by CAEP (pronounced “cape”), which stands for the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. In their mission, they state: “CAEP advances equity and excellence in educator preparation through evidence-based accreditation that assures quality and supports continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 student learning” ( CAEP, 2020b , “Mission”). To receive CAEP accreditation, EPPs have to demonstrate evidence of their success in five areas, or standards [5] : (1) content and pedagogical knowledge; (2) clinical partnerships and practice; (3) candidate quality, recruitment, and selectivity; (4) program impact; and (5) provider quality, continuous improvement, and capacity. When you enroll in an EPP with CAEP or state-level accreditation, you know you are in a high-quality program that has provided evidence of meeting rigorous standards to prepare teachers.

Alternative Preparation

Sometimes, you decide to become a teacher after you have already earned an undergraduate degree in another field. Perhaps you’ve even worked in another field for several years, and you realize that you would like to become a teacher instead. While each state has different policies and programs for preparing teachers beyond undergraduate coursework, a few common approaches include provisional certification and residency programs like Teach for America.

Some schools face shortages of teachers in certain content areas or in more urban settings, which mean they need teachers as soon as possible–even if those teachers aren’t officially certified just yet. A provisional teaching license allows an individual to become a teacher temporarily, while they work with their employer to arrange to meet the requirements of earning a teaching license (such as taking the required Praxis tests). These licenses might be valid for a period of time ranging from one to three years and typically are not renewable, meaning that if you do not meet the licensure requirements before your certificate expires, you will not be able to continue teaching. Sometimes provisional certification is also called emergency certification, since it is designed to meet an immediate need.

Residency programs are another alternative pathway to receive a teaching credential. Typical participants in a residency model already have a bachelor’s degree prior to beginning a residency program. During the residency program, future teachers work simultaneously on a master’s degree in education while being placed in a school full-time. Typically residents do not serve as the teacher of record in the classroom, meaning they are not solely responsible for all instruction. Residency programs are particularly popular in high-needs areas where there is high teacher turnover and recruitment and retainment of teachers is challenging, such as urban centers. Some critiques of residency programs center on the short-term, intense nature of the experience: while a traditional undergraduate pathway toward a teaching credential takes around four years, a residency may last only one year, with the field experience occurring concurrently with coursework ( NYU Steinhardt, 2018 ).

Teach for America (TFA) is one well-known residency program. TFA recruits from undergraduate completers, mostly from programs other than education, to complete intensive training in the summer immediately following their graduation and prior to assuming their teaching position. Teach for America places candidates in higher-needs areas, while incentivizing the program by offering candidates a free master’s degree in education while they complete two years of teaching in the program. However, fast-tracked, alternative certification programs like Teach for America do tend to have lower rates of retention ( Hegarty, 2001 ). Retention refers to how long teachers stay in the field of education. Higher retention rates lead to higher-quality teachers, since you will keep growing in your competency as a teacher the longer you stay in the profession. Therefore, some alternative certification programs like Teach for America receive critiques for their short-term placement of teachers in schools for a couple of years instead of long-term teaching careers.

Maintaining A Teaching License

Once you have earned an initial teaching license, you will be able to teach for a period of time before you have to renew it. Usually, you will have to renew your license every three or five years; each state sets their own regulations, and different licenses sometimes have different timespans. Renewing your teaching license is important because teaching and learning are constantly changing and evolving, and you will best serve your students by being up-to-date on the latest information. You can earn renewal credits in a variety of ways, including taking graduate courses, attending conferences, attending professional development opportunities offered in your district and beyond, and more. The year your license will expire, you will have to submit a request to renew your license to your state Department of Education, including evidence of how you met your continuing education requirements. You cannot be a teacher with an expired license, so it is important that you remember to keep your teaching license current.

Each state has their own policies for becoming a teacher, so what happens if you earn a teaching license in one state and then have to move to another state? Many state Departments of Education have reciprocity with other states, meaning that your license could be transferred to a new state without having to start over completely. You might have to meet a few additional requirements unique to your new state, such as Praxis tests, but you don’t have to go back to school to get another degree in education. Learn more about reciprocity from the Education Commission of the States [6] , including a state-by-state comparison of reciprocity conditions [7] .

Look up the licensure and reciprocity policies for your state. Here is Virginia’s licensure website [8] . What do you notice about your state’s policies?

Characteristics of Effective Teachers

First of all, what does it mean to be an effective teacher? Effectiveness can be hard to define. Some ways to measure effectiveness include student achievement, such as test scores; performance ratings from supervisors, like administration members observing a lesson; or informal feedback in the form of comments from students or other stakeholders. Defining effectiveness is further complicated by the reality that there are many variables that a teacher cannot control that still impact these various measures ( Stronge, 2018 ).

Pause & Ponder

Who was a teacher who positively influenced your life? What did they do that left this impact? Was it how they approached instruction, interacted with you as a person inside or outside of school, or facilitated an extracurricular club? Now, think about a teacher who negatively affected you. What did they do that caused you to have a less than desirable experience?

As you yourself have experienced as a learner, there are certain characteristics that effective teachers share. Even though all teachers have distinct personalities and instructional approaches that they bring to the classroom–since teachers, like students, are still individual people–here are some practices that effective teachers have in common.

Over the span of 15 years, Walker ( 2008 ) asked college students what made effective teachers in their own experiences and found twelve recurring characteristics.

• Prepared. Effective teachers were ready to teach every day and used time efficiently.
• Positive. Effective teachers were optimistic about their jobs and their students.
• Hold high expectations. Effective teachers believe everyone can succeed and challenge students to do their best.
• Creative. Effective teachers come up with new, innovative ideas to teach content.
• Fair. Effective teachers establish clear requirements for assignments, give everyone what they need to succeed, and recognize that learners are unique.
• Display a personal touch. Effective teachers connect with students by sharing stories about themselves and participating in their students’ worlds, like going to a performance or sporting event.
• Cultivate a sense of belonging. Effective teachers make students feel welcomed and safe in the classroom.
• Compassionate. Effective teachers are sensitive and empathetic to students’ situations.
• Have a sense of humor. Effective teachers bring humor into the classroom, but never at a student’s expense (i.e., laugh with, not at, students).
• Respect students. Effective teachers maintain privacy and don’t embarrass students in front of the class.
• Forgiving. Effective teachers don’t give up on students and start each day without holding grudges about how previous days have gone.
• Admit mistakes. Effective teachers apologize when they make mistakes and make adjustments accordingly.

In addition to these personal qualities, there are specific ways to structure learning that are more effective than others. Creemers and Kryiakides (2006) called this the “dynamic model of educational effectiveness.” The dynamic model focuses more on teaching and learning than other factors that are beyond the teacher’s control in the classroom. Eight factors that tend to have an impact on student learning are explained in Table 1.1 (adapted from Muijs et al., 2014 ).

Table 1.1: Eight Factors that Impact Student Learning (Muijs et al., 2014)

As you can see, while we all bring our own personalities to our own classrooms and instruction, there are some practices that have consistently impacted student learning. We will continue discussing those specific practices throughout the rest of this book, and you will continue honing those skills as you continue on your pathway toward becoming a teacher.

Common characteristics of effective teachers can be found in ten InTASC standards . A nonpartisan, nationwide group of public officials with leadership positions in U.S. K-12 education called the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) created a subgroup called the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC). InTASC created a list of ten standards that cover model core teaching practices that high-quality K-12 teachers should be able to demonstrate as effective teachers. These standards were originally released in 1992 to guide early-career teachers, but the group realized that these characteristics were actually applicable to all teachers. Therefore, in 2011, InTASC revised the standards and expanded them to all teachers. Table 1.2 breaks down the 10 standards into the four overarching categories.

Table 1.2: InTASC Standards by Categories

The last category of InTASC standards focuses on professionalism. Teachers are held to very high standards as professionals because of their influence on shaping students’ learning, outlook, and futures. Teachers are expected to be role models, both within and beyond the classroom. Therefore, there are certain interpersonal skills–sometimes called dispositions –that teachers are expected to demonstrate as professionals.

In your own experience as a student, what are some behaviors or actions you have observed from teachers that made you respect them or lose respect for them? How will this impact how you practice professionalism in your future classroom?

A challenge related to dispositions is that research has not yet established an exact set of non-academic qualities that teachers need to demonstrate in order to be successful ( CAEP, 2020a ). Therefore, expectations of which dispositions should be observed will vary. Overall, here are a few examples of dispositions that you should possess as a future teacher.

• Communication. You will be expected to demonstrate mastery of oral and written communication with a variety of stakeholders, including students, co-workers, administration, and families. Communication should be respectful and positive, and teachers are often expected to demonstrate mastery of conventions of standardized English.
• Professional image. Related to communication, you are expected to portray a professional image in words and actions. You will be expected to dress professionally. You will be expected to avoid documentation of overly reckless behavior, such as photos on social media of drinking to excess at a party. As a teacher, you are a representative of your school district, and you are expected to maintain that professionalism within and beyond the classroom.
• Organization. While there is no one “correct” way to be organized, you will be expected to manage your time, complete tasks by deadlines, and show up to work on time. You will also need to be able to organize student records (including assessments) and return assignments to students in a timely manner.
• Collaboration. You will be expected to collaborate with a variety of stakeholders, including students, co-workers, administration, and families. Many times, you will be interacting with people whose backgrounds differ from your own, and it is very important that you respect the contributions of others, even if you would not approach a situation in exactly the same way.
• Reflection. You will be expected to reflect on your instructional practice and adjust your next steps accordingly. Rarely does an instructional activity go perfectly, and that’s OK! Teachers must be able to reflect on what went well and what to change going forward.

Critical Lens: Linguicism

You’re heard of lots of -isms: racism, sexism, classism. What about linguicism? Fain (2008) cites Skutnabb-Kangas (1988) to define linguicism as “unequal treatment of languages based upon power structures that privilege certain languages as having legitimacy” (p. 205). People often assume that “Standard English” is right and everything else is not (Wheeler & Swords, 2006). Standardized English received this position as a “prestige dialect” (Wheeler & Swords, 2006) about 500 years ago, when the self-declared “superior” Europeans came to the Americas and began interacting with the so-called “inferior” native people. Linguistic discrimination, therefore, is a result of the “racist project of colonialism” (Otto, 2004, p. 3). Linguicism can be applied to languages, such as Spanish, or dialects, such as African American Language or Southern English. As Wheeler and Swords (2006) remind us, “while language varieties clearly differ, difference does not signal deficit” (p. 14). (Note: We use the term “Standarized English” instead of “Standard English” to highlight the artificial construction of one language as the “standard” and all others as “substandard” [Wheeler & Swords, 2006].)

Many of these dispositions and expressions of professionalism are culturally bound. For example, tattoos may need to be covered in some school districts, while others do not mind if age-appropriate tattoos are visible. It is important to know the expectations within your local context so that you can act accordingly. In Chapter 5 , we will discuss more about your legal and ethical protections and expectations as a teacher.

Explore the purple “Critical Disposition” boxes in the InTASC standards document [9] (starting on p. 12). What trends do you see? What will this mean for your future classroom?

In the teaching profession, it is also important to be aware of our beliefs. Awareness of our own beliefs can be particularly challenging because sometimes we are socialized into certain beliefs and do not even realize we hold them until we meet someone who holds different beliefs. Furthermore, in education, “Whiteness is the invisible norm” (Derman-Sparks & Ramsey, 2006, p. 35). As we established earlier in this chapter, most teachers in the United States identify as White. That means that the majority of teachers share certain aspects of mainstream cultural backgrounds and bring them into their schools and classrooms, often teaching next door to other teachers who share those same mainstream cultural backgrounds. That is how one cultural background can become the invisible norm.

We teach who we are. We bring our identities into our classrooms on a daily basis, just like our students do. Who we are involves many different facets of our identity, called intersectionality . Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw ( 1989 ) invented the term “intersectionality,” and it has since been applied in varied contexts, including education. The idea behind intersectionality is that many different aspects of our identity–including characteristics such as race, economic class, gender, and more–overlap and “intersect” with one another. Our identities–and our students’ identities–are greater than any one isolated characteristic. In this short video, Kimberlé Crenshaw explains intersectionality and its impact in educational settings.

Where do some of your identities lie in this diagram of intersectionality? Which groups within each characteristic tend to have the most power? (For example, which racial groups tend to be the most empowered or disempowered?) What other characteristics would you add to this diagram?

As human beings, we have a natural desire to belong in order to survive. This drive to survive results in our grouping people–both consciously and unconsciously–based on their similarities or differences to us. Unfortunately, those same survival skills mean that we may think less of people who are different from us. We may think they aren’t as smart, or aren’t as good at what they do, or don’t do things the “right” way (the way we do them). Judging or evaluating another culture based on your own culture is called ethnocentrism . If we aren’t careful, we can let ethnocentrism interfere with our professionalism as teachers. We might think a student is less capable of success in our classrooms or beyond based on our own cultural beliefs about certain characteristics. Sometimes we assume people from certain racial, socioeconomic, ability, and other demographic groups are less capable, simply because of our own expectations or cultures. We might consciously or unconsciously believe certain stereotypes –sweeping, oversimplified generalizations about a group–and those stereotypes will filter into our interactions with our students, our expectations of our students, and our teaching in general. As Gorski (2013) reminds us, “no amount of resources or pedagogical strategies will help us to provide the best opportunity for low-income students to reach their full potential as learners if we do not attend first to the stereotypes, biases, and assumptions we have about them and their families” (p. 69).

Therefore, an important aspect of being an effective teacher is knowing yourself. Freire (1973) discussed the importance of critical consciousness, the ability to see beyond one’s own limited realm of experiences. Members of mainstream groups must be especially aware of their identities and how these identities impact their teaching (Gay, 2010; Harro, 2000).

In this chapter, we surveyed the teaching profession in the context of the United States. You learned that teachers today are mostly White females with 10-20 years of experience in the classroom. Pathways toward preparing high-quality teachers can be traditional, such as earning an undergraduate or graduate degree in education, or alternative, such as provisional certification or residency programs like Teach for America. No matter how you earn your initial teaching license, you will need to renew it periodically. Finally, the teaching profession depends on characteristics of effective teachers. InTASC standards remind us of ten common characteristics of effective teachers across four domains, and dispositions relate to our general professional demeanor as teachers. Additionally, we must be aware of our beliefs and how they consciously and unconsciously contribute to our instruction. In the rest of this book, we will continue to explore the complexities of the teaching profession.

• The demographics from NCES are only broken down by male/female. ↵
• https://apnews.com/71386b46dbff8190e71493a763e8f45a?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP ↵
• https://www.ets.org/praxis ↵
• https://www.businessinsider.com/iq-tests-dark-history-finally-being-used-for-good-2017-10#:~:text=The%20first%20of%20these%20tests,basis%20for%20modern%20IQ%20testing. ↵
• http://caepnet.org/standards/introduction ↵
• https://www.ecs.org/50-state-comparison-teacher-license-reciprocity/ ↵
• https://c0arw235.caspio.com/dp/b7f93000c5143bf0c78540a0bfa4 ↵
• https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching/licensure/index.shtml ↵
• https://ccsso.org/sites/default/files/2017-11/InTASC_Model_Core_Teaching_Standards_2011.pdf ↵

Abbreviation for kindergarten through 12th grade, the traditional span of public schools in the United States.

Landmark Supreme Court case in 1954 that declared separate educational facilities were not equal, ending segregation in schools.

One way to earn a teaching license through completing coursework at an Educator Preparation Program (EPP).

Programs offered through colleges or universities to earn teaching credentials.

Pathway toward earning teaching certification that does not involve undergraduate coursework and might involve residency programs or provisional certification.

Earned after meeting state-established requirements (such as courses and testing) in order to become a teacher. Requires periodic renewal.

Term referring to teachers in areas like music, visual arts, drama, etc.

The art and science of teaching.

How to teach the structures of different disciplines like literacy, math, science, or social studies.

Series of teacher certification tests offered by ETS.

Part-time field placements that are often tied to specific courses to give preservice teachers experience in classrooms.

Full-time practicum experience, usually situated at the end of an educator preparation program. May also be called internship.

Full-time practicum experience, usually situated at the end of an educator preparation program. May also be called student teaching.

Teacher of record in a practicum placement. Mentors preservice teachers by modeling effective instruction and sharing classroom responsibilities.

Process of formal review of an Educator Preparation Program by an outside agency, such as CAEP.

Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation.

Teaching license that is temporary, usually with certain stipulations or provisions attached. Sometimes called an emergency teaching license.

Alternative pathway toward teacher certification in which future teachers work simultaneously on a master’s degree in education while being placed in a school full-time.

Agreements among different states to honor teaching licenses earned in other states, sometimes with additional requirements added (like testing).

Framework designed by Benjamin Bloom and colleagues in 1956, and later revised in 2001. Divides educational goals/cognitive processes into six categories of increasing complexity: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create.

10 standards from the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium that cover model core teaching practices for K-12 educators.

Interpersonal skills expected of teachers as professionals.

Unequal treatment of languages based upon power structures that privilege certain languages as having legitimacy.

Term coined by Crenshaw (1989) meaning many different aspects of identity--including race, economic class, gender, and more--overlap and intersect with one another.

Judging or evaluating another culture based on your own culture.

Sweeping, oversimplified generalizations about a group.

Foundations of American Education: A Critical Lens Copyright © by Melissa Wells and Courtney Clayton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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3.3: Is Teaching a Profession

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Is Teaching A Profession? By Jessica M. Vasiliou

Table of Contents

Introduction

Teaching as a profession has become a huge concern in our society. I would think all parents would want their children to be taught by a professional. However, teaching as a profession is the question that remains to be answered clearly. The academic society needs to spell out a sense of professionalism in order to ease this concern. “Unlike other professions where you make ‘machines’ work, this profession allows one to deal with the most complex phenomena on earth. Ranging from most studious to most mischievous students, the teachers need to maintain a balanced attitude and approach in transforming them to mature individuals” (Kishore, 2000, paragraph 4). Professionalization of the teaching workforce is a major concern that needs to be addressed because it is a field of significant knowledge. The process of teaching can influence the lives of many students.

The Definition of Profession

Eliot Freidson, author of Professional Powers (1986), cautions, “a word with so many connotations and denotations cannot be employed in precise discourse without definition” (Freidson, 1986, p. 35). In trying to break down the debate about teaching as a profession, we must first look at the concept of “profession.” Originating from the Latin, professio , profession originally meant “the declaration of belief in or acceptance of religion or a faith” usually related to religious beliefs (Dictionary.com). However, by the sixteenth century, this rather narrow meaning expanded to include “body of persons engaged in some occupation” (Dictionary.com). The meaning of profession seems to be very unclear which is why people still cannot determine if teaching can be known as a profession.

The noun profession, referring to an occupation, also dates back to at least the sixteenth century, and is equally vague. Profession as a noun is defined as “a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science” (Dictionary.com). It is compared to a “learned profession” such as that of medicine and law (Freidson, 1986). “Inherent within this context is the elite and prestigious connotation many hold of ‘the professions’ to this day” (Freidson, 1986, p. 3). As Freidson said, “the original professionals addressed each other and members of the ruling elite who shared some of their knowledge and belief in its virtues. They did not address the common people or the common, specialized trades. So it is our time” (Freidson, 1986, p. 3).

If we as teachers are going to be “professionals” in our occupation, we need to realize that professionalism is for the most part a state of mind. Preparation is vital in the teaching world in order to provide every student with a proper education. Hence, one who calls themselves a professional teacher would want to conduct their classroom with character and dignity. A professional teacher would take the time to produce an intellectual exchange within their classroom. Professionals in education would want students to learn from the methods, ideas and lessons presented in their classroom.

A Professional Teacher

It is not easy to find someone who is opposed to the concept of teacher professionalism. Juliane Brown, a teacher in Lancaster, Pennsylvania said, “I believe I am a professional because I am a master at what I do, I love what I do and I make a living at what I do. I engage in this activity known as teaching so much that it is what I live for. Therefore, I believe that I am a professional.” Teachers are no longer being seen as people who simply transport packages of knowledge. Rather, teachers are evolving in a way that they are seen as information-holders and knowledge-makers, possessing much skill, which newcomers to the world of teaching must strive to obtain through experience, study, thought and reflection. Professionalism of teachers will insure our students with the finest education yet.

Teaching-Not a True Profession?

Some people have concluded that teachers need more training. For example, a Bolton-born education expert claims, “Teaching should not be considered as a profession because not enough training is given to those who go into it” (Bolton-born education expert, Teaching not true profession, 2005, paragraph 1). Possibly to get to the point of teaching being a true profession more in depth education may be needed. Many think that teaching cannot compare to that of a career in medicine and law in terms of professionalism because it “has a shorter qualification route” (Phil Revell, Teaching not true profession, 2005, paragraph 2). Perhaps in the future more years of education will be needed to become a teacher.

Professional Versus Non-professional

A professional could be said to be a person who has an extremely developed talent or skill (Buijs, 2005). All professionals whether it be a professional dancer or doctor receive pay for what they are doing. On the other hand, a non-professional or amateur may not receive pay (Buijs, 2005). A more significant contrast is that “being a professional conveys the connotation, not only of a high level, but of a consistent level, of performance. Professional athletes or professional entertainers, for instance, can be counted on to perform in diverse, and sometimes adverse, circumstances; they can, and often do, perform regardless of personal mood, motivation, or even injury. Neither the expectations nor the level of performance of a professional is demanded of an amateur” (Buijs, 2005, p. 331). What is trying to be explained here is the fact that there is a certain standard of performance for professionals that should be met, but does not have to be met by that of an amateur or a non-professional.

What is the American Government Doing?

The American government is very involved in improving the education systems (Denlinger, 2002). However, the government may not be concerned with the right issues when it comes to teacher professionalism. “Instead of looking at the real problem-poor working conditions and low salaries- the government is arguing that we need to become tougher on our teachers, demand more in terms of work, and do more testing to see if teachers are doing their jobs” (Denlinger, 2002, p. 116). Low wages is the true dilemma in this field, which our leaders are refusing to admit (Denlinger, 2002). “Bush has proved this by his approach to another, similar problem: low morale in the armed forces. To cure that problem, has he argued that we need to demand more of our soldiers? No… Instead, Bush has decided that we need to increase the salaries of our armed forces” (Denlinger, 2002, p. 116). Denlinger went on to say, “His business logic is self-evident; the only way to draw the best talent is to pay the best wages. It’s not that the talent isn’t there to staff our armed forces-they’ve just chosen to go where the pay and appreciation matches the job’s demands” (Denlinger, 2002, p. 116). This is happening with our college graduates who are graduating with a teaching degree. These graduates choose to enter a higher-paying job and a career that they will have competitive wages, are appreciated and gain rewards. If the salaries became more competitive in education perhaps there would not be such a scarcity of teachers and “the quality of education would improve markedly” (Denlinger, 2002, p. 117).

In the world of education, teachers are a guiding light to students. I think teachers are miracle workers when it comes to trying to get every student to pass a test. Do doctors get all their patients to pass their tests in terms of being healthy and physically fit? If they did, I would consider doctors miracle workers as well. Teachers are also knowledge workers, transporting much knowledge while shaping the minds of our youth and thus have a responsibility and image to uphold. In today’s work force, there are many options available and college graduates are choosing careers simply because of the pay rather than choosing something that they love to do. Whether looked at as a profession or not, teachers should be respected for what they are doing just as doctors and lawyers are. In order to maintain some structure of professionalism in the educational environment, education systems need to take steps to make sure they handle this task efficiently.

According to Valeri R. Helterbran, EdD, an associate professor in the Department of Professional Studies in Education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, “identifying and engaging in professional strategies to develop one’s own level of professionalism is important to the overall understanding of this topic and may be the lynchpin that makes the difference in determining whether or not a teacher is a professional. Teachers must decide who they are and how they want to be perceived in the classroom. Becoming increasingly professional implies a commitment to change, to strengthen, and to grow as a person and as an educator. It is equally apparent that it is imperative for teachers, individually and collectively, to consider what they can do to ensure that they are practicing the art and craft of teaching in a manner that is of service to children’s achievement and society. A more thorough understanding of the attributes of professionalism can serve as an introduction for preservice teachers and a reminder to both novice and seasoned teachers to ensure that they conduct themselves as professionally as possible. Professionals take ownership of their job responsibilities, assignments, and personal conduct. Being a professional is a matter of personally emulating and modeling the qualities we demand of our students and colleagues as scholars, contributors, and owners of personal destiny. (Valeri R. Helterbran, Professionalism: Teachers Taking the Rein, 2008, p. 126)”

Multiple Choice Questions

1.Many times people do not see teaching as a profession because of?

A. Low wages

B. Poor training

C. Summers off

D. Teachers not communicating

2. Angela loved to dance. She especially liked ballet and knew she wanted to concentrate on that style of dance while she

was growing up. When she became old enough she tried out for the American Ballet in New York City. She got the role as Victoria

Page in the famous ballet The Red Shoes. Angela gets a weekly salary for what she loves to do most in life, which is ballet

dancing. According to the Wikibook article, Angela is now considered a person who has

A. An exciting pass time

B. A neat hobby

C. A job performing ballet

D. A professional career

3.Profession as a noun is defined as?

A. A person who teaches or instructs useful information.

B. A vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science.

C. A person or thing that leads and develops ideas and skills.

D. A person who speaks about what they are educated in.

4.Instead of entering a career in education, many colleges graduates are choosing to enter a ___________ and a career that they

will have competitive wages and gain rewards.

A. Higher-paying job

B. Job that involves traveling

C. Job that involves working with animals

D. Job that involves traveling

5.Education systems as well as teachers should take steps to handle the responsibility of teachers being professional in the

classroom. Which answer listed below is not one of these steps?

A. Pay teachers adequately

B. Maintain schools properly

C. Treat teachers with respect

D. Give good benefits

Answers 1.A 2.D 3.B 4.A 5.D

Bolton Evening News. (2005, April). Teaching not true profession. http://archive.asianimage.co.uk/2005/4/1/438290.html .

Brown, J. (2008, January 28). Teacher. (J. Vasiliou, Interviewer)

Buijs, Joseph A., (2005). TEACHING: PROFESSION OR VOCATION? [Electronic Version]. 331. Retrieved Jan. 29, 2008 from Wilson Web database.

Denlinger, Steven L., (2002). Teaching as a profession: a look at the problem of teacher deficits [Electronic Version]. 116-117. Retrieved Jan. 29, 2008 from Wilson Web database.

Dictionary.Com. 2008. Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 30 Jan. 2008 <dictionary.reference.com>.

Freidson, Eliot. (1986). Professional Powers: A Study of the Institutionalization of Formal Knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 3, 35.

Kishore, C.S. (2000, January). A Noble Profession. Retrieved January 28, 2008, from http://www.cskishore.com/teaching.htm .

Helterbran, Valeri R., Professionalism: Teachers Taking the Reins, Clearing House; Jan/Feb2008, Vol. 81 Issue 3, p123-127, 5p.

• Foundations of Education and Instructional Assessment. Authored by : Jennifer Kidd, Jamie Kaufman, Peter Baker, Patrick O'Shea, Dwight Allen, and the students of Old Dominion University's ECI301. Provided by : Old Dominion University. Located at : https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Education_and_Instructional_Assessment . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

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Essay: Teaching as a Full Profession

This reflection explores the ways in which teaching aligns as a profession based on current definitions from four reputable sources. To prove that teaching is a full profession, I have compared and contrasted it to the profession of medicine. This reflection includes practical examples of what it means to be a professional teacher on a daily basis. I believe that through the professional mindset and behaviors of educators, we will be able to shift the mindset that teaching is a semi-profession. Teaching is a full profession and with that right is the responsibility to ensure that all learners exceed and become self-motivated, respectful citizens and adults.

Keywords – full profession, Code of Ethics, professionalism, specialized knowledge, autonomy

Teaching as a Full Profession

 Whether or not educators are professionals is a highly contested topic. The argument against being that, teaching differs from other professions, such as doctors. This argument coupled with the fact that “governments have historically resisted efforts to afford teachers professional autonomy” has resulted in teaching “to be classified as a “semi-profession” (Young, 2007, p. 275). However, I would argue that teaching is a full profession and shares as many similarities to other professions as it does differences.

In order to understand how teaching compares to being an attorney or doctor, we must understand what it means to be a professional. Krishnaveni and Anitha (2007) define a full profession as a career that requires specific knowledge acquired through further, lifelong education, high standards and qualifications, and follows policies, procedures and Codes of Ethics. Furthermore, a high level of consistent and quality work must be displayed (149). Contrary to popular belief that anybody can be a teacher, the skillset needed to understand, motivate and be able to mentor children with various needs, abilities and interests is an extremely rare and specialized skill. Teachers acquire this specific knowledge through teaching programs, internship placements, and volunteer experiences.  This educational journey is lifelong, as teachers attend professional development events, collaborate with their colleagues, are part of professional organizations and unions, collect data about their students, consult research from reputable journals and many go on to receive their masters degree. I intend to get my Inclusive Education Certificate and pursue a masters degree in Educational Psychology; my learning journey is only just beginning and I know that each and every day I will learn from my students.

Krishnaveni and Anitha (2007) believe that “teaching not only requires expert knowledge and specialized skills but it calls for a sense of personal and corporate responsibility for student’s education, welfare and clarity in character” (p. 158). Educators are role models for the next generation and make professional decisions on a daily basis. To ensure that qualified decisions are being made, teachers are required to keep data about their students and explain assessment practices to parents and students. Educators are also responsible to follow the Saskatchewan curriculum, albeit with the freedom to teach the outcomes in a way that meets their learners’ needs.  Furthermore, with initiatives like Response to Intervention, teachers are held accountable for the success of all learners. Lastly, teachers are bound by the moral guidelines outlined in the Code of Ethics. Krishnaveni and Anitha (2007) suggest that this is “the most fundamental tenet of professionalism and the most challenging” because it requires teachers to solve their problems ethically (p. 156). For these reasons teaching meets and often exceeds the definition of professionalism that Krishnaveni and Anitha defined.

Young, Levin and Wallin (2007) describe professionalism in a similar way but they also note that “a profession is an essential service that is held in high regard by society at large; as such, its members are usually afforded high status in society” and professionals “exercise independent judgement in carrying out their work” (p. 276). Teaching is obviously an essential service as it leads to every other career, professional or not, that our society relies on. Teachers are also part of the process of socializing students to be responsible citizens and adults. However, whether or not teaching is valued by Canadian society as a whole relies on many perspectives and in this sense, teaching as a profession could be debated. Young, Levin and Wallin note that “centralization of curriculum, assessment, and [outside] decision making” interfere with the autonomy of most professions. On the other hand, these structures and standards are vital to the overall organization and consistency of education in Saskatchewan. They ensure that every student has an equal opportunity, no matter where their families reside. Although the curriculum is centralized, teachers can teach the outcomes in a way that will meet the needs of their learner. They can differentiate their instruction, assessment measures, environments and tasks using their professional judgement. Teachers also have the opportunity to join curriculum review committees and all teachers have a voice when it comes to what is valued in our classrooms; it was teachers who recently suggested that the curriculum changes were happening too fast and as a result, curriculum changes have slowed down. Since Canada is a democracy, teachers also have the power to elect a party that they believe will improve education. Young, Levin and Wallin suggest that “teachers should take a stand on important issues” (2007, p. 288) and we see this on a daily basis as teachers advocate for resources, smaller class sizes, inclusion and student needs.

Even though teaching meets almost all of the defined criteria, some people argue that teaching is not a full profession. Fenstermacher (1990) believes that teaching differs because we do not “lock away [our] specialized knowledge,” students “must expend effort,” and most importantly, “students are not “cases”” (Young et al., 2007, p. 282). Michael A. Morehead discusses that “as an educator, it is often necessary to step into a professional role” – when dealing with parents, for example – “just like an attorney or a doctor” (1998, p. 24). I would argue that locking away specialized knowledge goes against the professional criteria of lifelong learning and development. Furthermore, if your doctor sends you to a specialist, information is shared. If cancer was cured by a doctor, this information would be incorporated into general practice. Current practices are often assessed by the media and reports are released frequently on things like vaccinations. In this regard, the sharing of specialized knowledge happens similarly in both professions, especially with our globalized world.  I would also argue that, just like students, patients must expend an effort. When doctors give us advice, for instance to stop smoking, it requires patience to listen in order to maintain their optimal health. It is true that teachers do not treat students like clients but this is out of respect for their journey to adulthood and the relationship building that is required to teach effectively, rather than a lack of professionalism.

I find it ironic that although some people argue that teachers are semi-professionals they hold teachers to a higher set of values. Although acting professionally and being a professional are two different things – for instance, I act professionally at my summer camp job but it is not a profession – I believe that these two concepts go hand-in-hand. Young, Levin and Wallin note that “teachers’ private lives are… relevant to their employment” (2007, p. 288). Similarly, because of the caring nature of the job Morehead notes that “students, parents and peers hold educators to a different set of expectations. Teachers are often criticized for the very actions that students or parents may themselves undertake” (1998, p. 25). I believe that regardless of what the general public thinks or the partial stories that the media portrays, educators must believe that they are professionals. Phelps suggests that “we reveal our professionalism when we uphold the highest standards of ethical behaviour and exhibit integrity” (2003, p. 10); teachers are in the public eye – whether we like it or not – and in order to change minds we must first play the part.

I intend to act professionally on a daily basis. This will include dressing appropriately, coaching sports, tutoring students and informing parents of things in a positive way that utilizes my vocabulary. One situation where I think ethics and professionalism comes to play is during graduation planning. Students often make post-graduation plans that involve illegal and risky behaviors. As an educator, I will have nothing to do with these plans. Furthermore, I would encourage and arrange dry or safe grad options. Another example would be if I was out at an event and saw one of my students drinking there. Based on my professional judgement, I would confront the student and call them a cab home. I most likely would not have their parents’ number and I think threatening to call parents would only make students jump into a vehicle, when they most likely should not drive. This does not mean I would not inform parents, but in the moment I would arrange a cab ride. Talking to the students and hearing their side of the story is vital, just like it is when dealing with colleagues. Since I intend to become a Learning Resource Teacher the majority of my time will be spent working with teachers, who may have varying teaching philosophies, to make their classrooms and instruction inclusive. This often results in tension but I would handle these situations by listening to their needs, wants and fears and then providing a solution and support. Instead of getting mad, it is always best to listen and assess why people are acting the way they are so that they can get the help they need.

Beyond dressing appropriately, conducting myself in a professional manner when speaking to parents and furthering my education, I also believe in maintaining professional behavior in my personal life. For instance, I try very hard to make my Facebook posts and pictures appropriate. I do not post negative things about individuals and I am very careful about what photos I am tagged in; even if the photo is of me drinking a pop, if I feel it can be misinterpreted, I delete it. Drinking is not illegal but it is not something I want to promote to the minors in my class. I believe I should be able to enjoy a beer if I am out for a family supper but there is no reason to share this information. I do not want to give anyone any reason to think I am not a professional and even though this is a tension of teaching, I think we must accept the challenges with the positives. Morehead notes that teaching goes beyond the walls of our classroom and for educators to be considered full professionals they must “accept [these] responsibilities related to the profession” (1998, p. 26).

Teaching meets almost all of the defined criteria for a profession, aside from public perspectives in some cases. In many ways, for example, lifelong education, Code of Ethics and specialized skills, teaching is comparable to being a doctor. Even when differences are present, I believe all educators should conduct themselves in a professional manner and view themselves as professionals; these attitudes and actions are the key to changing contrasting perspectives about teaching as a profession. Also, professionalism ensures that the students’ best interests are being accounted for. Phelps believes that “we must renew our dedication and perseverance to move our profession to a higher level of respect” (p. 11). Our professional behaviors must extend beyond the four walls of our classrooms so that they become internalized behaviors. Teaching is the only job that leads to all other professions and careers and it should never be represented as less than a full profession.

Krishnaveni R., & Anitha, J. (2007). Educators’ professional characteristics. Quality Assurance in Education, 15(2), 149-161.

Morehead, M. A. (1998). Professional behaviors for the beginning teacher. American Secondary Education, 26(1), 22-26.

Phelps, P. H. (2003). Teacher professionalism. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 40(1), 10-11.

Young, J., Levin, B., & Wallin, D. (2007). Understanding Canadian schools: An introduction to educational administration . (4 th ed.). Toronto: Thomson.

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Teaching — Teaching as a Profession: The Strategies To Improve Efficiency

Teaching as a Profession: The Strategies to Improve Efficiency

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Published: May 17, 2022

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• Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J. O. (2005). The systematic design of instruction. Allyn & Bacon.
• Gagne, R. M. (2013). Instructional technology: Foundations. Routledge.
• Pollard, A., & Collins, J. (2005). Reflective teaching. A&C Black.
• Reflective practice. (2005, August 29). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved November 4, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_practice#cite_ref-Shapiro_18-0
• https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/NEP_Final_English_0.pdf
• https://ncert.nic.in/pdf/nc-framework/nf2005-english.pdf
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_practice#cite_ref-Shapiro_18-0

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Teaching as a Profession, Essay Example

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A teacher is an influential person in the society because he or she contributes to imparting of knowledge to all members of the society who go to school. Therefore, teaching is a professional career that needs many skills and expertise for the process to be effective. Various factors define teaching as a professional career.

Teachings as a profession need adaptability. This is because teachers deal with a variety of abilities that students have. Teachers are required to have innovative lessons in order for their students to master their standards (McKenzie & Santiago, 2005). For example, teachers use various innovative techniques to make their lessons to be understood well by students. They employ the use of technology, music, art, physical activities and hands on activities to help students to have more understanding according to their unique learning styles. Teachers also modify their discipline plans because there are students who require extra behaviors support. Teachers also adapt to changes in teaching programs because the curriculum switches in different years. Therefore, teachers are always required to understand how to do things in new ways.

Teachers need to be motivated in order for them to be able to encounter negativity, not from students alone but, also from parents, frustrated colleagues or administration that is not supportive (Lunenburg & Ornstein, 2007). Teachers demonstrate motivation by giving encouragement to students, giving students meaningful feedback, personalized attention to help them succeed. Teachers renew their commitments daily in order to act as positive role model to the students and the larger school community.

Teachers need to be good monitors and evaluators. Teachers need to be able to make an assessment on the progress of the students (McKenzie & Santiago, 2005)Teachers in their day to day duty assess their students in order to find out if they understand the concepts taught. If the students show misunderstanding of the concepts, then teachers employs alternative teaching strategy that makes students understand the concepts taught.

Lunenburg, F. & Ornstein, A. (2007). Educational administration: concepts and practices, 2 nd edition. Belmont: Cengage Learning.

McKenzie, P. & Santiago, P. (2005). Teachers matter: attracting, developing and retaining effective teachers, 1 st edition. Paris: OECD Publishing.

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• Teacher Essay for Students in English

Importance of Teachers in Our Lives

Teachers are those who make children knowledgeable and cultured. A teacher is a beautiful gift given by god because god is a creator of the whole world and a teacher is a creator of a whole nation. A teacher is such an important creature in the life of a student, who through his knowledge, patience and love give a strong shape to a student’s whole life. 

A teacher shares academic knowledge, ethical values and assimilates moral values that help us shape our personality as better human beings. They represent an open book and try to share their life experience for a better tomorrow. A teacher has many qualities, they are efficient in their student’s life and success in every aspect. A teacher is very intelligent. They know how the mind of students gets concentrated in studies.

 During teaching, a teacher uses creativity so that students can concentrate on their studies. They are a repository of knowledge and have the patience and confidence to take responsibility for the future of the student. They only want to see their students successful and happy. Teachers are very prestigious people in the society, who through their magic of education, take the responsibilities of raising the lifestyle and mind level of the common people. 

Parents expect a lot from teachers. Teachers are the second parents who help the students balance their lives and spend the maximum childhood time. Just as our parents influence our childhood years, our teachers help shape us into the people we want to become when we grow up, having a huge impact on our lives. Students have complete faith in their teachers. In younger years, Students used to listen to their teachers more than anyone else as they used to spend more time with them than anyone else. 

The role of the teacher varies from class to game. A teacher is an important creature in everyone’s life who appears to do different things in our life. They are the creator of a wonderful future for our nation. 

Importance of a Teacher

A teacher has an important place not only in student life but also in every phase of life. They have all qualities which they distribute in their students. They know that not everyone has the same ability to receive, so a teacher observes all the abilities of each of their students and in the same way, they teach children. A teacher is a great listener of knowledge, prosperity, and light, from which we can benefit greatly throughout our life. Every teacher helps their students in choosing their path. Teachers teach their students how to respect elders. They tell their students the difference between respect and insult and many more. A teacher equips his/her student with the knowledge, skills, and positive behavior honored which the student never feels lost. The teacher makes them aware of how to use time and the restriction of time. A good teacher makes a good impression on his students. When any student makes a mistake, the teacher teaches them a lesson and also makes them realize their mistake. They teach us to wear clean clothes, eat healthy food, stay away from the wrong food, take care of parents, treat others well, and help us in understanding the importance of completing work. 

A teacher has many qualities which hold a special place in every student’s life. Teachers embrace various roles they are our friends when we get sad, our parents when we are hurt, and always good advisers. Teachers reward their students for their good work while sometimes punishing them for realizing the mistake to understand that this is not right for their lives.

Children’s future and present both are made by the teacher. He also enhances a good society by creating a good student throughout his life. Only a teacher knows what kind of association his student lives in and what kind of association he holds.

Teachers are great role models. The teachers influence students’ decidedness. For example, India’s most respectable President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, achieved his position as a great aerospace engineer because of his teacher. Mr. Siva Subramania Iyer’s teachings on how birds fly influenced Dr. Kalam’s contribution to society.

Not only in the education field, but there are also numerous examples in sports too, where teachers played a vital role in shaping the career of the athletes. A notable example is batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who credits his coach and teacher, Mr. Ramakant Achrekar, for success. Like this, there are numerous examples in various fields of dance, music, acting, arts, science where teachers act as a pivotal role in shaping the life of their disciples.

Relation of Student and the Teacher

The relationship between the teacher and the student was very sacred in ancient times as education was so perfect. There are so many stories written in our scriptures that revolve around student and teacher relationships. Out of all those, the supreme sacrifice made by Eklavya is of prime importance and showcases a student’s dedication towards his teacher. 

Alas, This relation is lacking in recent times. Nowadays, it is considered a mere profession. It has become a business or source of income compared to earlier days where it was considered a noble profession. We should be conscious enough not to stain this noble profession and should not create an example that lifts people’s trust in teachers.

In India, we gave great importance to the teacher. According to the Indian concept, the teacher is the spiritual and intellectual father of the teacher. No education is possible without the help of the teacher. He is regarded as the “Guru” – a speculator, a companion, and a guide.

In ancient India, the transmission of knowledge was oral, and the teacher was the sole custodian of knowledge. The relationship between the teacher and the students was amiable and deep in ancient times. 

Hard Work is the Key to be a Teacher

It takes a lot of hard work to be a good teacher. First of all, always respect the elders and also obey them. Concentration should be increased toward society and education. To be a good teacher, one has a sense of unity in the heart, does not discriminate against anyone, everyone should be seen with a glance. They always encourage students, they never criticize their students. Develops a good interpersonal relationship with a student. One should always tell good things to their younger ones and always treat the classmate well, always take inspiration from the teacher.

The teacher has a huge contribution to our life. No one can developmentally, socially, and intellectually in their life without a teacher. Many teachers slap students, many give punishment but in the end, the teacher is never bad. It only depends on the way they teach, which is different for everyone and this creates a different image in the student’s mind. They do whatever just to make our future bright.

Every year, some teachers get honored. Teachers’ day is celebrated every year on 5 September, in memory of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, India’s second President. India is a home ground of some great teachers like Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Premchand, Swami Vivekanand, who have given some great lessons of life which are still in trend. On this day a special ceremony takes place in the school, in which students participate enthusiastically. A nation always honors all those teachers who help in eradicating ignorance of darkness. A teacher is an ocean of knowledge, we should keep acquiring knowledge on a subject for as long as possible.

FAQs on Teacher Essay for Students in English

1. Why are Teachers are Important?

Teacher are building block of the nation. Children’s future and present both are made by the teacher. He also enhances a good society by creating a good student throughout his life.

2. What Makes a Good Teacher?

It takes a lot of hard work to be a good teacher. They always have to study and gain knowledge. To be a teacher good one have a sense of unity in the heart, do not discriminate against anyone, everyone should be seen with a glance.

3. What Should Be the Qualities to Be a Good Teacher?

Given are some qualities to be a good teacher

They always encourage students, they never criticize their students.

Develops a good interpersonal relationship with a student.

Imparts moral values and values of life.

Develop self-confidence in students.

4. When is Teacher’s Day celebrated and after whom?

Every year, teachers’ day is celebrated on 5th September, in memory of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, India’s second President.

5. Give an example reflecting how a teacher shaped the life of their disciple.

One of the prominent examples is of our Ex-President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam achieved his position as a great aerospace engineer because of his teacher, Mr. Siva Subramania Iyer who introduced him to the science behind birds being able to fly.

Essay on Teaching Profession

Everyone in this world has his own likes and dislikes. So is the case with choosing one’s profession. There are many professions to choose from. But most of the people have got some pet profession that they like most.

In childhood, everyone talks of becoming a barrister, a doctor or an engineer but some like to become politicians, statesmen, officers in army, navy and air force. It is quite difficult to choose a profession.

Upon a profession depends on the whole life of a man and so one must have an aim in his life. An aimless life is just like a boat or a ship that is not aware of its destination or is a letter without an address.

Hence, there arises the necessity of choosing a profession. Although I am not fit enough at this age to choose a profession, yet I would like to take up teaching as a profession.

Teaching is a noble profession. I want to become a professor. Ours is still more or less an illiterate country. So, to take the masses from the darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge, from illiteracy to literacy is really a pious task.

That is way, I want to take up teaching as my profession. Teaching has many advantages over other professions. First of all, it is free from all the corrupt practices prevalent in other professions.

It is an ideal and noble profession in the sense that a teacher remains honest and studious in his profession. He gives the gems from his mind to his students. The words of wisdom are far more valuable than all the riches and everyone can get benefit out of them.

Teaching stands out due to its long-lasting impact on individuals and society. Teachers are not just transmitters of knowledge but also mentors, guides, and friends who inspire and motivate students to achieve their fullest potential. Many also feel a sense of fulfillment and purpose in cultivating the next generation’s minds.

A professor remains in touch with various books. This keeps his knowledge up-to-date. He is the storehouse of knowledge and information. He is the picture of wisdom. A professor has to read books of eminent authors, philosophers and literary figures.

So, his maturity is deep. His ability to solve complex problems is remarkable. Almost all the great men of the world started their lives as teachers. Dr S. Radhakrishnan, our former President, was a university professor. Acharya Kripalani was also a college teacher.

Our late President, Zakir Hussain, was the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. Dr M. M. Joshi our present HRD Minister, has also an academic background. A teacher is the true builder of a nation.

It is he who moulds the characters of tender children and creates in them noble qualities of service, sacrifice and patriotism. A teacher is the pillar of the nation’s progress.

It is he who guides the students in their most critical periods, He is the maker of their lives That is why I like this profession most. A teacher is held in high esteem by everyone-students as well as the society.

Teaching, while rewarding, is also fraught with challenges. The responsibility of shaping young minds is enormous, and teachers often navigate through diverse learning needs, behavioral issues, and varying socio-economic backgrounds of students. They must continuously update their knowledge and adapt to new teaching methodologies to cater to the changing educational landscape. 

The field of education is ever-evolving; hence, teachers are perpetual learners. They often undergo various examinations and certifications, such as the Praxis 2 , to enhance their qualifications. They participate in professional development programs, attend workshops and conferences, and collaborate with peers to stay abreast of the latest educational research and developments. This continuous learning enriches their teaching practices and contributes to their professional growth.  

The teaching profession is multifaceted and immensely rewarding. It is instrumental in shaping the future of individuals and, by extension, the progress of society. Challenges may strew the path, but a teacher can have a profound and enduring impact. It’s a profession that necessitates a blend of knowledge, passion, and empathy, making it one of the most revered professions globally.

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Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences Essay

Teachers hold a critical but significantly undervalued purpose in modern society. With the wider availability of information and developing communication technology, the perception and role of teachers are rapidly changing. There are various challenges as well as rewards that are inherent to the job. In order to grow and improve as a teacher and a person, it is essential to reflect on my personal feelings and education practices that define them as a unique instructor.

Being a teacher is a lot of responsibility and accountability. Those with any experience of education realize that the job requires not only the mastery of the subject being taught but also an understanding of human psychology, necessity to maintain self-control, and upkeeping utmost organization. To be honest, it is overwhelming and exhausting at times. However, the job brings incredible satisfaction and tremendous pride in the profession. There is the excitement of planning and executing projects with your class or taking advantage of a new teaching method that a more experienced educator has shared. The most rewarding moment is seeing a student’s eyes light up after comprehending a complicated topic that they have struggled with and finally understanding how a concept works.

I have had a variety of teaching experiences, ranging from working as a tutor to coaching tennis. In each position, there were nuances and learning curves in the teaching process and approach to students. However, once I became accustomed to the job, it became a passion. The famous maxim attributed to Confucius, “choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” applies to my experience with teaching. The profession fits with my identity of helping people and giving back to the community. Good teaching is more than a simple transfer of information and skill. It is based on empowerment and support for students, as a teacher can provide the opportunity and confidence to apply their knowledge. I believe that teaching fits perfectly with my caring and supportive character that seeks to empower others to achieve their objectives.

Through this course, I have been able to learn about a wide variety of practices for teaching English as a foreign language. Linguistics can be quite difficult, and it requires an approach that would maintain student interest and encourage participation. Some of the sessions in the course that focused on needs analysis and exploiting dialogue are techniques that can be tactically applied in a learning environment. They increase participation and student awareness of the practicality for their knowledge of English. The use of “do-it-yourself” grammar lessons that encourage independent thinking and utilization of learned knowledge is an effective method to support the difficult acquisition of English grammar. Furthermore, I would like to practice certain techniques such as gamification or the “teach-back” approach that would provide some diversification to traditional instruction methods and would be used to reinforce specific concepts.

I believe that there are no wrong teaching methods. In a real-life classroom situation, one can never know what particular approach can be helpful for individual students to understand a concept. However, there are some aspects that I believe would be inappropriate in teaching English as a foreign language. For example, relying on self-learning as the foundation for language learning (as it is commonly done in many college courses) is ineffective since it would discourage the systematic approach necessary in linguistics. Furthermore, I believe that placing students in situations where they would feel forced or uncomfortable to perform dialogues should be done with caution to prevent discouragement. Language acquisition is a long-term process which should occur naturally and supported by the classroom teaching methodology.

Overall, teaching is my passion, and I look forward to being able to practice it on a daily basis. Participation in the Peace Corps teaching program will also provide me with an opportunity to make a difference in the world and empower individuals with knowledge of critical language skills. Despite the possible challenges that come with the position, I remain optimistic as it will help to contribute to my personal growth as well.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, June 26). Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-english-as-a-foreign-language-experiences/

"Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences." IvyPanda , 26 June 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-english-as-a-foreign-language-experiences/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences'. 26 June.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences." June 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-english-as-a-foreign-language-experiences/.

1. IvyPanda . "Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences." June 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-english-as-a-foreign-language-experiences/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Experiences." June 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-english-as-a-foreign-language-experiences/.

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Importance of Teaching Profession | Characteristics of Teaching

• Post Author: edmonger
• Post published: July 29, 2021
• Post Category: Trends and Insights
• Post Comments: 3 Comments

“TEACHER” the world itself includes “Teach” which means “GURU” who shares the experience, knowledge, and skills to others for a better-educated world. Apart from lavishing career, there are numerous of Importance of Teaching Profession.

In India, Teachers are treated as nation builders as teachers play the role of substitute parents. Only Teachers can facilitate student’s growth, skills, and creativity. Someone has well said that –

We all are much aware that the art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. The teaching profession refers to providing knowledge and making a better individual with all normal forms of discipline.

The teaching Profession is strengthening career opportunities that contribute to in-country growth. To know more Importance of the Teaching Profession and the Characteristics of teachers, must read out all details described below.

What Is Teaching Profession?

Well, we all know that what it is Teaching Profession? But still, we need to be aware of more significance of the Teaching Profession. Through the Teaching Profession, one can earn a better pay scale. Teachers encourage students to be dedicated to studies and passionate about their careers.

Teaching is a profession and a mode to make students have more potential and learn important lessons even about life like respect, sharing, ethical values, and cultures.

Also Check – 20 Techniques to Supercharge Your Online Teaching

Importance of Teaching Profession

Teaching is the most desirable Profession nowadays. The importance of the Teaching Profession includes fun and learning together. Being in the teaching profession doesn’t mean you have to share your knowledge. Sometimes teachers themselves learn something new with teaching experience.

Teachers play a vital role in student’s life by helping them achieve their goals. Therefore, choosing the Teaching Profession offers endless career opportunities. However, Teaching is not the only Profession; in fact, it is the activity to serve education.

Here we have enlisted some Importance of Teaching Profession. So those who are interested in being teachers must go through the following points-

Improves Communication Skills

Teaching is a systematic technique to communicate with more and more people. Thus, being in the teaching profession will improve communication skills. As a result, one can interact more confidently with others.

Increase knowledge and skills

Teachers are only one who passes on their knowledge and skills to the young generation. Through this profession, teachers motivate and inspire students to focus and develop their natural abilities.

A learner itself

As learning has no boundaries, one can never stop learning. In the teaching profession also, the teacher can learn at any stage and age too. Even R.N. Tagore has said that

“Lamp can never light another lamp unless if continues to burn its own flame same as a teacher can never teach unless he/ she is a learner”.

Fun and learning together

Among all careers and professions, I found teaching much better. The Importance of the Teaching Profession is that one can experience fun and learn together. Besides instructing students, teachers can involve in other curriculum activities.

Experience To Handle Different Children

School or college is a place where different students with different mindsets reach. The teacher must have the ability to handle all children normal, intelligent, or physically disabled.

Excellent Organization Skills

The teaching profession makes one multi-tasker; in spite of teaching academics to students, teachers, and Organizational skills. Being organized means one can manage time and resources efficiently and effectively for better productivity.

Ethical And Disciplined

One characteristic of the teaching profession involves ethics and discipline. Teachers teach ethical values which make students more disciplined. Ethical behavior encourages students to know what is bad or good for them.

Setting up Role Model For Others

Being a teacher isn’t much complex but being a favorite of all is what matters. Teachers should inspire students to found their hidden talents and achieve their aim. An inspired teacher can make students motivated by setting up Role models.

Build Future Leaders

Teachers are the source of influencing tomorrow’s leaders. Teachers create classroom space and enable students to be educated and future responsible leaders.

Characteristics of Teaching

However, many teachers teach in schools/academies/Institutions or universities, but not all may succeed in being great teachers for students. So, what are the characteristics of the Teaching Profession that make teachers more effective in the classroom?

Those who enjoy spending time with children and are willing to make others educated with their skills can choose Teaching as a Profession. A good teacher has the power to change lives with their education. To become an exemplary teacher, one may possess relevant qualities like creating a dynamic environment, being flexible, kind, classroom management, a good sense of humor, an active personality, Innovative, a calm demeanor, experience, etc.

Final Words… In the end, we can say that the teaching profession is not just a job. The teaching profession is all about shaping the future of our country. So to guide our youth in the right direction and making their dream come true teaching professional plays a vital role.

Also Check: Is India Ready for Virtual Schools?

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