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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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Redefining the Role of the Teacher: It’s a Multifaceted Profession

A closer look at what being an educator really means.

Imagine a school where teaching is considered to be a profession rather than a trade. The role of teachers in a child's education -- and in American culture -- has fundamentally changed. Teaching differs from the old "show-and-tell" practices as much as modern medical techniques differ from practices such as applying leeches and bloodletting.

Instruction doesn't consist primarily of lecturing to students who sit in rows at desks, dutifully listening and recording what they hear, but, rather, offers every child a rich, rewarding, and unique learning experience. The educational environment isn't confined to the classroom but, instead, extends into the home and the community and around the world. Information isn't bound primarily in books; it's available everywhere in bits and bytes.

Students aren't consumers of facts. They are active creators of knowledge. Schools aren't just brick-and-mortar structures -- they're centers of lifelong learning. And, most important, teaching is recognized as one of the most challenging and respected career choices, absolutely vital to the social, cultural, and economic health of our nation.

Today, the seeds of such a dramatic transformation in education are being planted. Prompted by massive revolutions in knowledge, information technology, and public demand for better learning, schools nationwide are slowly but surely restructuring themselves.

Leading the way are thousands of teachers who are rethinking every part of their jobs -- their relationship with students, colleagues, and the community; the tools and techniques they employ; their rights and responsibilities; the form and content of curriculum; what standards to set and how to assess whether they are being met; their preparation as teachers and their ongoing professional development; and the very structure of the schools in which they work. In short, teachers are reinventing themselves and their occupation to better serve schools and students.

New Relationships and Practices

Traditionally, teaching was a combination of information-dispensing, custodial child care and sorting out academically inclined students from others. The underlying model for schools was an education factory in which adults, paid hourly or daily wages, kept like-aged youngsters sitting still for standardized lessons and tests.

Teachers were told what, when, and how to teach. They were required to educate every student in exactly the same way and were not held responsible when many failed to learn. They were expected to teach using the same methods as past generations, and any deviation from traditional practices was discouraged by supervisors or prohibited by myriad education laws and regulations. Thus, many teachers simply stood in front of the class and delivered the same lessons year after year, growing gray and weary of not being allowed to change what they were doing.

Many teachers today, however, are encouraged to adapt and adopt new practices that acknowledge both the art and science of learning. They understand that the essence of education is a close relationship between a knowledgeable, caring adult and a secure, motivated child. They grasp that their most important role is to get to know each student as an individual in order to comprehend his or her unique needs, learning style, social and cultural background, interests, and abilities.

This attention to personal qualities is all the more important as America continues to become the most pluralistic nation on Earth. Teachers have to be committed to relating to youngsters of many cultures, including those young people who, with traditional teaching, might have dropped out -- or have been forced out -- of the education system.

Their job is to counsel students as they grow and mature -- helping them integrate their social, emotional, and intellectual growth -- so the union of these sometimes separate dimensions yields the abilities to seek, understand, and use knowledge; to make better decisions in their personal lives; and to value contributing to society.

They must be prepared and permitted to intervene at any time and in any way to make sure learning occurs. Rather than see themselves solely as masters of subject matter such as history, math, or science, teachers increasingly understand that they must also inspire a love of learning.

In practice, this new relationship between teachers and students takes the form of a different concept of instruction. Tuning in to how students really learn prompts many teachers to reject teaching that is primarily lecture based in favor of instruction that challenges students to take an active role in learning.

They no longer see their primary role as being the king or queen of the classroom, a benevolent dictator deciding what's best for the powerless underlings in their care. They've found they accomplish more if they adopt the role of educational guides, facilitators, and co-learners.

The most respected teachers have discovered how to make students passionate participants in the instructional process by providing project-based, participatory, educational adventures. They know that in order to get students to truly take responsibility for their own education, the curriculum must relate to their lives, learning activities must engage their natural curiosity, and assessments must measure real accomplishments and be an integral part of learning.

Students work harder when teachers give them a role in determining the form and content of their schooling -- helping them create their own learning plans and deciding the ways in which they will demonstrate that they have, in fact, learned what they agreed to learn.

The day-to-day job of a teacher, rather than broadcasting content, is becoming one of designing and guiding students through engaging learning opportunities. An educator's most important responsibility is to search out and construct meaningful educational experiences that allow students to solve real-world problems and show they have learned the big ideas, powerful skills, and habits of mind and heart that meet agreed-on educational standards. The result is that the abstract, inert knowledge that students used to memorize from dusty textbooks comes alive as they participate in the creation and extension of new knowledge.

New Tools and Environments

One of the most powerful forces changing teachers' and students' roles in education is new technology. The old model of instruction was predicated on information scarcity. Teachers and their books were information oracles, spreading knowledge to a population with few other ways to get it.

But today's world is awash in information from a multitude of print and electronic sources. The fundamental job of teaching is no longer to distribute facts but to help children learn how to use them by developing their abilities to think critically, solve problems, make informed judgments, and create knowledge that benefits both the students and society. Freed from the responsibility of being primary information providers, teachers have more time to spend working one-on-one or with small groups of students.

Recasting the relationship between students and teachers demands that the structure of school changes as well. Though it is still the norm in many places to isolate teachers in cinderblock rooms with age-graded pupils who rotate through classes every hour throughout a semester -- or every year, in the case of elementary school -- this paradigm is being abandoned in more and more schools that want to give teachers the time, space, and support to do their jobs.

Extended instructional periods and school days, as well as reorganized yearly schedules, are all being tried as ways to avoid chopping learning into often arbitrary chunks based on limited time. Also, rather than inflexibly group students in grades by age, many schools feature mixed-aged classes in which students spend two or more years with the same teachers.

In addition, ability groups, from which those judged less talented can rarely break free, are being challenged by a recognition that current standardized tests do not measure many abilities or take into account the different ways people learn best.

One of the most important innovations in instructional organization is team teaching, in which two or more educators share responsibility for a group of students. This means that an individual teacher no longer has to be all things to all students. This approach allows teachers to apply their strengths, interests, skills, and abilities to the greatest effect, knowing that children won't suffer from their weaknesses, because there's someone with a different set of abilities to back them up.

To truly professionalize teaching, in fact, we need to further differentiate the roles a teacher might fill. Just as a good law firm has a mix of associates, junior partners, and senior partners, schools should have a greater mix of teachers who have appropriate levels of responsibility based on their abilities and experience levels. Also, just as much of a lawyer's work occurs outside the courtroom, so, too, should we recognize that much of a teacher's work is done outside the classroom.

New Professional Responsibilities

Aside from rethinking their primary responsibility as directors of student learning, teachers are also taking on other roles in schools and in their profession. They are working with colleagues, family members, politicians, academics, community members, employers, and others to set clear and obtainable standards for the knowledge, skills, and values we should expect America's children to acquire. They are participating in day-to-day decision making in schools, working side-by-side to set priorities, and dealing with organizational problems that affect their students' learning.

Many teachers also spend time researching various questions of educational effectiveness that expand the understanding of the dynamics of learning. And more teachers are spending time mentoring new members of their profession, making sure that education school graduates are truly ready for the complex challenges of today's classrooms.

Reinventing the role of teachers inside and outside the classroom can result in significantly better schools and better-educated students. But though the roots of such improvement are taking hold in today's schools, they need continued nurturing to grow and truly transform America's learning landscape. The rest of us -- politicians and parents, superintendents and school board members, employers and education school faculty -- must also be willing to rethink our roles in education to give teachers the support, freedom, and trust they need to do the essential job of educating our children.

Judith Taack Lanier is a distinguished professor of education at Michigan State University.

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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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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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‘teaching is the profession on which all other professions depend’: linda darling-hammond on transforming education.

What are the most powerful things we can do to transform education? Linda Darling-Hammond, President and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute and the Charles E. Ducommun Emeritus Professor of Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, offers her top five recommendations in an interview with GSE Dean Dan Schwartz and Senior Lecturer Denise Pope.

Listen to the full episode at the link below and find more episodes at Stanford Radio . School’s In airs weekends on SiriusXM Insight channel 121.

Interview highlights

Taking care of children.

In the 1970s the U.S. was probably, hands down, the number one country in the world in terms of educational attainment … by every measure that was available. Now we rank anywhere between around 21 st and 39 th , depending on the subject area.

How do countries that have built an education system that is really strong do it? What's the difference between what they're doing and what we see in the United States right now? Number one, they take care of children. They have a child welfare system. They don't allow high rates of child poverty. In the United States, one out of four children lives in poverty. Homelessness has increased astronomically, children with food insecurity and so on. In [nations with a strong education system] – Canada is one, by the way, that's near the top – they take care of children, they have food and housing, and they have early learning opportunities that are high quality.

Teaching for the future

If what you've done is memorize information and spit it back on a test, you will be utterly unprepared for [our changing] world. In fact, our kids are going to have to work with knowledge that hasn't been discovered yet and technologies that haven't been invented yet, to solve big problems that we haven't been able to solve. They need work in school that allows them to take up a problem, figure out how to find the resources that will be needed to solve that problem, work with others to design a solution, test it, evaluate it, revise it, and be able to generate their own progress in learning.

That's a very different kind of teaching. It doesn't mean the facts disappear. It doesn't mean that teaching a structured curriculum disappears. But it does mean that the way you approach the curriculum has to be much more focused around that kind of inquiry than simply reading the chapter and answering the questions at the end of the book.

The “basket of knowledge”

There's a pretty wide and deep basket of knowledge that teachers need to have. They need to understand how people learn, and how people learn differently — not everyone learns exactly in the same way. They need to know how people develop in social and emotional and academic and moral and physical ways, and all those areas of child development interact with each other. They need to understand the relationship, for example, between emotion and learning. You only really learn when you are excited or interested. There's a set of positive emotions; it might just be that you like your teachers. If you're fearful, if you think somebody is going to criticize you or stereotype you, you're going to learn less. All of that has to be understood by teachers.

Teachers also need to know how to build a curriculum that gets kids from wherever they are to the curriculum goals we have for them. They need to understand assessment — how not only to give a test and give a grade … but also how to assess how kids are learning and then either reshape the teaching or help students revise their own work so that they can improve.

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Teaching Profession Essay

Teaching profession as it has been described by some people is a noble career. I sometimes believe that it is more of a calling than a profession because it really involves transforming the lives of people. This is not an easy task but rather a feat that calls for commitment and willingness to offer the best so that the learners succeed. Often teachers are faced with many challenges that compel them to employ and portray a high degree of professionalism in handling. A successful handling of a problem that arises within the education system proves the capacity of a teacher handle situations effectively. This essay will describe a challenging experience that I had with students and how I dealt with it.

The most challenging experience that I had with students is when the students in a school I was teaching went on rampage. They vandalized school property and many attempts from teachers who tried to implore them to restrain from the damage they were causing did not succeed. The students eventually gave a condition that I was the only teacher they would listen to for them to air their grievances. This experience was one of the most challenging experiences in my teacher career since calm and normalcy of the school was squarely lying on my hands. The students were gathered outside in a field so I had to apply all my wit and appropriate strategies in talking to them. The strategy I used to handle the situation was first to calm the students down because they were ready to talk to me because of my affable nature. Once they were calm, I first started by explaining to them that there are better ways of solving problems rather than engaging in violence.

The strategy I used was to pick a few students who seemed very outspoken and who definitely looked very disappointed with whatever they were complaining about to air the grievances on behalf of the rest. The selected students raised their concerns and aired their grievances as I carefully noted them down in a notebook. The argued that these were issues they wanted to bring to the attention of the administration because they had been complaining for long with no appropriate action being taken. The irate students informed me that they wanted to be sure that their concerns should be addressed once and for all. Consequently they said that they would only go back to class after I took their concerns to the administration. I convincingly talked to the students and promised them that everything would be fine as I was committed towards ensuring that their concerns were addressed. The outcome of my efforts was that the students agreed to go back to class and calm returned in the school which had witnessed chaos for a whole day.

I had the greatest impact in the outcome of the student’s decision to go back to class because they had refused to talk to the rest of the teachers. Through my diligent talk with the students, they could see the sense of having problems solved amicably. I tried to change their line of thought by informing them that chaos were not the way to solve problems. I also impacted on the outcome of the solution by assuring the rowdy students that once they presented their grievances to me, I would ensure that the due attention they deserved would be given and that an immediate appropriate action will be taken to correct the situation.

After a few days of the situation calming down, I wanted to determine whether the outcome was successful or not. To do this, I secretly talked to the student leaders and asked them whether the rest of the students were satisfied with the corrective measures that the school administration took. They confirmed to me that the rest of the students were happy and contended with the solutions that were provided. This confirmed to me that the outcome of my strategy was a great success.

One thing I would do differently from what many teachers do I the approach teachers take when a crisis such like a strike emerges. Some teachers believe that students are always wrong and most of the issues they raise are not legitimate. This is always the case because while at times students may raise illegitimate concerns, most of the times their concerns are legitimate and attention should be paid to them. This is because if teachers only think that students cannot raise legitimate concerns, they will not treat them as they are supposed to and problems will continue escalating.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, March 22). Teaching Profession. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-profession/

"Teaching Profession." IvyPanda , 22 Mar. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-profession/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Teaching Profession'. 22 March.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Teaching Profession." March 22, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-profession/.

1. IvyPanda . "Teaching Profession." March 22, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-profession/.

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• Fable's Moral Lesson on the Complaining
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• Grievance Negotiation: Benefits and Drawbacks
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• Highly Qualified Teaching Staff
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• Personal Employment Experience
• High School Social Studies Teacher Career

Teaching as Vocation: Reflections and Advice

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• Lori L. Lohman  

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So you’ve decided to become a college professor. This means you get to dress up in ancient garb, smiling munificently during graduation at students about to embark on their rewarding careers and lives. And if you are lucky, you get to do this again, and again, and again—in my case, for over 25 years. Most of today’s students were not even roaming the planet when I began teaching, but despite the fact that I’m teaching a new generation wired to its various technological devices, some of the basic principles of what makes a successful professor haven’t changed. Technologies will come and go (anyone remember Betamax? How about reel-to-reel movie projectors?), but the thirst for knowledge will not—and that goes not only for students, but also for those of us trying to teach others what we already know and what we continue to learn. Ideally, people who teach college students do so because they consider it to be their vocation. I’m not referring to “Vocational Education,” which has its own, state-specific definition, but rather the lower case “vocational education,” or as John Dewey envisioned it, one’s life calling. This chapter is about how I found my life calling and how others can as well.

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© 2016 Rick D. Saucier, Nora Ganim Barnes, Kimberley K. Folkers, Frederick B. Hoyt, Lisa M. Lindgren, Lori L. Lohman, Michael J. Messina, and Stephanie Jacobsen

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Lohman, L.L. (2016). Teaching as Vocation: Reflections and Advice. In: Reflections on Life in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137560452_5

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