EDF 1005 Introduction to the Teaching Profession

1. EDF 1005Introduction to the Teaching Profession

2. Rewards and Challenges in Teaching • Rewards in teaching • Intrinsic rewards • Rewards that come from within oneself and are personally satisfying for emotional or intellectual reasons • Extrinsic rewards • Rewards that come from the outside, such as job security and vacations

3. Rewards and Challenges in Teaching • Complexities of classrooms • Classrooms are multidimensional • You may play the role of teacher, friend, coworker • Classroom events are simultaneous • Classroom events are immediate • Classrooms are public

4. Rewards and Challenges in Teaching • Multiple Roles of Teaching • Creating a productive learning environment • Working with parents and other caregivers • Collaborating with colleagues

5. Rewards and Challenges in Teaching • What do you think are the major rewards in teaching? • What do you think are the major challenges? • Identify the most cited reasons why people go into teaching.

6. The Teaching Profession • Characteristics of Professionalism • A specialized body of knowledge • Knowledge of content • Pedagogical content knowledge • General pedagogical knowledge • Knowledge of learners and learning • Autonomy • Capacity to control one’s own professional life • Emphasis on decision making and reflection • Ethical standards for conduct

7. Putting Teacher Professionalism into Perspective • What are the essential characteristics of professionalism? • What are the major arguments that teaching is not a profession?

8. Modern Reform Movement in Education • Standards • Designed to clearly define what all students should know and be able to do • Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS- science, social studies and special areas) • Common Core (CC- language arts, reading, mathematics) • Test-based accountability • Using tests to determine whether students have mastered essential knowledge and skills, and basing promotion and graduation on test performance • Choice • Attempts to provide parents with alternatives to regular public schools through charter schools and vouchers

9. Modern Reform Movement in Education • Changes in teacher preparation • Raising standards for admission into teacher training programs • Requiring teachers to take more rigorous courses than in the past • Requiring higher standards for licensure, including teacher competency tests • Expanding teacher preparation programs from 4 to 5 years • Requiring experienced teachers to take more rigorous professional-development courses • No Child Left Behind • Adequate yearly progress (AYP)

10. Modern Reform Movement in Education • Educational reform: Future direction • American Recovery and Reinvestment Act • Provided $81 billion into education • Funds were intended to provide short-term help to beleaguered states and districts feeling financial strain • President Obama’s first major speech on education • Reward good teachers • Encourage charter schools • Lengthen school day and school year • President Obama’s first major budget proposal • School improvement programs targeting underperforming schools • Teacher improvement grants to school districts to develop performance pay programs • Federal matching funds to encourage districts to develop Pre-K programs

11. Modern Reform Movement in Education • Praxis: Comprehensive teacher testing • Praxis I: Academic Skills Assessments • Tests designed to measure basic skills in reading, writing and math • Praxis II: Subject Assessments • Subject assessments intended to measure teachers’ knowledge of the subjects they will teach • Praxis III: Classroom Performance Assessments • Tests used in classroom observations and work samples to assess beginning teachers’ ability to plan, instruct, manage, and understand professional responsibilities

12. Educational Philosophy: The Intellectual Foundations of American Education By: Don Kauchak & Paul Eggen

13. Philosophy and Philosophy of Education • What is philosophy, and what does “philosophy of education” mean? • Philosophy is the search for wisdom; a study of theories of knowledge, truth, existence, and morality- matters of right and wrong • Philosophy of education is helping prospective teachers understand the thinking of past experts; it guides what we do in the classroom and provides a framework for thinking about educational issues

14. The Relationship Between Philosophy and Theory • Theory is a set of related principles that are based on observation and are used to explain the world around us • “Explain” is important- the primary function of theories is to help explain events we observe in our day to day lives • Philosophies are based in part on theories, but go beyond them • Provide descriptions of the way something ought to be- such as the way educators, physicians, or other professional ought to practice • Normative philosophy

15. Branches of Philosophy • Epistemology • Examines questions of how we come to know what we know • A variety of ways of knowing exist • Scientific method • Epistemology is important because our beliefs about how students gain knowledge and understanding affect our choices of teaching methods • Metaphysics or ontology • Considers what we know • Considers questions of reality and ultimately attempts to answer the question “What is real?”

16. Branches of Philosophy • Axiology • Considers values and ethics • Teachers examine their values to decide what’s best for their students • Logic • Examines the processes of deriving valid conclusions from basic principles • Deductive reasoning- begins with a premise or proposition • Inductive reasoning- begins with particular facts or observations and ends with a conclusion that pulls the facts together

17. Perennialism • Suggesting that nature- including human nature is constant • Believe in a rigorous curriculum that is constant for all students • Preparation for future life, and the extent to which students find their studies relevant to their lives at the time they’re in school, although valuable, isn’t critical • “Individuals’ intellect should be the purpose of schooling: math, science, and great literature should make up the curriculum, and teachers should be in charge of classes that include discussion of time-honored topics”

18. Essentialism • “Back to the basics” • Suggests that critical knowledge and skills exist that all people should posses • Purpose of schooling is to advance society, the curriculum should include the skills needed to function effectively in society, and teachers should play a central role in directing classes to help students acquire these skills

19. Progressivism • Emphasizes real-world problem solving and individual development • Purpose of schooling is to develop students as completely as possible- physically, intellectually, socially, and emotionally • Curriculum should be composed of experience that reflect today’s world, and instructionally, teachers should guide students in the process of development • 21st century skills

20. Social Reconstructionism • Asserts that schools, teachers and students should take the lead in addressing social problems and improving society • “What is the purpose of schooling?” • School should be used to eliminate social inequalities by creating a new and more just society • Curriculum includes topics that reflect social issues and discussion would be a primary teaching method

21. Behaviorism • People’s behavior is determined primarily by influences in the environment • Reinforced • Positive reinforcement • Negative reinforcement • Punished

22. Constructivism • Alternative view of learners and learning that suggests that to make sense of their experiences, students actively construct their own understanding of the topics they study instead of having that understanding transmitted to them by someone else, such as a teacher • Cognitive psychology • View learners as thinking beings who are mentally active in attempts to gather information, organize it to make sense of it, and store it in memory for future use • Humanistic psychology • Emphasizes the growth and needs of the “whole person”, physical, social, emotional, thinking and aesthetic

23. Developing Your Philosophy of Education • Identify what is the purpose of schooling? • Is my role as a teacher to pass knowledge on to students, or should I guide them as they learn on their own? • Is motivating students part of my job, or should motivation come from within students? • How do students best learn? Should I push them, or should they be left largely on their own?