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Chapter One. Becoming a Teacher: Looking Forward and Backward at the Same Time. The Truth About Teaching. Teaching is “the essential profession, the one that makes all other professions possible.” -from Promising Practices: New Ways to Improve Teacher Quality , US Dept Ed report, 1998.
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Chapter One Becoming a Teacher: Looking Forward and Backward at the Same Time
The Truth About Teaching Teaching is “the essential profession, the one that makes all other professions possible.” -from Promising Practices: New Ways to Improve Teacher Quality, US Dept Ed report, 1998
What’s it really like to teach? • Meet teachers, interview them, and ask them about the challenges and rewards of a teaching life! • Watch the TeachSource Video Case, Becoming a Teacher and the Bonus Video, ”Essential Qualities that Teachers Must Possess.” • Which of your qualities match the attributes of good teachers?
“Reflective Practitioners” • Modify their teaching based on classroom results • Identify attitudes, skills, traits required to excel • Lifelong learners • Open to ideas from students, research, & personal growth • Understand their values, beliefs, dreams, schooling, and how life experiences shape teaching & learning styles -from educational researcher Donald Schon, 1983
Your Educational Autobiography • Story of you, as a student • Attend preschool? • At what age did you start school? • Did you walk, ride bus, get driven? • Feelings on entering school, classroom • How did school smell, sound, look? • Earliest classroom memories
Qualities of Good Teachers • A teacher needs to be: • Committed • Caring • Courageous. • Conscious • Centered……..Teachers communicate, through their body language and speech, their own readiness to work with their students.
Picture Yourself in a Classroom • These drawings show how 3 perspectives on a classroom. What would yours look like?
Being a Teacher Is Like Being a …orA teacher is a ……………… • Dentist • Extract response from students • Tour guide • Set itinerary, interpret, explore with group • Sailor • When wind blows in the wrong direction, you change course • Toolbox • Give students ability for lifelong learning • Hill climber • Stop often to check everyone’s progress, keep group climbing What’s your simile or metaphor?
Philosophy of Teaching Statement • Describes your ideas about teaching & learning and how that will guide practice • Should be based on educational research • Forms an important part of teaching portfolio
Teaching Portfolio • Documents your work, goals, and teaching philosophy • Includes: sample lesson plans, student work, videos of you in action • May need for job applications, certification • Prompts reflection
Is teaching a profession? • A profession typically: • Offers essential service to individual & society • Has unique body of content knowledge & skills • Makes decisions based on valid knowledge, principles, and theories • Requires formal training • Uses professional assoc. to control admissions, standards, licensing
A Highly Organized Field • Teachers’ unions: • American Federation of Teachers (AFT) • National Education Association (NEA) • Provide legal services, collective bargaining, support network, professional development • National Board of Professional Teaching Standards • Nonprofit developing voluntary certification
National Education Association (NEA) Code of Ethics Teacher’s commitment to the student • Support independent action in pursuit of learning • Offer access to different points of view • Don’t suppress or distort subject matter • Protect student from harmful conditions • Don’t allow student to be embarrassed or disparaged • No discrimination on basis of race, color, creed, sex, national origin, marital status, political or religious beliefs, family, social or cultural background, sexual orientation • Won’t use professional relationship for private advantage • Don’t disclose student information unless required by law or in service of compelling professional purpose
Ethics in Practice • Honor diversity • Believe in worth & dignity of each person • Recognize importance of multiple truths, multiple expressions of excellence • Nurture democracy • Adhere to highest ethical standards
To Become a Teacher • Standards vary by state, do you need: • Bachelor’s degree in subject area? • To pass tests for teaching certificate, license? • Master’s degree? • To attend certain seminars? • Make checklist to coordinate your coursework with state required activities
Can you tell the school climate? • Social atmosphere, the way students experience school • Orderliness, clarity & enforcement of rules • Teaching practices, diversity, relationships • Halls friendly or silent? • Nurturing vs. authoritarian
School Culture Also Matters • Deep patterns of values, beliefs, traditions that create school’s reputation • What behavior is rewarded? • Who are school heroes? • Ceremonies, stories, cultural networks • Academically driven vs. “party school”
What does it take to be a teacher? • Teaching and learning are two sides of the same coin….. • Every teacher is a student…. • Every student is a teacher………… • What does that mean?