Intro to Teaching: Becoming a Professional Test 1: Chapters 1, 13, 2, 3
Chapter 1: Do I Want to Be a Teacher?
2 main responses to This I Believe survey is: Work with youth, Value to society.
Rewards in Teaching: Intrinsic and Extrinsic
Intrinsic: Come from within; personally satisfying for emotional or intellectual reasons
• Center on working with young people and knowing you’re contributing to the world.
• Intellectual rewards are related to thinking and teaching academic content.
• Many people enter teaching because of intrinsic rewards
Extrinsic: Rewards that come from the outside
• Job security (Tenure), Summer Vacation, convenient schedules, and occupational status
(benefits)
• Schedules good if you have children who are also in school so they don’t end up at
home to an empty house
Working conditions: there may be challenges; sometimes responsible for 20-30 children all day everyday
if teaching elementary, middle or secondary school you may have 5 different classes. Teachers make
100+ decisions every day.
Characteristics of Classrooms
1. Multidimensional: Many components, tasks, and events exist in classrooms (group work,
stations, kids being pulled out)
2. Simultaneous: events going on at the same time (kids being pulled out, kid eating glue and girl
cutting her hair with scissors)
3. Immediate: Events occur quickly (cutting hair, pencil stabbings, no two days are the same)
4. Unpredictable: unexpected turns, fire drills, break ins, thinking on your toes.
5. Public: (fishbowl); student teaching, observations, visitors, seeing teachers in public
Multiple Roles of Teachers
Creating a productive learning environment: safe and inviting; focuses on learning, and
provides opportunities for social and personal growth; orderly classroom and helps student
development.
Working with Parents and other Caregivers: home environment has a powerful influence on
learning; need it to develop strategies to increase parental involvement in their children’s academic life.
Parent-teacher conferences, encouraging parents to monitor and help with homework, limit television
viewing, and read to their young children. When parents are involved students have more positive
attitudes toward school and create less problems. Develop higher levels of self-regulation and personal
responsibility. More willing to do homework, attendance and graduation numbers increase. And most
students are likely to go to college. To find out a child’s behavior it is easier to know what is going on at
home which might explain the child’s outburst. Most schools have open-houses, progress reports,
report cards, and parent-teacher conferences.
Collaborating with Colleagues: When you begin career you will become part of a team and will
collaborate with other colleagues about curriculum, assessment, and teaching strategies. Many
principals view collaboration as one of the most essential characteristics of an effective teacher, and
interviewers, will try and assess your ability and inclination to work with others in your job interview.
First-Year Teachers
Job satisfaction is closely linked to teacher efficacy, teachers’ beliefs in their ability to promote learning
and make a difference in students’ lives, regardless of background or home conditions.
How much is a Teacher worth?
Teacher salaries: Low compared to other professions. Primary reason teachers leave the profession.
Average salary is $50,000
Characteristics of being a professional
1. Specialized body of knowledge
Knowledge of content area, pedagogical content knowledge: understanding a content area is
essential for teaching but not sufficient; being able to make the content understandable
requires additional form of professional knowledge. , general pedagogical knowledge: ability to
maintain and orderly and learning focused classroom and guide student learning using skilled
questioning. , and knowledge of learners and learning: understanding the different ways
students learn and develop is another form of professional knowledge.
2. License/4 Year Degree
Need a license to teach and have a 4 year- degree in teaching and a content area. Need clinical
experience, internships
3. Autonomy
The capacity to control one’s own professional life. Many think teaching isn’t a profession
because states and districts have control of curriculum and assessment. Yes, they provide
standards, yet you will have control over specific content you teach, how you teach it, and how
to assess students learning.
4. Emphasis on decision making and reflection
Self-assessment requires that teachers develop a disposition for continually and critically
examining their work. Reflection: act of thinking about and analyzing your actions. It improves
our teaching and helps us develop as professionals.
5. Professional Ethics
Ethics: sets of moral standards for acceptable professional behavior, and all professions have
codes of ethics intended to guide professionals as they make decisions about how to act.
Diversity in the US classroom
Culture, ethnicity, Socioeconomic status (SES), Gender differences
Teacher responses to diversity influence student learning and teacher career
satisfaction
Rural vs. Suburban vs. Urban
Rural
Suburban
Urban
Tend to be smaller with
smaller schools.
Are less culturally diverse
Often seek beginning
teachers
More one to one interaction
Not as exposed
More poor, can’t afford
books or supplies
Are intermediate in terms of
both size and cultural
diversity
Wealthier because of higher
tax base
Job opportunity more
competitive.
Largest and most culturally
diverse
Considerable job
opportunities
More rewarding
Larger classes
English may not be first
language
Reform in teacher education
Reforms: changes in teaching and teacher preparation intended to increase students learning.
Raising standards for admission to teacher training programs
More rigorous courses than in the past
Higher standards for licensure, including teacher-competency tests (praxis 1 and praxis 2: subject
assessments.
Expanding prep programs from 4 to 5 years
Chapter 13- Developing as a Professional
Beliefs of Pre-service and Beginning Teachers
1. They generally believe that, when they begin teaching they will be better than most of the
teachers now in the field.
2. They generally expect to become more confident in their ability to help children learn as they
gain experience.
3. They believe that their teacher-preparation program is largely a waste of time, and they will
learn most of what they need to know when they get into their classroom.
4. They believe that understanding the content they will be teaching is the most important factor
that will lead to success in their first year of teaching.
Developing a Professional Reputation
• Attend all classes, be on time, if you must miss, see professor in advance, or explain afterward
• Turn in assignments on time and follow established guidelines or criteria
• Study conscientiously, and try to learn as much as possible in all your classes.
• Participate in class: Offer comments and ask questions
• Take every opportunity to learn something new.
• Acquire experience in urban schools. Best opportunities for employment are and it will
siginificantly increase the likelihood of finding a job.
• Read and try to be well informed. Learn for the sake of learning, and attempt to aquire
