Teachers as Professionals

This is in response to our discussion on whether or not teaching has a specific base of knowledge, similar to that of doctors and lawyers, and whether or not teaching is considered a profession. Strike states that for teaching to be considered a profession “the knowledge base must be esoteric”. From what I gathered from the reading and our class discussion, teachers are not viewed to have knowledge that is esoteric and the average person is capable of walking into a classroom and teaching the students what they need to know. If I understand this correctly then I could not disagree more. I do understand that the average person knows that 2 x 2 = 4. But, my argument is that the average person probably does not know how to teach this to a 3rd grader and know of alternative ways to teach a particular student that is not able to grasp the concept. The average person probably does not have the classroom management skills to deal with students who are acting out or not following directions. The average person also could not teach a child the seven steps to throwing a ball. All of these examples are what I believe to be esoteric knowledge that teachers posses because of their professional training. If the average person is able to do these things, then why are we all spending thousands of dollars to learn classroom management procedures, how to work with students with special needs, and specific subject matter (in my case, kinesiology, motor skills, exercise science, etc)?

On the first floor of Withers there is a quote that says “Teaching is the profession that teaches all other professions”. I was very surprised that a room full of future teachers did not have a lot to say about the fact that if we consider being a doctor or lawyer a profession, then why are the teachers that prepare them for their profession not considered professionals? I understand that a 2nd grade teacher is not specifically responsible for teaching someone how to become a doctor. But I do believe that teachers in general have the ability to prepare a student for their future profession by teaching them valuable lessons such as respect, responsibility, social skills, etc. I know that there are other people in their life that they can learn this from, but if you think about it, teachers are with their students more than their parents are throughout the week. So who is really doing the teaching?

The bottom line is that teachers go through extensive training (content knowledge and pedagogy) that, in my opinion, set them apart from the average person. Everyone, no matter what type of job they hold, was at some point in their life taught by teachers. So why is our trade not viewed as a respectful profession? Am I completely off base here?

Other - "The Full Monty"

I found an interesting article this weekend from about 2 years ago that can be related to the presentation on “10 Quick Ways to Get Fired from Your Teaching Job”. Jason Brenner, a part-time, 3rd year music teacher at Lemon Bay High School in Sarasota, Florida, chose to resign as opposed to quitting his part in an amateur theater production of “The Full Monty.” His part did not have him baring all, it only had him baring his rear-end for a couple of seconds at the end of the play. School officials did not know he was in the production until a picture from the show appeared in the newspaper. Administrators gave Brenner a letter that gave him 3 options, “stop doing the show, continue the show but take yourself out of the last scene so that you’re not naked on stage, or continue doing the show at full capacity but hand in a letter of resignation.” Brenner chose to resign because teaching high school was not a career goal for him. Apparently, not only should you be careful of what pictures or videos are taken of you but also be careful of what plays you decide to be a part of.


http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070310/FEATURES/703100325

Other - Autistic Boy Voted Out Of His Kindergarten Class

I ran across this article from last year that I was appalled at and made me think about the “Rights of Students with Disabilities” presentation. A 5 year old boy with autism was voted out of his class by his teacher and classmates in a kindergarten class at Morningside Elementary School in Port St. Lucie, Florida. The teacher allowed his classmates to voice their opinions about him and vote whether or not he should be allowed to stay in the classroom. 14 of the children voted him out of the class and 2 voted that he stay. He was sent to the nurse’s office for the rest of the school day. The boy’s mother reported that he had been emotionally affected by the incident and was considering a suit against the teacher. Florida attorney’s officer said that there could be no criminal charges filed because the incident “did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse.” This makes me very curious as to what the criteria are and how far this state will allow people to go before pressing criminal charges. I also googled this article and found many, many websites for parents with disabled children who were rightly outraged by this incident.

http://www4.enews20.com/add_comment_08253_pc_748.html

Real Teaching # 35 (Reading Reaction)

In the article “Real Teaching”, the author discusses issues of what is considered teaching or not. There are several questions posed in the article that relates to the subject. One question is how can one determine whether an individual who is a teacher is actually teaching or not at a given moment? Since the author is mainly dealing with preschool age children, the answer to this question may be easier to develop than with older students. With young children, anything that one does in their presence could be categorized as teaching moment. At this age children are just beginning to develop not only basic academic knowledge, but social skills as well. The way a teacher interacts with other faculty, cleans up after him or herself, and says excuse after sneezing or burping is all being watched and possibly mimicked by preschool children. Another question posed in the article is whether teaching should be viewed as an accomplishment or an effort? Arguments for both were given in the text, however, no notion was given to the idea that the two could be intertwined. A concept for this third notion could be that when teaching, one puts forth effort to accomplish a classroom goal. Much planning occurs before the material is presented to the class. After the initial presentation, the teacher mostly likely incorporates several activities to reiterate material. Once a the full lesson has been taught, the teacher can look at class results and determine whether teaching the subject matter was a true accomplishment. Since the author of the text claims that the discussion and questions came about from a comical action, one could wonder how far fetch or close to home each question falls. Two questions come to mind: If possible, how could the questions mentioned in the article be used in determining which teachers are worth keeping or not? Since these notions are not used per se, in the hiring or firing of a teacher, are they really issues that should be of concern?

Is Teaching a Profession - Reading Reaction

Sometimes while reading this article, I wondered, is this an article, or is it a study in the navel anatomy of teachers? Aside from being badly written (being an English major, I find bad grammar and awkward sentence structure distracting), it dances circles around its point at least a dozen times before making it, and then continues the Mexican Hat Dance for a couple more repetitions afterward. I kept reading what I felt was an entire section's "meat and potatoes" in the first paragraph and then hoping that the rest of the section would be more than "fluff" and reiteration... and I kept being disappointed that I lost the precious seconds reading 5 more paragraphs than I really needed to read.

The main points of the article seem to be thus:

1. If teaching is to be considered a profession, it needs to be privatized, licensed, and peer-reviewed.

Privatized?
Here is what I mean: If the function of teachers is guided by legislation which is decided by means of democracy (everyone votes, even the unwashed masses), then the people in the best position to make decisions about education (the forerunners of educational research/practice) are shackled by the decisions of John Q. Public... which is nearly ALWAYS a disaster. By giving teachers more autonomy, Teaching becomes more professional.

Licensed.
Teachers need to obtain licensure already, but maybe the process needs to be stricter. Then again, if the unwashed masses are the ones determining curriculum, maybe we should just make a mandatory Playstation3 or Wii game that will teach the classes necessary for democratic participation in an interactive format and call it "Academic Hero 4" or whatever. If teachers can essentially be replaced by software, why do we bother with licensure? Until Sony or Nintendo gets academic professionals to start writing grade school games, we need human beings to communicate knowledge to students, and there needs to be a standard by which teachers are given authority to do so.

Peer-Reviewed.
Going back to the notion that The Public, not a board of teaching professionals, decides (in a roundabout way) what needs to be taught in public schools, teachers' performance/competence is also determined by someone other than other teachers. The performance of teachers is best judged by other expert teachers, not parents, not politicians.

2. The knowledge base of a professional teacher extends beyond simple content knowledge.

I couldn't agree more. I've known some very smart people in my life who couldn't explain an expert concept to a layman to save us from Apocalypse. Try explaining the meaning of "quintessential" to an eight-year-old. For example, those who are only great at science should be scientists and immerse themselves in the esoteric language of science. Those who are great at science AND great at explaining concepts to people should teach science. Teachers who teach science should keep up with the current educational research and the current studies in science.

The author compares teaching as a profession to medicine as a profession--and doctors as well as other medical personnel are constantly exposed to new information and new developments in their field. They must always acquire "continuing education credits" and that sort of thing. In this spirit, I think it is necessary for teachers to continue their education with regard to their specific field and teaching methods in general.

Granted, there is a lot more said in this article than I have boiled down here, but these are the two major points that I took away from it.

Obama's New Education Plan

President Obama released the first part of his new approach to education today. I have included the address to an article if anyone wants to check it out.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29612995

It is a great to challenge the current system but some of the finer points of his plan are going to be challenged by administrators, teachers, and even students. The plan is optimistic and will require even more from teachers. The plan suggests lengthening both the school day and school year and raising standards. Teachers may be paid for achieving greater results in the classroom. The present school system is on the verge of radical change but who is going to pay for this reform? How will teachers find more time to meet even higher expectations?

Receipe For the Cream Cheese Chicken Wraps

Hello Everyone!!

Several of you requested the receipe from class last Thursday night. I figured this was the best way to post it for everyone.

1 lb. sliced deli chicken
1 1/2 cup salsa (drained)
1 package cream cheese (I use the fat free kind)
Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese ( I dont use the pre-shredded kind)
1 package of tortilla's (medium sized)

Mix the drained salsa with the softened cream cheese. Spread some of the mixture on a tortilla. Add one or two slices of the chicken. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of the chicken. Roll up and use toothpick to keep tortilla closed. Place in the refrigerator over night. Slice and serve!!

Enjoy!!