Rewards in Teaching
0 Intrinsic
0 Existing within ourselves
0 Satisfying for personal, emotional or
intellectual reasons
0 Want to help young people learn & develop,
smiling students
0 Contributing to society & making a world a better
place
0 Personally challenging & stimulating
0 Insight, knowledge into other
0 Occupational status
Rewards in Teaching
0 Extrinsic Rewards
0 Outside forces
0 Summer vacations & job security
0 Work schedule
0 Positive places to work
0 Surrounded by people like you (optimistic about the future)
Challenges in Teaching
0 #1 – Finding a job
0 Funding
0 Position, student demographics, location
0 Elementary teacher – up 9%
0 High school – lower than elementary
0 Working Conditions
0 Responsible for 20-30 students & their safety
0 Different classes
0 Limited time to plan
0 Limited bathroom breaks
0 Adult conversations
Complexities of Classrooms
0 Simultaneous
0 Tasks & events occur at the same time
0 Unpredictable
0 Events take unexpected turns
0 Best created lesson plan – does NOT guarantee a great lesson
0 Public
0 Everything is observable!
0 Ignore it, discuss it, correct it – it is out there!!
0 Immediate
0 Events – frequently & quickly
0 800-1500 decisions – daily
0 Multidimensional
0 Soo many things going on
Multiple Roles of Teaching
0 Creating Productive Learning Environments
0 Safe & inviting, focuses on learning and provides opportunities
for social and personal growth
0 Values, expectations, learning experiences
0 Working with Parents
0 Parents must be involved to maximize learning
0 Home environment – POWERFUL influence
0 Parent involvement – student more positive attitudes, create
fewer management problems!!! (more like to go to college,
complete homework, graduate)
0 Need to understand home environment
0 Teachers are more positive & have higher expectations for
parents
0 Collaborating with Colleagues
0 Now you are a team
0 Many principals view collaboration as one of the most essential
characteristics of an effective teacher
Teaching
0 Teacher efficacy – teachers’ belief in their ability to
promote learning and make a difference in students’ lives,
regardless of background or home conditions
0 Good kindergarten teachers vs. bad ones
0 Students were more likely to own a home, earn more over
a life time & have a sizable retirement savings!
0 Teacher salary
0 Face it – not many go into for the money (b/c there is little
there
0 If teachers made more money, survey showed the percentage
of high performing graduates would go into teaching
The Teaching Profession
0 Are teachers professional??
0 How do you know?
What does being a
PROFESSIONAL mean?
0 A specialized body of knowledge
0 Autonomy
0 Emphasis on decision making & reflection
0 Ethical standards for conduct
A specialized body of
knowledge
0 Professional use a specialized body of knowledge in
serving their clients
0 Knowledge of content
0 Knowing your content
0 Pedagogical content knowledge
0 Allow others to understand the content knowledge
0 General pedagogical knowledge
0 Ability to maintain an orderly & learning-focused
classroom, guide student learning using skilled questioning
0 Knowledge of learners & learning
0 Differences
0 Plan lessons accordingly
Autonomy
0 With knowledge come autonomy, the capacity to
control one’s own professional life.
0 Make decisions
0 Some suggest that teaching is not a profession due to
the lack of decision making
0 States/districts decide:
0 What teachers teach (curriculum)
0 How is student understanding measured
(assessments)
0 What students should know or be able to do after
completing an area of study (standards)
You do have some control on how you teach it, how you
decide to assess your students
Emphasis on Decision Making
& Reflection
0 You will have to rely yourself (assess your own
decisions)
0 Reflection – the act of thinking about and analyzing
your actions
0 Reflective teachers – thoughtful & critical about their
teaching (what worked well last time, what didn’t,
what interested the students, etc.)
0 Essential – improves our teaching & helps us develop
professionally
Professional Ethics
0 Read example page 21
Professional Ethics
0 Ethics – sets of moral standards for acceptable
professional behavior
0 Will help you to know how to act
0 National Education Association (NEA) code of ethics –
addressed the issue of how teachers should interact
with students
Are teachers professionals??
0 Not everyone will agree that they are
0 Lack of rigorous training
0 Lack of autonomy
Diversity
0 Your classroom will have students from diverse
background
0 In 2011, the majority of students in CA public schools
were Hispanic
0 Percentages of white students will decrease
0 Students’ socioeconomic status – combination of
parents’ income, level of education and jobs
0 Differ
0 Strongly affect their learning
Diversity
0 Learner who are mature, others slow at developing
0 Self confident vs hesitant, shy vs loud, obnoxious
0 Learning problems
0 All can affect students’ success in your class
0 Your response – will influence how much they learn,
how they feel about school & your own teaching
0 Many beginning teachers feel ill-prepared
Teaching in Rural Schools
0 1900 – 60% of the population lived in rural areas, today
16%
0 Schools much smaller than urban & suburban schools
0 2007 – 327 one-teacher, one-room schools still remained
0 Students:
0 Tend to be less culturally diverse (changing & varies state to
state)
0 26% are members of minority groups
0 Poverty – BIG issue especially in the South and South West
0 More than 40% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch
Teaching in Rural Schools
0 Advantages
0 Strong sense of
community
0 Schools – social center
for the community
0 Communication with
parents – often easier
0 Innovation and change
easier to accomplish
0 Disadvantages:
0 Often aren’t able to offer
all of the services found
in larger school districts
Teaching in Suburban Schools
0 Majority of the population lives here
0 Growing tax base = more money for the schools
0 Smaller class size & greater access to resources
0 More diverse than rural areas
0 Well-educated professionals working in high-tech industries
0 Average household income – higher than urban & rural
0 Most of the highest achieving schools
0 Many family select their neighborhoods based on the
reputations of the schools
0 Teaching here – HIGHLY desirable – finding a job =
challenging
Teaching in Urban School
0 Our Nation’s 100 largest school districts represent
less than 1% of all districts but are responsible for
educating 16% of our students.
0 Employ more than a sixth of the nation’s teachers
0 Students:
0 80% are members of cultural minorities
0 More than 65% eligible for free/reduced lunch
0 1 of 5 enrolled in programs for students who do not
speak English as a native language
Challenges to teaching in
Urban Schools
0 More challenging
0 Low academic standards, scarce resources, lack of
parental support & poverty – Major obstacles to
successful teaching
0 Teachers are often underprepared for the challenges
they face
0 Negative stereotypes = very dangerous – no matter the
circumstance
Look at table 1.3
0 Page 28 – sums up the three different areas