A teacher when defined, is a professional person who helps others learn new things. For the past 200 plus years, an ever-increasing topic for debate has been schools, and those who work in them, the teachers. As the identity of the school teacher began to form society began to make assumptions about the job and those who fill it. Today some of those misconceptions still exist while new ones have formed. The misconceptions on teaching not only affect the job as a profession, but they also affect how teachers instruct their students. Society often makes the claim that teaching is easy and only requires reciting knowledge to students while only working a seven-hour day part of the year. In close relation to this is the notion that “teaching” is not a true profession. Teachers are also accused of complaining too much without much cause. Other misconceptions about teaching include society stating teachers are compensated enough for what they do and do not need an increase in pay. Lastly, an overall misconception about schools includes the naive claim that states schools are much different and improved than schools of the past.
On page 27 Goldstein (2014) describes when an educational
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This is where the significance of multitasking comes in; a teacher is never only doing one thing. Goldstein discusses on page 142, a comment made by Martin Luther King that emphasizes this point of not just looking at one group at a time, he had said “no group can make it on their own” then referring to the time of the Civil Rights movement (2014). Every child has something to contribute to the world, and every child will one day go out into the world and affect it in some way, thus is why all students deserve equal
When I first decided to be a teacher I had many thoughts and opinions about teaching and education. Some of my thoughts and opinions have stayed them same; however, many have changed from the discussions and readings in LL ED 411 and 480. When I first decided that I wanted to be a teacher I thought that most students learned in the same manner. I also thought that the teacher should have power over the classroom. Likewise, I thought that technology should not be used in the classroom--except to type papers. I now know that there is not much truth to my ideas and thoughts because my thoughts were shaped only from my experiences. My experiences are narrow because they were shaped from the problems in schools and the old ideas that teachers still have. Now that I have learned the other sides to these problems I know that my thoughts about teaching and education are not fully developed.
The Role of the Teacher states that the teacher has a significant influence on society. Irving Layton discusses the topic of how education in schools, colleges, and universities are not achieving what they were intended to create. Schools were supposed to give students the tools to self-improve and the develop a mind to do so. Layton goes on to explain that the criticism has fallen on the teachers but it is usually the school board who is at fault. However, Layton also talks about how teachers need to be passionate about their jobs and continually expanding their knowledge in order to successfully instruct the students...
We live in a conformed society. Our society revolves around the conditioning of others. Webster's Dictionary defines conditioning as a learning process in which an organism's behavior becomes dependent on the occurrence of a stimulus in its environment. With this said, there is a lot of conditioning that occurs in everyday life. For example, why do grade school teachers reward their students with candy? When a young child receives candy for answering a question his mind relates answering questions with receiving candy. Thus, if the child wanted to enjoy candy he must answer the teacher's questions. School systems as well as parents in our society tend to have the biggest impact in conditioning the youth to act a certain way. Although teachers may help a child to adjust to the ways of the world, they may also be taking away from creative thought and one's desire to be a pioneer.
A significant problem of practice in education is teacher bias. Teacher bias has implications around race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and socioeconomic status. Teachers must be willing to examine their beliefs, acknowledge and overcome their biases. Teachers need to evaluate their practices in relation to their ideals as well as recognize and assess the position of power they hold in their classrooms in order to be true Social Justice Educators (Cooper, 2003).
In a society where kids must go to school up to the collegiate level, teaching is an impactful career choice. Teachers help contour the minds of future leaders of the world. Furthermore, teachers play a crucial role in guiding students to the knowledge, skills, and abilities they need to succeed in life, and teachers lead students to make informed decisions on any topic the meet in the future. As a teacher, a person must relinquish their knowledge onto students. Finally, they must prepare their students for all the obstacles they will face later in life.
There is no more critical role in our current society than that of a teacher’s. Teachers help shape the minds of the future. Tomorrow's engineers, scientists, politicians, and educators are all greatly influenced by today's instructors. Without teachers society would not be anywhere near where it is now, and only a select few would have access to learning. Sadly however important teachers are in human civilization, they are still drastically understated, unrecognized and under paid.
I believe educators are one of the most important careers out there, without them where would we be today? Would you be reading this paper? Would you still be able to read, write, or have an educated conversation? Would you know how to pay for things at the grocery store, and know if you’re receiving the correct change back? Would you know how to tell time, so you can manage your day? When I look back to my young developing stages in life, I always ask myself where would I be today if it wasn’t for my teachers? Teachers are the ones who are building our future generations. Preparing children and teens for higher education. Also playing a huge part in shaping children’s lives, enlightening them, and educating them about society and the world around them; the types of things that a parent doesn’t have time for, or just lacks the knowledge of. I think teachers are what help make this world go round. We simply go to school to learn, and get educated, so that someday we can get a job, or start a business to supply for our families and our self. How would we acq...
Being a teacher is not an easy task as many people could think. To be a teacher does not only imply to know the subject to be taught, it also includes being willing to constantly improve oneself integrally, as much as updating the resources and materials one uses in teaching. Reflecting and analyzing over and over again the best way to teach to learn and how to make students to extend what has been learned. The many hours spend in the classroom will never be enough to plan lessons, prepare materials, review pupils tasks and exams, as well, all the administrative requirements one has to cover for whatever institution we work. Besides all this a good teacher, a professional one, will have to find the time to keep preparing to improve oneself.
Teacher Ethics “Ethics are defined as a set of principles of right conduct; the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession” (Dictionary of the Human Language, 2000). Teachers are often put in situations that require more than just knowing the basic school rules. It is within these situations, that the ethical dilemmas occur. There is not always a right way to deal with the many daily problems that face educators, but there are ways to handle situations that are better than others. Teachers should follow and refer to a code of ethics to help teach in the most appropriate and ethical way as well as a guide to help deal with dilemmas.
How the Media Portrays an Unrealistic View of the Common Teacher Upon research, scholarly articles present the common teacher in the media as unrealistic, which therefore corrupts the mind of both educators and students. Due to this students will have to cope with the disappointment that their teachers do not fulfill the imagined views of educators conveyed in their mind through television and movies. This also leads teachers to believe that they have a challenging role to fill. One popular Television show that is not discussed by many scholars is the Magic School Bus. Despite its lack of conversation it is great example of a pop culture phenomenon that sends viewers (in its case children) unrealistic visions of what teachers are like.
An effective teacher will excite, inspire and motivate students to be active in their learning, investigate new areas of knowledge and make connections to future learning (Whitton et al 2010). When a teacher is successful, their students are motivated, mutually respectful and ready to build on their knowledge and solve real-world problems. To be a teacher of value, one must have many skills and qualities to cater for a diversity of learners and their individual development; this includes many personal traits that are noticed students.
Individuals who enter the field of education reply to the question why teach with various answers. There is beauty, joy, and fulfillment in this profession, and these spirit-lifting emotions are the result of watching annually as a new group of children enter to learn and leave with the knowledge to achieve. Richard Dufour (2000), author of Why Teach expressed his views on the profession first by stating that teaching is not the career for everyone. He goes on to say, that the education profession has the ability to present the “unique opportunity” for individuals to cast a positive influence upon others (Why Teach, 2000, p.1). The smiles received from a room full of students when as a whole their individual needs, both educational and personal have been catered to, prompts a burst of passion in every teacher.
First, I realized that, teachers carry a lot of weight on their shoulders and have great responsibilities. They have to balance the curriculum, students, parents, lesson plans, common core, and upper management and still maintain a professional demeanor. Second, educators must follow a strong code of ethics. They must be professional at all times with students and colleagues, keep confidentiality, not have or show any prejudice or bias, maintain safe and positive learning environments, help students with problems, and hand out disciplines accordingly. Lastly, I found that when you’re a teacher, your education never stops. Teachers are always trying to improve their own education and professional growth, both for the benefit of their students and for the benefit of themselves.
The role and responsibilities of a teacher is very complex. Teachers are responsible for making sure their learners acquire the knowledge they need, but also achieve their qualification by the end of the course in a safe learning environment, so they have the skills and experience they need to start their careers. To achieve that goal a teacher must be creative, professional, flexible and knowledgeable enough to deal with daily challenges and find different ways to help their learners needs. Establishing a safe and stimulating environment for learners, creating mutual respect and set goals that stretch and challenge learners of all backgrounds and abilities.
A Teacher Holds the Key to Knowledge, Success, and Fun The greatest gift a teacher can give students is a positive learning experience that lasts a lifetime. An outstanding teacher is a good role model, fair, consistent, and open to new ideas. A good teacher can motivate and entertain without students realizing the learning process it taking place. It is a great achievement for a teacher to see the “light bulb” come on over a student’s head when he/she understand a problem or can figure out an equation.