the changing teaching profession and you

8/6/2019 The Changing Teaching Profession and You

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A teacher named Ashley reflects: She looked around theclassroom, enjoying a blessed moment of quiet after the studentsleft at the end of the day. Ashley, the teacher, thats me, she saidproudly to the empty room. But why am I doing this? she askedherself quietlyand realized she wasnt always sure of theanswer. But then she remembered one reason: she was teachingfor Nadia, who sat at the table to the left, always smiled so well

and always (well, usually) tried hard. And another reason: shewas teaching for Lincoln, tired old Lincoln, who needed her helpmore than he realized.

She remembered twenty other reasonstwenty other students. And one last reason: she was also teaching for herself,challenging herself to see if she really could keep up with twenty-two young people at once, and really accomplish somethingworthwhile with them. She was teaching so she could keepgrowing as a person, keep connecting with others, keep learningnew ideas. Thats why she was teaching.


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The joys of teachingy Why be a teacher? The short answer is easy:

y to witness the diversity of growth in young people, andtheir joy in learning

y to encourage lifelong learningboth for yourself andfor others

y to experience the challenge of devising and doinginteresting, exciting activities for the young


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Are there also challenges to teaching?y the simple answer is yes.

y

Every joy of teaching has a possible frustrationrelated to it.

y You may wish to make a positive difference instudents' lives, but you may also have trouble

reaching individuals.

y A student seems not to learn much, or to beunmotivated, or unfriendly, or whatever.


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y you might accidentally discourage a student byimplying that the student can never learn enough

y The complexity of designing and implementing

instruction can sometimes seem overwhelming,instead of satisfying.

y Unexpected events in your classroom can become

chaos rather than an attractive novelty.


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Teaching is different from in the past

y In the past decade or two teaching has changedsignificantly.

y Changes have affected both the opportunitiesand the challenges of teaching, as well as theattitudes, knowledge, and skills needed toprepare for a teaching career.


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y

increased diversity: there are more differencesamong students than there used to be. Diversity hasmade teaching more fulfilling as a career, but alsomade more challenging in certain respects.

y increased instructional technology: classrooms,schools, and students use computers more often todaythan in the past for research, writing, communicating,

and keeping records.T

echnology has created new waysfor students to learn and also altered how teachers canteach most effectively, and even raised issues about

what constitutes true teaching and learning.


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y greater accountability in education: both the public and

educators themselves pay more attention than in the pastto how to assess (or provide evidence for) learning andgood quality teaching. The attention has increased theimportance of education to the public (a good thing) andimproved education for some students. But it has also

created new constraints on what teachers teach and whatstudents learn.

y increased professionalism of teachers: Now more thanever, teachers are able to assess the quality of their ownwork as well as that of colleagues, and to take steps toimprove it when necessary. Professionalism improvesteaching, but by creating higher standards of practice italso creates greater worries about whether particularteachers and schools are good enough.


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New trend 1: diversity in studentsy Students have, of course, always been diverse.

Whether in the past or in the present day, students

learn at unique paces, show unique personalities, andlearn in their own ways.

y In recent decades, though, the forms and extent of

diversity have increased.


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Language diversityy Classroom teachers must learn to communicate with

students whose English language background islimited, at the same time that the students

themselves are learning to use English more fluently(Pitt, 2005).

y Teachers must plan lessons and tasks that students

actually understand.

y At the same time teachers must also keep track of themajor learning goals of the curriculum.


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Diversity of special educational needs

y Another factor making classroom increasingly diversehas been the inclusion of students with disabilities

into classrooms with non-disabled peers.


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Lifelong learning

y Another recent change has been the broadeningsimply of the age range of individuals who count asstudents.

y The obvious differences in maturity betweenpreschoolers and older children lead most teachers ofthe very young to use flexible, open-ended plans and

teaching strategies, and to develop more personal orfamily-like relationships with their young studentsthan typical with older students (Bredekamp &Copple, 1997).


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New trend 2: using technology to

support learning

y For most teachers, technology means usingcomputers and the Internet as resources for teachingand learning.

y For a variety of reasons, however, technology has not

always been integrated into teachers practices verythoroughly (Haertel & Means, 2003).


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yOne reason is practical: in many societies and regions,classrooms contain only one or two computers at most,and many schools have at best only limited access tothe Internet.

y Even so, single-computer classrooms create newpossibilities and challenges for teachers (to presentupcoming assignments or supplementary material tostudents, either one at a time or small groups).

y These changes move teachers away from simplydelivering information to students, and towardfacilitating students own constructions of knowledge.


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y But technology also brings some challenges, or even creates

problems. It costs money to equip classrooms and schoolsfully and may therefore mean depriving students of othervaluable resources, like additional staff or additional booksand supplies.

y In using the Internet, for example, students need help insorting out trustworthy information or websites from thefluff, websites that are unreliable or even damaging(Seiter, 2005). Providing this help can sometimes bechallenging even for experienced teachers.

y And some educational activities simply do not lendthemselves to computerized learningsports, for example,driver education, or choral practice.


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yAs a new teacher, therefore, you will neednot only to assess what technologies are

possible in your particular classroom, butalso what will actually be assisted by newtechnologies.


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New trend 3: accountability in educationy In recent years, the public and its leaders have

increasingly expected teachers and students to be

accountable for their work, meaning that schools andteachers are held responsible for implementingparticular curricula and goals, and that students areheld responsible for learning particular knowledge.


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y Legal requirements for becoming and (sometimes)remaining certified as a teacher has been increased

y Teachers need more subject-area and education-relatedcourses than in the past

y They must pass one or more examinations of knowledgeof subject matter and teaching strategies

y Public accountability has led to increased use of high-stakes testing, which are tests taken by all students in adistrict or region that have important consequences forstudents' further education (success on them becomesan obvious concern for teachers).


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New trend 4: increased

professionalism of teachers

y The first three trends, have contributed to an increaseinprofessionalism of teachers.

y Becoming a new teacher now requires morespecialized work than in the past (increasedrequirements for certification and licensing).

y The increased requirements are partly a response totthe increasing diversity of students and increasing useof technology in classrooms.


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Action research

y Greater professionalism has also been encouraged byinitiatives from educators themselves to study andimprove their own practice.

y One way to do so, for example, is through actionresearch (or teacher research), a form of investigationcarried out by teachers about their own students or theirown teaching.

y Action research studies lead to concrete decisions thatimprove teaching and learning in particular educationalcontexts (Mertler, 2006; Stringer, 2004).


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Steps in action research

Project

Example 1: students use of

the Internet

Example 2: a teachers

helpfulness to ESL students

Purpose of the research (as expressed

by the teacher doing the research)

In doing assignments, how

successful are my students at finding

high-quality, relevant information?

Am I responding to my ESL

students as fully and helpfully as to

my English-speaking students, and

why or why not?

Who is doing the study? Classroom teacher (elementary

level) and school computer specialist

teacher

Classroom teacher (senior high

level)studying self;

Possibly collaborating with other

teachers or with ESL specialist.

How information is gathered and

recorded

Assessing students assignments;

Observing students while they

search the Internet.

Interviewing students about their

search experiences

Videotaping of self interacting

during class discussions;

Journal diary by teacher of

experiences with ESL vs other

students;

Interviews with teachers ESL

students

How information is analyzed Look for obstacles and search

tips expressed by several students;

Look for common strengths and

problems with research cited on

assignments.

Look for differences in type and

amount of interactions with ESL vs.

other students;

Look for patterns in the differences;

Try altering the patterns of

interaction and observe the result.

How information is reported and

communicated

Write a brief report of results for

fellow staff;

Give a brief oral report to fellow

staff about results

Write a summary of the results in

teachers journal diary;

Share results with fellow staff;

Share results with teachers students.


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How educational psychology can help

y The recent trends mean simply that you need to prepare forteaching differently than you might have in the past.

y Educational psychology and its relation to teaching andlearningcan be one of your supports as you get started.

y The text draws heavily on concepts, research and

fundamental theories from educational psychology. Butthese are selected and framed around the problems,challenges, and satisfactions faced by teachers daily, andespecially as faced by teachers new to the profession.

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