Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.1 | 1 Chapter One Becoming a Teacher: Looking Forward and Backward at the Same Time

Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 1 | 1

Chapter One

Becoming a Teacher:Looking Forward and Backward at the

Same Time


The Truth About Teaching

Teaching is “the essential profession, the one that makes all other professions possible.”

-from Promising Practices: New Ways to Improve Teacher Quality, US Dept Ed report, 1998


What’s it really like to teach?

• Meet teachers, interview them, and ask them about the challenges and rewards of a teaching life!

• Watch the TeachSource Video Case, Becoming a Teacher and the Bonus Video, ”Essential Qualities that Teachers Must Possess.”

– Which of your qualities match the attributes of good teachers?


“Reflective Practitioners”

• Modify their teaching based on classroom results– Identify attitudes, skills, traits required to excel– Lifelong learners– Open to ideas from students, research, & personal growth

• Understand their values, beliefs, dreams, schooling, and how life experiences shape teaching & learning styles

-from educational researcher Donald Schon, 1983


Your Educational Autobiography

• Story of you, as a student– Attend preschool?– At what age did you start school?– Did you walk, ride bus, get driven?– Feelings on entering school, classroom– How did school smell, sound, look?– Earliest classroom memories


Qualities of Good Teachers

• A teacher needs to be:• Committed• Caring• Courageous.• Conscious• Centered……..Teachers communicate, through

their body language and speech, their own readiness to work with their students.


Picture Yourself in a Classroom

• These drawings show how 3 perspectives on a classroom. What would yours look like?


Being a Teacher Is Like Being a …orA teacher is a ………………

• Dentist– Extract response from students

• Tour guide– Set itinerary, interpret, explore with group

• Sailor– When wind blows in the wrong direction, you change course

• Toolbox– Give students ability for lifelong learning

• Hill climber– Stop often to check everyone’s progress, keep group climbing

What’s your simile or metaphor?


Philosophy of Teaching Statement

• Describes your ideas about teaching & learning and how that will guide practice

• Should be based on educational research

• Forms an important part of teaching portfolio


Teaching Portfolio

• Documents your work, goals, and teaching philosophy

• Includes: sample lesson plans, student work, videos of you in action

• May need for job applications, certification• Prompts reflection


Is teaching a profession?

• A profession typically:– Offers essential service to individual & society– Has unique body of content knowledge & skills– Makes decisions based on valid knowledge,

principles, and theories– Requires formal training– Uses professional assoc. to control admissions,

standards, licensing


A Highly Organized Field

• Teachers’ unions:– American Federation of Teachers (AFT)– National Education Association (NEA)– Provide legal services, collective bargaining,

support network, professional development

• National Board of Professional Teaching Standards – Nonprofit developing voluntary certification


National Education Association (NEA) Code of Ethics

Teacher’s commitment to the student1. Support independent action in pursuit of learning2. Offer access to different points of view3. Don’t suppress or distort subject matter4. Protect student from harmful conditions5. Don’t allow student to be embarrassed or disparaged6. No discrimination on basis of race, color, creed, sex,

national origin, marital status, political or religious beliefs, family, social or cultural background, sexual orientation

7. Won’t use professional relationship for private advantage8. Don’t disclose student information unless required by law or

in service of compelling professional purpose


Ethics in Practice

• Honor diversity• Believe in worth & dignity of each person• Recognize importance of multiple truths, multiple

expressions of excellence• Nurture democracy• Adhere to highest ethical standards


To Become a Teacher

• Standards vary by state, do you need:– Bachelor’s degree in subject area?– To pass tests for teaching certificate, license?– Master’s degree? – To attend certain seminars?

• Make checklist to coordinate your coursework with state required activities


Can you tell the school climate?

• Social atmosphere, the way students experience school– Orderliness, clarity & enforcement of rules– Teaching practices, diversity, relationships– Halls friendly or silent?– Nurturing vs. authoritarian


School Culture Also Matters

• Deep patterns of values, beliefs, traditions that create school’s reputation– What behavior is rewarded?– Who are school heroes?– Ceremonies, stories, cultural networks– Academically driven vs. “party school”


What does it take to be a teacher?

• Teaching and learning are two sides of the same coin…..

• Every teacher is a student….• Every student is a teacher…………

• What does that mean?