Blog Post #14

Teaching Can Be A Profession 

In Mr. Klein's article the number one thing he thought that needed changing was to professionalize teaching.

The first thing he talked about was there not being good enough academic training for prospective teachers. His solution was to have better teacher programs. I am not very far along with my education classes but I do agree that as a soon to be teacher we do need the best programs as possible to learn from.

The next thing that needed work on was a new approach to recruiting teachers. His solution was not letting everyone that has a teaching degree to become a teacher but only let the top third of graduates become a teacher. I don't agree with this. I think there are already many people with teaching degrees that can not find jobs. I also do not think only the top third of graduates should get a job because just because you are smart and do good in school does not mean you are the best at teaching someone else.

The third thing that Mr. Klein thought was a problem was with how teachers get rewarded. His solution was based on each teachers performance instead of his or her seniority. I agree that teachers should be rewarded on their sole performance of how he or she is teaching each semester instead of what they have done in the past. People can tend to get lazy over time; not saying everyone does.

The next thing that was a problem was how seniority is a distraction in school. His solution was that the least effective teacher should get laid off rather then the ones that are the most recently hired. I agree with this because I think anyone should be fired if they are not doing their job right. Now if the boss has to make budget cuts and everyone is doing a great job then I think there should be a lot of factors considered like what else the teachers do besides just teaching the students.

In conclusion I think this is a great article to read for anyone that is getting a degree in teaching or associated with schools. It will open peoples eyes and their thoughts to change. I think over the years it is more likely that the expectations of teachers will change; hopefully all for the better.