First Period Teacher Education example essay topic

The Evolution and Duties of Teaching Most people think that the only thing you need to do to be a teacher is to teach children. There are plenty of other tasks that follow. In the year of 1829, Samuel R. Hall in his Lectures on School Keeping maintained that many of the deplorable conditions in schools that were due to poor teaching, even going so far as to quote from a writer in the Journal of Education who claimed that "every person who is conscious of his imbecility in other business, esteems himself fully competent to train the ignorance and weakness of infancy, into all the virtue and power and wisdom of maturer years". Hall started the first normal school to prepare teachers at Concord, Vt. in 1823. On July 3, 1839 the first state supported normal school started in Lexington, Mass.

Training was progressed very slowly before 1850. During the next 100 Years the teacher education progressed rapidly. By 1890, there were 204 state, city, and private normal schools. Courses for teachers were offered in 114 colleges and universities.

In 1950, there were 1,093 institutions preparing teachers; 432 were public, and 661 were private. In 1900 there were 172 public normal schools in the United States. Elementary teachers are also known as primary school teachers. They teach children from Kindergarten to sixth grade. Teachers introduce things like numbers, language, science, and social studies. They also teach the children how to develop into confident healthy young children.

Teachers work real close with parents to help the children develop their full potential. Elementary school teachers often teach a wide variety of subjects. Some teachers specialize in a couple of subjects and teach many different classes. They are very busy at all times. The stand in front of the students and teach. When they are not in the front of the classroom teaching they are putting together lesson plans for the upcoming days and correcting papers.

Other parts of their job includes figuring out interesting and innovative ways to approach educational topics including; lectures, group discussions, hands-on activities, computer research, etc. Teachers pass on academic subjects certain values and morals. Teachers watch children's social skills and try to resolve any problems they see. They are also looking for accidents, signs of illness or any learning problems. They also look for any abuse areas that the child might face at home or any other place. Teachers meet with other teachers to discuss things and to do administrative paperwork.

They supervise school clubs, playground activities, take students on field trips, meet with parents to keep them informed of their child's progress and have parent conferences. All states have different requirements to become a teacher. For California you need to complete at least four years of college, have a bachelor's degree in an approved teacher education programs, and have some student teaching experience. In most areas they are tested on their teaching skills before being awarded a certification of class completion. California also requires a master's degree in education.

To be an elementary teacher you need to love kids and spending time with them. The most important things of being an elementary teacher are being patient, calm and very understanding. They must be able to communicate well with students, other teachers, supporting staff, and parents. They need to be able to stand in front of a large group of people and talk also. The programs and the objectives of teacher education tend to reflect the goals of public elementary and secondary schools.

After the advent of the fully established normal school there was a lot of stress placed on mental discipline. The biggest shift was the teacher training between the years of 1865 and 1918. The dominance of the liberal arts was evident throughout the period, as well as the emphasis upon morality and character development. During the time that normal schools were being established, people felt that teachers, should have qualifications in the techniques of teaching. The schools that students learned at were also where the teachers were learning to become college professors. Later it was indicated that in part of the activity of the American Association of Teachers Colleges, which issued in 1941 a statement outlining professional objectives of a teacher preparing institution, and in 1944 a report indicated the qualities needed by teachers.

By the year of 1950 teaching involved the stimulation of the learning activities of students, the improvement of the school curriculum and participation of the community. The program of teacher education in this time period was consistent with these teaching functions it also consisted largely of general or liberal education together with an understanding of the growth and development of the child, the nature of the society, and guided practice in handling the learning experiences of children. There were four periods of emphasis. In the first period teacher education was devoted to a process of training the mental powers this was dominant up until the year 1890.

The second theory was devoted to building strength in special subjects to be taught and was dominant until the year 1920. The third was a period of aiding teachers to direct the certain skill and generalized learning of students, but the materials to be learned were subjects of adult value. The fourth was a period of educating the teacher to analyze the child and his / her environment, and to guide the child's experiences in such a way that he / she would learn the process of making successful choices of alternatives in the problems he / she faced. There are some problems in teacher education. The problems include; to secure and recruit an ever-increasing needed number of new teachers, to raise the standards for training of teachers in those states in which the standards are low, and at the same time meet the needs for the numbers of teachers required to staff the classrooms, to agree upon the proportionate amount of professional and general education that is desirable in the education of the new teacher; to determine how much permanent credentialing should be done at the end of the initial training period, whether to give a denial only after a period of internship or teaching under guidance, together with continued educational training during the internship period; to raise the status of teaching, and to raise the prestige of the professional programs for the training of teachers in colleges and universities. A number of problems also exist that have to do with organization and administration, such as determining responsibility for the control and administration of teacher education within a university.

Some universities have special schools of education, similar to other professional schools; but in others, teacher education is scattered among the departments, or has been given to an individual who works cooperatively with a number of departments. The problem of accreditation is important in many areas. There is the struggle between the professional groups who want to accredit the programs in the different colleges and universities. Teachers salaries range anywhere from $25,000 to $45,000 in a year. If you are a substitute teacher you would make $15, 00 to $25,000 a year and a full time teacher makes anywhere from $30,000 to $45,000 a year. In conclusion I know I want to become a teacher, because all of the items listed above I fit.

I love children and spending time with them and I could talk in front of a large group of children because I have had practice in that area. Teachers also make fairly well wages. That would be another reason why I want to become a teacher.

Bibliography

The Encyclopedia Americana. 1829 EA " Teaching" 2000 web 15 November 2001"Teachers" 2000 web 25 November 2001 Encyclopedia Britannica 99.
Computer software. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated Encarta Encyclopedia 99. Computer software. Microsoft Corporation. 1993.