Elevating the Prestige of the Teaching Profession

In light of what is happening in Wisconsin my mind wandered today to a comment shared by Kate Walsh, President of the National Council on Teacher Quality, at the EWA/Carnegie Corporation conference I attended Friday, February 18 in New York City.  The gist of her comment was "teaching is the only industry where we seem to downplay being smart as a desired quality in candidates" in reference to teacher preparation.

Sometimes I have that impression but I know there are those of us that do not make that true.  And then I cringe when I think of how many in the profession I have met that share comments like, "I went into teaching because I wanted to coach" or "since I didn't get into med school I figured I might as well just teach" . . .  (sigh)

As a parent I truly want only the best of the best messing with the minds of my child. Teachers have a large part of shaping the minds of young learners and I do not want just anyone offered the privilege to do so.  As a teacher I recognize the awesome responsibility placed upon me to work with the minds of those learners in which I interact.  As a citizen, just as I do not want an ineffective or inexperienced brain surgeon allowed to perform surgery on me or a loved one, I also do not want an ineffective or inexperienced teacher facilitating instruction of students.

So what is our role of educators to promote the profession and push for high standards?

Some of my thoughts include the following:

• advocating for quality mentors and mentor training for early year teachers
• encouraging IHE and P-12 conversations to ensure that what goes in is what is needed coming out
• demanding teachers receive uninterrupted, sufficient periods of time to collaborate
• respecting ourselves as a profession and promoting a positive image to the public
• continue to learn professionally each day
• intentionally planning time to be reflective about our practice

Please join in with your thoughts on what we can do to elevate the prestige of our profession so that we offer the best to our children, the reason we became teachers in the first place . . .