EDF1005-Reflection #1

Teachers in colonial times didn’t need much preparation at all, most of them didn’t even have secondary education. Unlike today there wasn’t any requirements. Many of the teachers were servants paying for their immigration to the Americas. At the time it wasn’t seen as a career as it is now and no teaching skills were even required. Nowadays you attend a teachers experience program which later follows minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in a secondary college. Teachers in the 1920s were seen as role models. Teachers could not be seen with any male, smoke, drink, wear makeup, not show any skin and always be covered up. If these were the rules today I don’t think anyone would consider teaching because its not realistic. Things change so much throughout the years and we advance more and more at an earlier age. This teaching contract was completely absurd if you compare it to the present. In the 1800s they developed something called normal school which trained elementary graduates with skills for teaching; this is what started everything for teachers. Another normal school was later established by Horace Mann which provided academic subjects for the teacher training program. As the years went by the level of education for teachers finally progressed and programs and schools began to advance for education. In the 1990s the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was created to give credit to the excellent teachers who proved their knowledge and experience through their teaching skills. The NBPT created something for high competent teachers which would be considered “board certified”, which was like a teaching license. A new program was made called Teach For America which trains new teachers with no experience in challenging classrooms. But, its become controversial because some critics argue that it takes more to teach in a classroom, it requires career preparation. Many of the teachers in this program become outstanding teachers and there’s more of color in this program than any other teaching program. I believe career preparation should be required for this career not on hands on classroom experience because sometimes you need a little more than actual experience in a classroom, you should have the concrete background.