Chapter 2: Today's Students

In America, schools have a variety in their racial and ethnic diversity; there is evidence of this in the first part of the book The Joy of Teaching; by Gene E. Hall, Linda F. Quinn, and Donna M. Gollnick. The largest concentration of students of color is in the western part of the United States; the least diverse part of the country is the Midwest (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). Most teachers belong to the majority race, which can cause difficulty relating to students from minority cultures. Teachers need to engage students in a way that all ethnic groups learn, and not favorite their own group. The problem is that more and more varieties of people are immigrating and moving to less densely populated areas, and sooner or later the Western part of the U.S. is going to have a very diverse range of students. Teachers need to become involved in the community, and all the varieties of culture within it, to help incorporate cultural differences, and engage students based on their ethnicity.

Chapter 1 Becoming a Teacher

Enjoy

• ·      Student Teaching seems like it would be very enjoyable and helpful. This will help prepare me for when I actually do teach in a classroom. It will be great to have some time logged under my belt and know what to expect before taking on a full time job.
• ·      Knowing about which teaching fields have shortages is extremely helpful. If I become interested in a certain topic like Special Education, than I know there will be jobs out there for me. It might also let me know if I might have trouble getting a job if there is not enough need for the subject I want to teach. This goes along with where specific subjects are needed. In low-income areas there is a bigger need for specific subjects.
• ·      A portfolio is a great idea. It will show all my best attributes. I will get to choose my best pieces and lessons, and show that I understand what I am teaching and have met standards.

Don’t Enjoy

• ·      Different teaching requirements for different states are ridiculous! Why can it not be unified? It would make becoming a teacher less complicated. All you have to do is set the standards high everywhere, so that everyone is happy, and students are still getting the most qualified teachers.
• ·      Teaching salaries are low, especially for all the work that teachers do today. I understand some teachers do not go above and beyond the teaching standard and therefore earn exactly what they are getting paid, but that standard salary should not be the same for all teachers. You must do extra work to earn more. Which is good, it challenges teachers. Yet, is it really a good idea to stretch teachers’ thinner than they already are? In our current economy time is money, and teachers never have much of that, especially during the school day. More people would consider teaching if the salary was higher, but would they really be happy making a career of something they were doing for the money? To teach and be successful you must enjoy what you do. So if teachers that already love teaching have a bigger salary, will they enjoy it more? Or just the benefits?
• ·      What I do not enjoy about portfolios is that you can put in your best work. If we do this, we will not learn about what we are doing wrong. Would not it be better to get critiqued on normal work, and then improve from it? Portfolios and National Certifications processes are also very time consuming on teachers.