Agricultural Education, School and Society

Lesson 1:	On Being A Teacher
Introduction:	A teacher affects eternity he can never tell, where his influence stops. ~ Henry Brooks Adams This is one of my favorite quotes about teachers. Having been a teacher for over 30 years, I am beginning to personally see the truth of this statement. In this lesson we will look at the job of a teacher and learn how one becomes a teacher.
Learning Objectives:	Upon completion of this lesson the learner should be able to: Describe the role of the teacher Discuss the rewards and frustrations of being a teacher Identify the benefits of being a teacher Describe the process of becoming a teacher.
Learning Activities:	How much do you know about the roles and rewards of teaching? Take the teaching - roles and rewards pretest to find out. Read the following chapters from Teachers, Schools and Society (Sadker & Sadker) 8th edition: Chapter 1 and Chapter 13 Read So You Want to Be a Teacher from the ERIC Digest. Even though Seely's article is titled TEN ROLES FOR MATH TEACHERS, the same concepts apply to all teachers. See what Hoyle identified as the sub-roles of teachers in 1969. The San Francisco Chronicle reports on three novice teachers in "Rookie teachers Three weigh their huge frustrations against small successes" Who Should Teach? is a special report in Education Week. Read the Executive Summary and spend some time on this site exploring the various issues involved with the question of who should teach. Note: You will be required to register to access this site. It is free and Education Week is a great resource for those who want to learn more about teaching. After you register, you may end up at the home page. To get to the "Who Should Teach" article you can type in the URL - http://counts.edweek.org/sreports/qc00/. Also spend some time browsing through the Quality Counts 2003 study - If I Can't Learn From You...Ensuring a Highly Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom (http://counts.edweek.org/sreports/qc03/index.cfm) at Education Week. This is similar to the previous reading but contains more recent data and compares poor school systems with richer school systems. See how your state fares in some of the comparison charts. You don't have to read Predicting the Need for Newly Hired Teachers in the United States to 2008-09, published by the National Center for Educational Statistics, but you could if you want to. You might be interested in WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LICENSING & CERTIFICATION posted at the National Teacher Recruitment Clearing House. What will you be paid as a teacher? Look at the salary schedules at the North Carolina DPI web site. Remember: This is the state minimum for North Carolina. Many school districts pay more. And most agriculture teachers are on 12 month contract so you will need to multiply the monthy salary listed by 12 instead of 10. North Carolina ranks 25th in the nation in teacher salaries. In addition to looking at salary, one should also consider benefits associated with the job. North Carolina has a good benefits package.
Lagniappe:	Lagniappe is a term commonly used in Louisiana and means an unusual or unexpected gift or treat. From time to time there will be a little lagniappe in these lessons. You may find this take on the Responsibilites of Teachers to be humerous. You may also enjoy "You might be a teacher if..."
Review:	After you read the first chapter in the text go to the following site and see how much you learned. http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072877723/student_view0/chapter1/multiple_choice_quiz.html After you complete the second reading in the text go to the following site and see how much you learned. http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072877723/student_view0/chapter15/multiple_choice_quiz.html
Assignment:	Your first weekly assignment has two parts: 1. Typically, in the first class of a course students introduce themselves to the other students. So, you need to send an e-mail to the other class members and introduce yourself. I will send an e-mail message to all the members of class telling about this assignment. When you are ready to do this assignment, just click on "respond to all" on your e-mail program and this should send a response out to all class members. Be and sure to keep a copy of your message because we typically have 2-3 students join the class late or we have a couple of bad e-mail addresses, so you will need to send another e-mail to these folks. 2. In addition to introducing yourself in the e-mail, identify one teacher from you school days who had a major impact on your life. Describe the impact this individual had on your life. This should be about a paragraph.

How much do you know about the roles and rewards of teaching? Take the teaching - roles and rewards pretest to find out.

Read the following chapters from Teachers, Schools and Society (Sadker & Sadker)

8th edition: Chapter 1 and Chapter 13

Read So You Want to Be a Teacher from the ERIC Digest.

Even though Seely's article is titled TEN ROLES FOR MATH TEACHERS, the same concepts apply to all teachers.

See what Hoyle identified as the sub-roles of teachers in 1969.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on three novice teachers in "Rookie teachers Three weigh their huge frustrations against small successes"

Who Should Teach? is a special report in Education Week. Read the Executive Summary and spend some time on this site exploring the various issues involved with the question of who should teach. Note: You will be required to register to access this site. It is free and Education Week is a great resource for those who want to learn more about teaching. After you register, you may end up at the home page. To get to the "Who Should Teach" article you can type in the URL - http://counts.edweek.org/sreports/qc00/.

Also spend some time browsing through the Quality Counts 2003 study - If I Can't Learn From You...Ensuring a Highly Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom (http://counts.edweek.org/sreports/qc03/index.cfm) at Education Week. This is similar to the previous reading but contains more recent data and compares poor school systems with richer school systems. See how your state fares in some of the comparison charts.

You don't have to read Predicting the Need for Newly Hired Teachers in the United States to 2008-09, published by the National Center for Educational Statistics, but you could if you want to.

You might be interested in WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LICENSING & CERTIFICATION posted at the National Teacher Recruitment Clearing House.

What will you be paid as a teacher? Look at the salary schedules at the North Carolina DPI web site. Remember: This is the state minimum for North Carolina. Many school districts pay more. And most agriculture teachers are on 12 month contract so you will need to multiply the monthy salary listed by 12 instead of 10. North Carolina ranks 25th in the nation in teacher salaries.

In addition to looking at salary, one should also consider benefits associated with the job. North Carolina has a good benefits package.