The Teaching "Profession", Part I

Is teaching a Profession?

My knee-jerk reaction is to say, "Of course it is." I have an advanced degree. I am salaried, not paid by the hour. I wear a coat, tie and fancy shoes to work each day...oh wait, no I don't. I wear khakis, a polo shirt and flip-flops as long as the weather allows. So upon deeper examination, this question is not so easily answered. This will be the first of a series of posts in which I consider the Teaching Profession.

We will begin by considering a reason why teaching might not be considered a Real Profession. The (usually anti-public-education) nay-sayers will claim that teaching is not a profession because Anyone Can Do It (i.e., it's not that difficult). I think that some of these people believe that since they Went Through School, that they Know How To Teach School. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to point out the idiocy of this logic. Just because I sat through a concert of the San Francisco Symphony, doesn't mean that I can conduct an orchestra; simply going to a Duke basketball game doesn't make me Coach K.

Elementary school teachers, in particular, endure the ire of these critics, because the nay-sayers imagine how easy it must be to teach the simplistic elementary school curriculum. Anyone Can Teach That Stuff, they scoff to themselves as they drive home from back-to-school night. In high school, the calculus and physics teachers probably are on safer ground than the freshman English teacher. Still, Almost Anyone Can Teach That Stuff.

What the critics seem to miss, is that content is only part of what a teacher must know. First and foremost, teachers must understand and enjoy being with kids. That fact ensures that Not Everyone Can Teach. Second, Teaching is not simply Content Dissemination. It is the art of getting students to buy into, to embrace and to learn what you are teaching. While 3rd grade math itself might not be intellectually taxing, I would wager that Getting 3rd Graders To Learn Math (not to mention Love Math) is a whole 'nother kettle of fish. Further, I would wager that this kettle of fish--something that is termed pedagogy in eduspeak--is one that not just anyone could accomplish.

These are the questions that teachers must wrestle with: What is the best way to teach a particular concept? How will you know if students have learned it? How will you get students to learn it rather than memorize it? What will you do with students who don't learn it? What will you do students who have already learned it? What are the common misconceptions that students must overcome to learn it? How is this concept connected to the Real World, Etc., etc., etc. These are not easy questions and answering them is certainly not something that Anyone Can Do.

More on this topic to come...