Blog Assignment 14

Teaching should be professionalized just as law and medicine are.
To help do so, some changes need to occur:

• Better training for prospective teachers
• Better training programs 
• Stricter recruiting approaches (Choosing from the top third of the class)
• Require a "National teacher examination" 
• 1-3 years of supervised internship
• Better rewarding system for teachers 
• Revisions to the tenure laws
• Reward based on merit rather than experience

  I agree that teaching should be professionalized. Many people do not give teachers the respect they truly deserve. Teachers help build our future, by shaping the minds of their students as to what they learn and how. That makes it a very important job that should be looked at, and taken, very seriously. However, I also agree that in order for that to happen ,changes most certainly must be made.
Mr. Klein gives us his ideas of how to professionalize teaching, along with some recommendations from Mr. Albert Shanker, in the article from USA today,  Teaching our children can be a profession: Column. 

  He suggests that the first thing to change must be the training, and I agree.  If we want our education to thrive and become better, we must change the way teachers are trained. This means offering more leadership training programs, and inviting new technology into the classrooms. To ensure that the teachers are well equipped and capable of bettering our education, there should be stricter recruiting. Just as law and medicine require, teachers need to be held at a higher standard. This means stricter GPA requirements for programs, and/or hiring from the top third of the graduating class. Mr. Shanker suggests creating a "National teacher examination" similar to the entry exams required for law and medicine. As well as having students complete 1-3 years of a supervised internship. I believe that all of these suggestions would enhance the quality of our teachers; therefore changing the quality of education, and hopefully how the profession is perceived. 

 The next change mentioned was the rewarding system. An article provided on EdSource, tells about revising the laws for tenure being offered after 3 years instead of 2 in certain circumstances in the San Jose district. However, there is also an issue that new teachers doing just as well, if not better, as some tenured are not being rewarded the same. It is suggested that changes be made to reward teachers based on merit rather than experience.  I agree this could be a good way to enhance our educators. Tenure is rewarded based upon teachers' performances after 16-18 months. This article suggests, during deliberation of granting tenure or not,  allowing teachers another year to showcase their abilities. However, this would only be certain cases not all teachers would be granted the extension. I agree that rewards should be based upon merit, but I only agree with the extension if it is tried and proven useful first. For example, one man recommends trying the revisions in the San Jose district only, and seeing the outcome before making permanent changes. I believe this would be beneficial because if it does thrive then it can be brought to other districts, but if it fails no changes have to be made. 

These articles and links were very informative and interesting. I hope that these changes can happen, and teaching can become professionalized. I believe it would be a great step towards bettering our education.