Becoming An Urban Teacher

More likely to serve low income students is urban public schools which who are reportedly failing to educate the students they serve. In urban public schools, Numerous understudies and their families are living with serious financial disservice. Students are not proven to be the problem. The education that urban students in government funded schools get is evidently insufficient. To be a school that promotes a good academic status of students, you can’t lack basic social utilities. Poverty in urban schools can be fixed. A feature that characterizes effective schools involves coordination instruction among teachers which contributed to the weak academic performance of low income students. You must ask yourself what would be the best solution to help these students succeed? Because urban school are being run badly, they are failing. Improvement within management lies a solution. According to Chicago Tribune in the news article” Economic Inequality: The real cause of the urban school problem” findings show that the root of the problems facing urban schools can be found in gradual but extremely powerful changes in the nation's economy It takes a comfortable environment, suitable effective committed teachers, more use of instructional practices consistently and available necessities and needs. The most important statistic provided is the Growing economic inequality contributes in a multitude of ways to a widening gulf between the educational outcomes of rich and poor

Education is an integral part of society, School helps children learn social norms as well as teach them to be successful adults. The school systems in United States, however are failing their students. In the world as a whole, the United States is quickly falling behind other countries in important math and reading scores. The United States ranked thirtieth in math on a global scale and twentieth in literacy. This is even more true in more urban, lower socio-economic areas in the United States. In West Trenton Central High School was only 83% proficiency in literacy and only 49% of the students were proficient in math. These school have lower test scores and high dropout rates. Many of these students come from minority backgrounds and are often form low income families. There are many issues surrounding these urban schools. There is a severe lack of proper funding in these districts, and much of the money they do receive is sanctioned for non-crucial things. Schools also need a certain level of individualization with their students, and in many urban classes, this simply does not happen. While there are many factors affecting the low performance of urban schools, the lack of proper funding and distribution of funds, the cultural divide between teachers and students in urban districts, along with the lack of individualization in urban classrooms are crucial factors to explain the poor performance in these districts. Through a process of teacher lead budget committees and

Finally, this journal has enlightened me and my thought process of generalizations pertaining to urban schools: “When we think of low poverty schools the first thing that comes to mind are inner urban schools. Again, this process is considered a stereotype because many urban schools perform well and meet required standards. Unfortunately, there are urban schools across the nation who has a high demand for teachers and resources. Teacher.com is a comprehensive resource for information. It is in partnership with California State University-Rossier online. It provides state specific information on how to become a teacher, areas that are in demand of teachers, teacher pay in those areas, teaching credentials, teacher certification tests, alternative teacher certification and more. Its objective is to provide all information to become a teacher anywhere in which you reside. Sadly the schools that have the highest demand for teachers are the

1. I understand that the job of an Urban Teacher is a daunting task.It requires an individual with the capability to building strong student ethics , character and achievement Teaching requires passion and a desire to impart knowledge in students from all communities.

Over the years I have served as an educator, mentor and art instructor in the urban community both part time for about five years and fulltime for the past two and a half years both locally and abroad. From teaching art at my local community art center in downtown Atlanta to traveling to inner city Hyderabad, India to teach impoverished youth, I have always found a way to remain an active in urban education. Giving back is a 360 practice, I am educator of color because I remember what it was like to be an inner city youth of color. My passion lies within urban communities because I was once an inquisitive student greatly impacted by educators and professionals and if such experiences made me the person I am today I can only hope that I can

Despite the many challenges I face daily, remembering that I significantly influence the lives of each my students will help me in becoming a better teacher leader. Reason and Reason (2011) states that a mission will not come to fruition without ownership and ownership cannot be stimulated without consistently reminding everyone why they come to work each day. It is my mission every day to transform lives in my classroom and school environment. I have chosen a career in education because I believe that it is one of the most important functions performed in our culture. I believe that teachers individually and collectively have the ability to not only change the world but to improve it.

I was born in a city with one of the nation’s worst public school systems. The District of Columbia Public School district has been under an education reform for the past decade and there has been a lot of work to bring justice to the students there. That is where I started – and from there I still found myself enrolled in low performing schools without a solid budget or plan. Regardless of the status of my school and the budget it’s district has created, I was able to graduate from high school and attend a four-year university in one of the most ethically diverse cities in our country. This is the kind of opportunity I want for all children that come from the city like me. I have been inspired by all of my educators to pursue a career in teaching and I am motivated to create this opportunity for all students in my classroom.

The case study of the Branden Smith and his first year in the Parkland School District is a prime example of what can happen when there is a lack a control and guidance in the educational setting from an administrative perspective. Branden’s mentality is soon completely altered and jarred from optimism to pessimism within a matter of months after working in the Parkland district. He has formed a common mentality amongst many teachers that teach in an urban setting develop which I like to refer to as “Urban Fatigue”. Urban Fatigue is a mental, physical, and emotional state that you often find teachers in the urban school settings develop over time. This state seems to be far more progressive amongst teachers in the urban school setting than teachers in the suburban school settings. I attribute this fatigue to the fact that many teachers in the urban settings often are challenged with more disciplinary and behavioral issues, lack of parent support, lack of departmental and district funding, and overall structural issues within the learning environment and community. These factors attribute to the concept of “Urban Fatigue”. The case study of Branden Smith is an example of what can happen when the factors of “Urban Fatigue” set in due to a lack of school cultural, climate, and structural framework are not fully implemented by the administrative parties.

My name is Frederick Isler, I am 20 years old and I am currently enrolled in the Elementary Education bachelor program at Buffalo State College. I am a white male therefore I have never really faced many ethnically or sexually diverse situations where I was treated poorly or differently. I am a Roman Catholic and this set some of the stepping stones in many cases for certain views on things in life. I taught at the catholic program that my church offers for a couple years and am very involved with helping the youth in the parish. This is where I believe my love or passion for teaching came from. While being at the youth group I learned being involved in our community and helping out others truly lead to success in life. I believe that children are our future and deserve a voice and I strongly believe that it is the teachers who give the students the power to strengthen that voice with knowledge and education. I played sports growing up with two younger brothers, this gave me a competitive spirit that made me believe in myself in order to do things if I put my mind too it. I have coached basketball and softball for over four years and just recently won championships in both respected leagues, one being a youth basketball league and the other a church softball league. Teaching these kids and watching them grow really gave me a passion for wanting to teach for a career. I firmly believe that every single student

Teachers working in inner city high schools in the United States face enormous challenges. Their students, most of whom come from economically disadvantaged minority families and often do not speak English as a first language, present a daunting array of educational needs for teachers and schools. Resources and school structures are seldom sufficient for the task. Despite such conditions, some urban high school teachers persist for many years in the classroom and experience success and satisfaction in their work. Through a survey and extended interviews, this study identifies three broad factors that motivated a group of these teachers to remain in inner city classrooms for more than 12 years: (1) the students, (2) professional and personal

The issue of teacher shortage today is continuing to grow. The effects of the achievement gap are reaching the teachers, not just the students: “...good administrators and teachers, who are doing their best under difficult circumstances, will be driven out of the profession…,” (Boyd-Zaharias 41). The achievement gap is part of the reason teachers feel they are underpaid, which happens to be one of the leading cause in teacher shortage considering, “Teachers were paid two percent less [than comparable workers] in 1994, but by 2015 the wage penalty rose to 17 percent,” (Long). Being a teacher requires passion in order to stay in the field, especially if the money in teaching is decreasing. Money is an important aspect for people when it comes to their careers, therefore, fewer people want to become teachers. This lack of teachers and the lack of college students studying to become a teacher leads to unqualified teachers and larger classroom sizes (Ostroff). Both of these causes are eventually affecting students’ learning environments. I chose this issue in education for my project because I have personally felt these effects, and I know others who have as well. As a future educator, I want to see better wages and better benefits, but this can only happen with qualified, passionate teachers. I plan on being one of them, and I plan on sparking a change. I am a future educator fighting to end teacher shortage.

The questions are asked are urban school districts, educated of the same level as its counterparts. Some question we need to ask during this research is as follows: do urban schools have larger enrollments, on average, than suburban or rural schools at both the elementary and secondary levels? Do urban teachers had fewer resources available to them and less control over their curriculum than teachers in other locations, as did teachers in urban high poverty schools compared with those in rural high poverty schools? At least as likely to have a parent who completed college? At least as likely to have parents with high expectations for their

Teachers in these big urban schools don’t invest as much time into their students as small suburban schools do. The class sizes are big and the teachers can’t attend to every students needs so students start to fall behind. Falling too far behind, it begins to be too difficult for them to catch up and meet the academic requirements. As the Baltimore education documentary showed, some of the twelve year old boys still could not read, yet the teacher in the Baltimore school didn’t even know this because of how many students they have. Not only are the class sizes substantial, the working environment is neglected and despaired from previous years. The students destroy the schools throughout the years and because of budget cuts, the students are still being educated in these dilapidated, neglected schools. In suburban communities, people along with community members fund the schools and help out to make the school district excel. In urban cities it is harder to receive the funding because in most cases, the schools are surrounded by poverty. It is also problematic to attract quality teachers into these areas when they don’t have favorable work environments, the students are struggling with poor home conditions, and the pay isn’t adequate due to many budget cuts. Because of budget cuts, the schools have to cut more after-school activities, giving the students more reasons to not value school, misbehave, and not be

I learned quickly that being an effective teacher is an art that takes time and devotion. Many times, teachers are not provided with the necessary materials in order to maintain the various learning styles in a classroom. It is up to the teacher to create an environment where students can succeed. This is a full time job, meaning that a teacher’s work is not done once they leave the school. A teacher must contribute a significant amount of time and effort in order to see positive results in the school and in his or her own classroom. After observing my cooperating teacher’s strategies and learning more about the profession, I knew that I was going in the right direction with my life. I took a significant amount of knowledge away from this experience and have continued to strive to be the type of educator that I was blessed to work with during this experience. .

As a student, I have been inspired by a few teachers at both my primary and secondary schools to seek an interest in the teaching profession. One year after finishing secondary school where I obtained most of my passes I took some time to reflect back on my twelve years at school and the few critical incidents that have cultivated my thinking about teachers and teaching. Some incidents were positive and others negative, but all assisted to shape the type of teacher I want to be in the future! A few critical incidents that shaped my thinking were the first time I came first in a class, the evening I approached the lackadaisical teacher and the day where I was escorted out of class.