My Career Goals : Carlos Garcia

High school math teacher Mark Biller is an inspiration and ultimately the reason I decided to become a teacher myself. He has taught at multiple schools over his teaching career, but ultimately found his place at Polaris Expeditionary Learning School in Fort Collins, Colorado where he has been for the past 4 years. Teaching is not an easy thing, but it comes naturally to Mark as he shares his love of numbers with students in an engaging way. Although I only had the opportunity to be in 2 of his classes as a student, I was able to observe Mark’s teaching style more in-depth as a teacher’s aide for all of the classes that he offered as well as receive guidance in my own budding teaching style.

deal more than I need to learn before I can achieve my dream of building a business in the Asia

My most challenging professional experience was serving as a math teacher at La Granja (a rural school) in Hernandarias, Paraguay. When offered the position by Jim Luster, I was quite excited but under-confident. I had good reason to be too… I was lacking education and had no formal training in instructional practices. However, math was my favorite subject and I had done very well in it. I also was strongly encouraged by my father, so I accepted the position—and I’m glad I did.

According to the 1988 Hollywood film, which Stand and Deliver, which depicted his career as a teacher, Jaime Escalante's passion for teaching and desired success for all students to succeed and surpass to status quo motivated him to organize and establish an advanced mathematics program with a handful of students.1 Because of it, many students at Garfield High School were able to pass the advanced placement calculus test for numerous years. As evidence would show, according to the ETS results, more and more students were successful because of his unorthodox teaching style. Another thing, Escalante could somewhat connect with the student he was teaching. While growing up, his father was an abusive alcoholic and after his father died, to provide for his family and himself, he worked odd jobs until he was 19 years old when he joined the army. After that, he was persuaded by

Oklahoma is ranked forty eighth in the U.S for average teacher’s salary with $44,373 (“Oklahoma Teachers Salary”). That’s not good for the state of Oklahoma. I believe teachers are the heart and soul of this state and country. If it weren’t for teachers there would be no doctors, lawyers, or even congress members. According to Matthew J. Brouillette, “Doctors, lawyers, and engineers can practice their profession in variety of ways. They can be employed by organizations, they can partner with others, or they can work themselves in private practice. School teachers lack such essential choices” (Brouillette). Teachers under go to much just to get paid

America has encountered a change within the teaching profession: concerning, experience, age, credentials, and ethnic background (Feistritzer, 2011). It is almost as if the year of 2005, overturned the trend of older employed teachers (Feistritzer, 2011). A six-year survey shows that the amount of teachers under the age of thirty has increased drastically, and that most teachers have earned master degrees. Also, although teaching has been a predominately white profession, more Hispanic and African American teachers were hired between the years of 2005 and 2011 (Feistritzer, 2011).

Luis has been one of the best students in my 16 year career and possibly in the whole history of Irving High School. He is truly one of the finest examples of a well-rounded student that any teacher can ever encounter. As his AP Statistics and AP Calculus BC teacher, I been able to see multiple examples of Luis’s talents and abilities. Even up to this day, Luis does not stop surprising me with his diligence and persistence. Although I’m only his math teacher, I know that Luis has been a highly successful student throughout his high school career in a wide arrange of subjects. From either math, to science, to art, to English, Luis has always risen to the top of the class and performed his best in every activity and test given to him. Luis is one of those few

in Mathematics, M.S.Ed. in Adolescence Education, and a NY State Teaching Certification (Math 7-12), I am very well qualified. I have a variety of experiences working with youth as a teacher and as a tutor and even outside academics. Throughout my experiences I have demonstrated excellent communication skills, patience, determination, and empathy as I identified vocabulary, showed necessary steps, explained solution processes, rephrased explanations, and used illustrations and models using available materials to explain mathematical concepts. I have also been complemented by Mr. Auclair—my cooperating teacher for my student teaching placement at La Salle—for having excellent classroom management skills, developing a strong rapport with my students, and being a great student motivator. I accomplished this by adapting lessons to promote student participation, maintaining a safe, positive learning environment, in which I left no room for mockery or teasing and encouraged students to try their best. For additional details on my education, qualifications, and experiences please view my resume and application materials. I look forward to putting my knowledge and skills to use to teach others about the beauty, order, and practicality of mathematics as a tutor for Chautauqua

Escalante, a math teacher, has this notion to prove everyone wrong. He takes his intelligence and ability to connect with students to change the lives of his students forever.

In today’s society one of the most important factors in selecting a career field is rate of pay. No matter whether the profession maybe, the dollar figure must be within a range that allows the employee to maintain a substantial lifestyle. The debate of teacher pay scales has raged on for years. Many argue that the current pay scale for teachers is a scale which rewards teachers merely for seniority. They argue that the current pay scale overlooks those educators which demonstrate exceptional performance. Teacher merit pay systems have been the most popular suggestions made to remedy the problems seen with the current pay scale. Although the current pay scale may not be completely effective, the idea of

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.

Teachers have and will always have a big impact in everyone’s life and if not everyone, well, at least they did for me. They teach you everything you need to know about a subject and valuable life lessons, so why are they not paid sufficiently enough to make a decent living? Teachers salaries have always been low and I believe it is the time that changes. Being a lawyer, doctor, or engineer is great, but none of that would be possible without the insight of a teacher, I will inform you in this paper on why I believe there is a need for action. I will go over the background of teacher’s salaries, my ideas on what would be best for teachers not just in Texas, but nationwide, and pros and cons on the issues and ideas at hand.

With beginning teachers usually earning entirely less than other college graduates, the profession is at loss of top-notch, quality people who tend to find jobs seeking more money. Almost 50 percent leave the profession within 5 years, lured by higher pay and prestige elsewhere in the booming U.S. economy (World, 1999, par. 7). Starting teachers average a $25,735 salary in the United States compared to an engineer earning $56,820 or a physical therapist earning $56,600 (Engineer, 2000, par.1). And what signal does it send out about the value of good teachers and a good education when a 45-year-old teacher with a master’s degree earns $45,000 a year and a 25-year-old out of law school often starts at $80,000, considering a six year education for a master’s degree and a seven year education for a law degree (Greenhouse, 2002, par. 4)? A teacher is also given no compensation for the long hours spent basically in overtime work. The teacher’s day does not end when they leave school because if lesson plans, grading, or planning is not completed, it will have to be finished on their own time. Accountants, paralegals, and engineers all are compensated and get paid overtime for work that does not get completed in a regular day or if they want to stay and

Lurking over our great country is a troubling issue that is plaguing the professional educational workforce. When compared worldwide, American teachers work the most hours, yet are paid in the lowest brackets when related to the top 32 nations (Teachers Pay). In addition, when you compare a teacher’s salary to other four year degree salaries, teachers are among the 5 lowest paid degrees (O’Shaughnessy). Not only are the salaries among the lowest in the American workforce, a typical teachers at home workload exceeds all other professional jobs by 20% (Current). Furthermore, teachers were only given a 2.3% salary raise in 2009. Yet the rate of inflation rose to 3.1% causing a loss in purchasing power and creating a hardship on the

Thesis: Elementary teachers may not have highest income, but they have one of the most fulfilling careers.