Teacher Retention Paper

As teachers we should have the mindset of having a classroom culture that encourage curiosity in which students feel safe to engage in the activity or topic without fear of embarrassment or rejection. We need to design classroom practices around securing real engagement.(Wormeli,2014,p 27)

When becoming an effective intentional educator, it is very imperative that one sustains a positive educational philosophy. By withholding a great educational philosophy all educators will be able to overcome any and every conflicting issue that may arouse. Jessica SeMink-Cartgew and Penny A. Bishop asserts in their article “Passion is not enough: Preparing middle level preserve teachers to be advocates for change”, anticipating concerns and methods for ensuring that teachers are able to succeed successfully beyond their passion in education.

“It is the teacher — what the teacher knows and can do — that is the most significant factor in student achievement.” ~~ Harry K. Wong

Although society may think otherwise, saving students is not the role of teachers, no matter how many good movies there are out there. The media gives the impression that something is wrong with students when they enter the classroom and that is is the teacher's job to fix them of their issues. Because of this impression, today’s teachers are faced with the challenge of overcoming this great myth that has been engraved in society’s mind. Teachers are meant to be a support system for their students, not a saving grace. They are given the expectation to be a superstar in the classroom because media portrays them to be just that; a hero.

McLaurin, S., Smith, W., & Smillie, A. (2009) provides multiple views on why teachers remain or leave the classroom.

The journey in becoming an effective teacher doesn’t end simply with earning a degree. Kramer states, “effective teachers need to commit themselves to being life-long learners” (Kramer 2003). Teachers need to be lifelong learner in order to provide the best instruction and classroom atmosphere possible. There is always something to learn or refresh knowledge on as an educator. This week, through the use of the Garmston and Danielson articles, various websites, and organizations I was able to find new ways to focus on my professional development and furthering my knowledge in the field of education.

Student engagement is a popular topic during the professional development meetings I attend every Wednesday. As students go home early, the Claremont staff begins sharing and analyzing best practices to use in the classroom. This year specifically, our instructional leadership team has stressed the importance of having consistency as students travel from class to class. At Claremont Middle School, consistency means that every teacher has a Do Now, a measurable learning target, and uses an engagement method during their lesson that supports students to reach the learning target. Last school year I focused on used engagement strategies such as a think, pair, share or one of the Kagan cooperative learning strategies because the Oakland Unified

Student engagement in learning is an ideal that should be strived for, by teachers in the classroom, as it provides reassurance of their effectiveness. A student’s engagement in learning can directly be linked to their motivational levels as motivation express the students desire to learn and progress in their educational studies. One might struggle to understand the best choice of strategies or concepts in order to facilitate engagement of learning in the classroom environment. Great diversity exists within the various aspects of student learning, so a teacher shouldn’t be limited to understanding one theory or practice. They must have a broad range of these aspects as students can react to each one differently. What should be understood

Concerning minority teachers there has been a 100 percent increase in their numbers over the last 15 years, but they quit at higher rates than their white counterparts. The solution proposed in this article is an affective induction program at the local district/school level and several policy changes at the state/district levels. Both sets of recommendations emphasize the need

Last week, we reviewed and discussed the fact that teachers need to continue to learn if we are to inspire our students to become lifelong learners. Roland Barth provided insight to how teacher growth impacts students tremendously. Barth stated, “Teacher growth is closely related to pupil growth.” (Barth). It is essential that teachers began to realize that what they did yesterday may not work today; therefore, they must

The 2012 study suggests that teachers can generate interest in the student through teacher behaviors, thus, students who experienced intensified emotional interest in a subject were proven to be drawn in by the teacher’s own energized behavior and emotional interest in the subject (Mazer, 2012). Hence, increased emotional stimulation in the student,

According to Danielson (2013), "When students are engaged in learning, they are not merely “busy,” nor are they only “on task.” Rather, they are intellectually active in learning important and challenging

Describe the strategies the teacher used to motivate the students’ engagement in the academic content.

Twenty-three percent of teachers leave the teaching profession during their first five years of teaching (Elisa Shernoff, Ane Marín ̃ ez-Lora, Stacy Frazier, Lara Jakobsons, Marc Atkins,& Deborah Bonner, 2011, p. 465). Teaching has been a career before writing was established, however there has never been such a high attrition rate in teaching. Attrition is defined as a “reduction in workforce without firing of personnel, as when workers resign or retire and are not replaced”(CITATION Dictionary .com). While the current flow of students training to become teachers is still strong, novice teachers do not find enough encouragement in their first few years of teaching to remain in the profession. Instead, their experiences cause them to feel discouraged and disrespected to the point that they do not believe that teaching is where they belong. This crisis regarding education sustainability needs to be redefined to include the sustainability of teachers. Sustaining future education relies on creating and hiring teachers who enjoy being part of a learning environment. The use of student teaching, teacher collaboration, and less mandated learning goals can lower the teacher attrition rate and sustain education. Also, although some people believe that other resources are more important to sustain, education is going to be detrimental to the success of future societies.

Every year when the schools close in June, the question on every parent’s mind is whether the teacher teaching their child is competent, whether they will inspire them or whether they shall concentrate on their individual needs. The question whether teachers help students in developing the necessary basic skills, think and solve problems and have a good knowledge of what they teach and their students, is important. This is because in the hands of the teacher is where every parent entrusts their children. Though much progress has been made in answering the above stated questions, more work is needed in the improvement of the education sector in America. More parents are required to demand that their children are handled by competent teachers and educationists. Business leaders need to demand the investment in teacher development by schools and show them an example by how they invest in their employees. The law and policy makers need to make the quality of teaching and the recruitment of competent teachers a first priority in their legislations (Thomas, 2002).