Teacher Shortage Essay Example for Free

Teacher Shortage Essay Today teachers are not paid a lot and as a result there has been a shortage of teachers, especially good, qualified ones. Until teacher salaries are raised and teaching comes to be a desirable profession, teacher shortage is going to have a negative impact on both teachers and students. Teacher shortage is bad for students because it means an increased number of students in class. Teacher shortage is bad for teachers because larger class sizes mean more students to be responsible for and more papers to grade. Currently, most teachers are older men and women. Today there are an average of twenty teachers per district retiring ever year (Perrin). But what is going to happen when those teachers retire? Who is going to fill all those positions? Most likely, it will not be education majors currently enrolled in college because everyday, education majors are changing their majors. Teaching does not seem like a desirable profession due to the low salaries and strenuous work load. After spending thousands of dollars to earn a college degree, college students want their degree to work for them. They do not want to work a high hour, low paying job when they know they could be out making good money at an entry level computer job. Until teacher salaries are increased, things are only going to get worse. Already, many of the teaching jobs are held by substitutes, many without college degrees, and that are not always experts in the field in which they teach. With the current teacher shortage, large class sizes are just going to get larger. The problem does not sound serious right now, but what will happen when those students are doctors, teachers, or presidents years down the road? This is a serious problem that could have a very negative impact on our nations future. So, what are we doing to address the teacher shortage? Right now, recruiters are going out of the country to find qualified teachers. Recruiters are mainly tapping into India, Russia, Canada, and Spain for new teachers. While it seems like a good idea, school districts are paying high dollar to fund these recruiting trips. Districts often even have to pay a finder fee of up to five thousand dollars per teacher. They also must sponsor them for special visas, help them with housing, and hold orientations to ease the cultural transitions(Lord). Perhaps a better alternative wouldbe to use this money to increase teacher salaries. Paying for the new teachers is not the only problem with this idea. Even while the foreign teachers might be experts in their fields, what are they going to teach the students if they students can not understand them? Also, a teacher from India is not used to walking through a metal detector every day before work. Classroom discipline may also be a critical issue. Indian students tend to be more orderly and respectful. When an Indian teacher walks into a classroom, they expect the full attention of the class. Unfortunately, this is not always the case today. In this kind of case, I think it is bad for the students and the teacher. The students may not be able to understand the teacher. The teacher may not be ready for the type of students that they are going to see. So, what do we need to do about teacher shortage to make people want to go into teaching? The teachers need to be paid more money. According to Jared Bernstein, an NEA official, most teachers are underpaid at least five thousand dollars a year, based on their education skills, even taking into account summers off. Teachers are even more underpaid in Missouri. With the national average at just over forty thousand dollars per year, the Missouri average is just under thirty-five thousand dollars per year. So if most teachers are underpaid five thousand dollars, Missouri teachers are underpaid about nine thousand dollars per year (Bernstein). The First Lady, Laura Bush is even trying to help solve the nations education problem, vowing to go to college campuses and military bases to recruit desperately needed new teachers. She and President Bush are even going to try to set an example by teaching in classrooms. The First lady used to teach second grade and holds a masters degree in Library Science. A program has started called Teach for America becauseit is estimated that over thenext ten years the United States Education Department will need over two million teachers (Perrin). The program encourages college graduates to make a minimum two-year commitment to teaching. Another plan the First Lady and the President are committed to is the Troops to Teachers program. This plan is to recruit qualified teachers that are retired members of the military. Many of the retired members have degrees in science, math, and engineering. Plus, they bring something to schools that is desperately needed, discipline. Bush believes in the Troops to Teachers program so much that he plans to increase spending from three million dollars to thirty million dollars on the program (Killian). The teacher shortage is really a serious problem. But, I really do feel that the necessary steps will be made to move in the right direction. The change will not happen overnight though. Great ideas to come up with new teachers, especially the Troops to Teachers plan, are being pursued. Many of the retired military members are overqualified for the jobs. Their discipline in the classroom is much needed. The bill they are working on could be a good idea. The bill gives the districts more freedom with the money, which could be a good or a bad thing. They could use the money to hire good teachers, or they could use the money to build better facilities for the schools. The answer is not to go to other countries to find teachers because it costs too much money to go recruit teachers. Why not just use that money to increase teacher salaries?

George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984 Essay -- essays research pa

 ¡Ã‚ °BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU ¡Ã‚ ± flashes out to the reader in capital letters. This slogan generally embodies the theme that the author is trying to convey. The darkness of the human nature, free will, and control are all the themes that are embedded within this piece of dark literature. The more we read on in the novel, the more we question the existence of Big Brother. Although physically absent, he still manages to instill constant fear with his presence in the people ¡Ã‚ ¯s mind.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1984 creates a world of totalitarianism in which communism is portrayed to its extreme. It is a world where there is only control. Mankind is the most intelligent beings on earth and it is within its powers to change its own surroundings. They hold great power that will always turn into a destructive force when left unchecked. Deep within the human heart, there lives a lingering darkness that can swallow the weak victims whole, but kept in control by those of strong-will. Everything that happens has to have a reason and here, in the novel, that reason is very clear. It is all about Power, the lust for Power that drives the ever growing darkness. The quest for control and domination is what holds the novel together.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Free will is suppressed to such an extent that not only devious actions are persecuted but thoughts that do not conform to the norm as well. The Party uses coercive and intimidating stimuli to control the citizens ¡Ã‚ ¯ independent ...

Introduction to China

Introduction to China Topic: Experience (Likes and dislikes) in China 2011/2012 Introduction I have been in China for more than two years. Early experiences in China and current experiences have a lot of differences. Early days I had so many funny experiences. I am going to start my paper with the funniest experiences. Here it is. When I was coming to China my friends told me that when you meet Chinese people they will say you You should reply the same. Then they will ask you You should reply One day I met a Chinese guy. He told me . I replied the same. Then he asked me I replied And the guy stared at me strangely. At that time I did not know why, but now I know. Another day I went to a restaurant to have my lunch. When I was coming back I met someone and he also greeted me . I replied so. Then he asked me I thought he was asking me whether I have taken my meal or not. So, as usual I said Then he thought for a while and said â€Å"yes, yes I know where the Chifanle country is. It is in Africa, isn’t it? † I said â€Å"No, it was in restaurant† because I thought he asked me where I had my lunch. It was totally a mess. Still now when I remember this I burst out laughing. My likes and dislikes about China: People in the same situation can describe an object positively or negatively due to difference in perception. So, what can be liked by one may be not by another one. However, as I am asked to provide some of my likes and dislikes in china, I am providing it from my perception. My objective is neither to hurt nor to please anyone. If someone is glad to hear my likes it is my pleasure and if someone is hurt I am extremely sorry. My likes * I like the helping tendency of Chinese people. When I came to china I was in trouble in the beginning. I did not find anybody with whom I can speak in English and be understood. But I was really astonished that they were trying to find some way to help me. I was really happy to see the helping tendency. * I like that China has successfully converted its large population into manpower. From an economic point of view, this is one of the major reasons the country have the fastest growing economy in the world. Labor here unlike in the western world is cheap coupled with the availability of technology. Chinese people are hard working in comparison to people in other countries. As I believe that industry is the key to success, so I admire them. * I like Chinese food though most of my classmates complain that Chinese food is spicy. Actually in my country we also eat spicy food. So, I have no problem with spicy food. * China’s natural scenery is unique and famous as one of the most beautiful on the earth. I like the natural scener y of china especially the hills and mountains of china. I also visited some places in china. It’s really wonderful. My Dislikes * I have not yet become fully used to the weather of Wuhan. After coming here I experienced too hot and too cold but it is difficult to tolerate. * I do not like the way Chinese boys and girls fall in love and their frequent change of love. Falling in love is divine and maintaining it is also same, but many are not concerned about maintaining. * Finally I do not like the way the drivers drive cars in China. Most drivers are reckless and won’t give pedestrians chance to cross. I see drivers breaking the traffic rules. Concluding thought China has more ethnic groups and population and has a long enriched history of civilization. If we observe the culture of china and that of my country we see many similarities, and many dissimilarities are also found as well. I respect all the cultural activities of my country as well as China. Before coming to China I was not aware of many of the things that I mentioned in my likes about China and its culture. As the time is passing I am gathering more and more experience about China and its Culture. Now, I like China more and more.

Designing Effective Curriculum, Instruction And Assessment

Throughout this course I have gained many insights about designing effective curriculum, instruction and assessment. Though the use of our various resources, discussions, and assignments I have grown as an educator and will take many things from this course to implement into my classroom. The three most important aspects I am taking away from this course are the use of real world performance tasks, unpacking goals to find specific and measurable objectives, and the importance of differentiation geared towards the individual classroom. The creation and implementation of real world based performance tasks allows students to have a more meaningful and useful learning experiences. By allowing my students to solve problems in a real world context, I am giving them the tools needed to extend their problem solving skills to other subjects and outside of school. By linking STEM education to everyday life through a deeper understanding of technology and use of the engineering design process, students will continue to thrive in the classroom. Relating experiences and activities done in the classroom to everyday problems and situations results in students being more efficient learners. Another important part of this course I found very helpful was learning to unpack standards. Many of the learning standards implemented in my classroom are full of material that I find difficult to manage. By unpacking these standards, I am now able to focus more specifically on certain objectives andShow MoreRelatedDesigning Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment for Students with Special Needs Reflection647 Words   |  3 Pagesexpectations can be challenging. 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