Teacher Advocacy

Recently I was asked to join a panel discussion in San Fernando, Pampanga hosted by The College Board, as part of their annual AP conference. The topic was Teacher Advocacy. There were four of us on the panel and they were kind enough to give us some general questions ahead of time so that we could be prepared.
Since this event happened during our blog’s annual month-long hiatus, and since the topic is particularly germane to we’re all about on this site, it gave me a great excuse to review my own beliefs about teacher advocacy. Besides that, being on a panel usually means that you don’t get to answer all the questions, even the ones you really want to answer. So here they are, the questions I was prepared to answer, and the answers I was prepared to give:

What exactly is Teacher Advocacy?
 Teacher advocacy is simply speaking up in support of teaching and learning and promoting those policies that improve the teaching and learning conditions in our country.

Why do teachers need to be advocates?
Of all the stakeholders in our education system, teachers are uniquely positioned to know which policies work and which ones don’t. While teachers may not have all the answers, they do get to see what all the answers look like as they play out in classrooms. When teachers see what works and what doesn’t work in schools, they owe it to their students to speak up.

How has Teacher Advocacy changed over the years?

Until fairly recently, the principle means by which teachers could advocate for their profession was through their union. And while that channel still exists, and is still unmatched in terms of political leverage and resources, it does have a serious limitation. Unions, by their very nature, are democratic organizations. Policy direction is decided by a floor vote during annual assemblies. The consequence of this process is that those members who disagree with the final vote essentially have no voice. I have witnessed, for example, a two hour debate at an NEA convention on whether the Association should support charter schools. The answer was no, but it was far from unanimous, and the thousands of teachers who voted to support charter schools were basically ignored.

Things have changed. With the rise of social media, anyone can broadcast their opinion. It just as easy to open up this website as it is to go to nea.org.  On the other hand, information consumers have also become diversified. We don’t all read the same newspapers and watch the same newscasts like we used to. People tend to seek information that confirms what they already believe.

What are the barriers to Teacher Advocacy?
Time, poise and training. Teaching well takes a tremendous amount of time. So does advocacy. Trying to do both comes at a cost, and if you aren’t extremely good at time management, something important is bound to be compromised.

Advocacy takes poise. You have to believe in what you have to say and have the confidence to speak up at the right time. Not every teacher can do that. I hear a lot of very informed, passionate talk in the staff room, most of which never goes anywhere.

Advocacy also takes training. The skill set teachers use in their classrooms is not the same skill set needed to speak up for the profession. A lot of passionate teachers simply don’t know how to articulate their passion clearly and concisely. All it takes, though, is a little training.

What are the most important principles of effective Teacher Advocacy?
Understanding, respect and articulation. Advocacy starts with understanding the issues, and understanding them from both sides. Usually (but not always!) that leads to a softer, more nuanced position. When you’re ready to state your position, it needs to be done respectfully. No one likes a shrill, harsh voice.  Finally, effective articulation is extremely important. Teachers who don’t speak or write clearly and competently not only make themselves look foolish, but they bring shame on the whole profession.
With that in mind, then, welcome to year four of Stories from School! We are a community of Teacher Advocates. We’re passionate about education and try to present our views clearly and respectfully, from a place of understanding. (We also love reading and responding to comments!)

Teacher Salary and Career Outlook

It’s a noble profession and one that brings a lot of personal satisfaction, however, it can’t be denied that a teacher salary and the job outlook is something to be considered before going to college for four years in this field. Know that in 2008, there were approximately 3.5 million jobs for teachers in the kindergarten, early education, middle education and secondary education fields.

Of course the number of jobs are spread out across the United States much as the population trends are. Understandably, the growth trends indicate that the cities and states that are growing the most are expected to need the most teachers. For example, states that are currently growing rapidly like Nevada, Georgia and Arizona will see a spike in teaching jobs in the years to come.

However overall by 2016, the enrollment K-12 is expected to drop and the need for teachers of these grades because of the children of baby boomers leaving the system. Because of that, in many areas a teacher salary could be expected to drop. The one way a student can help make themselves more marketable and command a larger teacher salary is to focus on the less populated subjects such as math and science. Additionally, if a teacher becomes certified in multiple subjects, they can have a better job outlook as they can switch concentrations if the demand dictates it.

As with most professions, the longer one stays in the education field, the more experience one gains, the more the average teacher salary can be expected to grow. For those wanting a larger income and a position of more responsibility, there are other avenues a teacher can climb in the educational corporate ladder.

Many teachers go on to become librarians, special education teachers, guidance counselors or administrators.

Depending on the school system, there are often times positions available such as senior or mentor positions whereby they mentor newer inexperienced teachers in addition to their own classes. If you’re looking to become an educator, there are many opportunities today and in the future and overall, the future is bright. However, having multiple specialties, being willing to move or take a position in a rural or urban area could be the key that gets you hired over someone else.

Earning a Teacher Salary

Anyone who is planning to become or teacher or is at least thinking about it more than likely feels as if they know what the job is all about and what the teacher salary all entails, however, the fact of the matter is that it’s hard for anyone to truly know what being a teacher is like unless a person has actually been one. That being said, this article will discuss what it’s like to be a teacher for those who are thinking about becoming one.

First off, a teacher earns his or her teacher salary by teaching children how to read, do math, write, and so on, however, keep in mind that each teacher will generally teach something different depending on grade level and the class type. Teachers need to make sure that they have a plan going into every class, too, and that means putting together lesson plans in order to make classes go as smoothly as possible. Keep in mind, though, that a teacher cannot do whatever he or she wants, either, as it’s up to the principal and what he or she says when reviewing a teacher’s lesson plans.

When the class is over a teacher’s job isn’t done. No, there is much more than just teaching involved when collecting a teacher salary. For example, once classes are over for the day teachers have to make sure they correct homework, create tests or try to come up with new and exciting projects to do for each class. To add to that, many teachers also have the opportunity to coach a sport at a school or be in charge of one of the many programs put together by the school.

Being a teacher can either be fun or it can be extremely frustrating, however, what’s so great about that is that it’s usually up to a teacher’s attitude. Teachers who have positive attitudes going into their typical forty hour work week are going to more than likely create a fun learning environment where kids are having fun but also learning at the same time, which makes the job easy for the teacher. Hopefully this article has been helpful to those thinking about becoming a teacher and acquiring a teacher salary and wanting to know more about what the job is like.

Bad reasons why your teacher might not correct all your mistakes

If at least one of the reasons above is true, there is no need to complain about your teacher or be suspicious of how they teach you. Not all teachers are perfect, however, so if you think it is one of the reasons below you might want to think about talking to your teacher, talking to the school manager or changing classes:

1. The teacher is lazy - This is not likely to be the reason why they don't correct you more often, as stopping students when they make mistakes is easier for most teachers than, for example, designing classes where students speak a lot or teaching students to listen to fast speech.
2. The teacher doesn't know you are making mistakes - All native speakers know when a non-native speaker says something that a native speaker wouldn't say, so this is only possible if you have a non-native teacher. If so, try asking them a direct question about whether something you say is correct or not. Even if they are still not sure, they can then go away and check in a book in the teachers' room or ask one of their colleagues.
3. The teacher doesn't know how to explain why what you said is wrong - This could be because the teacher is someone who has learnt English naturally and so doesn't know how to explain it, because the question is far above the level of the class, the question is above the level of the teacher, or that it is a part of language that there is no explanation for. You can help your teachers to become less nervous about answering such questions by allowing them to explain things to you another day after thinking about it and by sometimes accepting "There is no reason why the language is like that".
4. The teacher doesn't believe in error correction as a way of learning language - Some language learners and teachers believe that people should learn English as a Foreign Language exactly how babies learn their own language, without any error correction. The majority of teachers and researchers believe, however, that the right amount of error correction done at the right time and in the right way is a very important factor in successful language learning. If your teacher lets several classes pass with no error correction at all, try asking them if there is a special reason and if there will be more error correction in future classes.

Good reasons why teachers don't correct all your mistakes

1. Class time - If the class is 60 minutes long and the teacher spends 30 minutes correcting student mistakes, that only leaves 30 minutes for speaking, reading, listening, writing, checking homework, setting homework, explaining the new language of the day etc.
2. Slip ups - Some of the mistakes you make are just because you are tired, thinking about something else, concentrating on different language etc. If so, you already know that language is wrong and the teacher pointing that out to you is not very useful.
3. Relevance - The mistake you have just made might not be connected to the language in your course, might not be the language you need to reach the next level, or might not be something the other students need to hear about.
4. Concentration/ distractions - If the teacher corrects you on many different unrelated points of grammar, you will not be able to concentrate fully on the most important ones or on the language point of the day.
5. Fluency - If the teacher corrects you every time you make a mistake you will always be thinking about mistakes and that will slow down your speaking. Speaking very slowly and correcting yourself all the time will stop you reaching the next level and will make it hard for people to talk to you without getting bored and impatient. It will also slow down your reading and writing speeds, and make it hard for you to listen to people speaking at normal speed.
6. Expanding your language - If your teacher corrects every mistake, that will also probably make you only use easy language so that you know that it is right. To be ready to go up to the next level, however, you need to be ambitious in your use of language and try to use each new word or new grammar item any time you think it might be possible.
7. Natural learning style - Many people do not realise that children learn their first language (mother tongue) without much correction. One of the stages they naturally go through is using new grammar they have just learnt too often (I passed, I buyed x, I seed x) for a few weeks or months until the language has been properly learnt. Most teachers and researchers believe that people learning a second language need to go through the same stage with new grammar, and that being corrected a lot at that time does not help students to speak more accurately and may even confuse them more and slow down their progress.
8. Saving mistakes for later - Your teacher might be saving your mistakes on paper or in their head so that they can do the error correction when you can properly concentrate on it and/ or so that they can choose the most important mistakes to concentrate on in this lesson or future lessons.
9. Introducing new language instead - If your teacher has to spend lots of time correcting you on a basic grammar point and so can't move on quickly to the next grammar point, that might hold you back from reaching the next level. Most teachers and researchers believe that reaching the point where you don't make mistakes on one grammar point takes time however you study and however often you are corrected, so it is best to move onto another point for a while and then go back and revise rather than keep repeating the same correction until you never make mistakes.
10. Confidence boosting - One of the most important things you need to speak fluently and keep your motivation to study is confidence in your ability to communicate. If the teacher is always interrupting you and correcting you, it can be easy to become nervous about speaking.
11. Negative reactions - Even though you know you need correction, it is possible that when your teacher does make a correction you usually look disappointed or even angry. If so, your teacher might be nervous about correcting and not believe that you really want more correction. If you are open to correction and always remember that your teacher is not saying your English is bad, they might correct you more often.

My Teacher, My Hero

In 1983, United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization inaugurated Oct 5 as World Teachers' Day, a day to celebrate teachers and the central role they play in guiding children, youths and adults through the life-long learning process. In the Philippines, The Teacher;s Month Campaign was launched in 2008. Spearheaded by the steering committee composed of the Metrobank Foundation, De La Salle Philippines, Philippine Business for Education, Campaigns Social Response and DepED with the support of some business institutions.It was intended to contribute to the growth and development of the teaching profession in the country as well as publicly express appreciation to mentors.

The Teachers' Month Campaign will be launched once again this year during Metrobanks 47th anniversary celebration on September 4, 2009 designated as the World Teachers' Day. The theme of the 2009 Teachers' Month Campaign is "My Teacher, My Hero". The Teachers's Month Campaign aims to: generate widespread awareness and support for World Teachers' Day; use the occasion to celebrate the unique role and service that teachers play in guiding teacher families, strengthening of communities and building nation; revitalize the image of teaching as a vocation by increasing public awareness on the value of teachers in the Philippine society and national development. articulate the accessibility of a career in teaching by outlining available scholarship grants and school subsidy programs and affirm current and retired Filipino Teachers by coordination with a chain of establishments to provide value added service or discounts for teachers.