Teaching Career Development

Are you a 21st-century teacher? Are you adapting to new ways of doing things? Are you challenging your students to think critically? Are you preparing them to become global citizens? Yes, I know that you have taught for years. Your students have achieved excellent scores in their Advanced Placement exams. You are highly regarded both in your school community and within your profession. Again, I ask whether you can call yourself a 21st-century teacher. Let's review some of the characteristics the 21st-century teacher has and why these characteristics are so important.

It's a different world.

As the United States faces unprecedented challenges both at home and abroad, the need for schools to have teachers with a 21st-century viewpoint and 21st-century skill sets has never been more obvious. Dynamic, visionary teachers are needed to shape the minds of new generations of citizens who will have the abilities and creativity to lead and guide our country. If this sounds radical, it really isn't. It is the same principle and thinking which caused the Phillips family of Exeter and Andover fame to found those highly-rated schools back during the American Revolution. Those school founders knew that the infant nation needed well-schooled, well-trained people to lead it in the years ahead. They believed in this country and the concept of universal education so deeply that they put their money where their mouth was and created schools that still, to this day in the 21st century, reflect extraordinary

What is Praxis?

ETS offers this explanation of the Praxis® tests: "The Praxis® tests measure the academic skills and subject-specific content knowledge needed for teaching. The Praxis tests are taken by individuals entering the teaching profession as part of the certification process required by many states and professional licensing organizations."

Who requires Praxis®?

Most states require public school teachers to be licensed. Part of the licensing process is taking and passing Praxis I and/or Praxis II. Praxis I tests your competence in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. Many education programs will accept Paxis I scores in place of SAT or ACT scores. They basically test the same kind of readiness for tertiary-level academic work. From ETS: "These tests measure academic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. They were designed to provide comprehensive assessments that measure the skills and content knowledge of candidates entering teacher preparation programs.

Praxis II consists of subject or content tests. These are offered in standard subject areas such as Spanish, physics, language arts and so on. If you seek to be licensed as a physics teacher, for example, you would pass the Praxis II exam in physics as part of that requirement. From ETS: "These tests measure subject-specific content knowledge, as well as general and subject-specific teaching skills, that you need for beginning teaching."

How do you prepare for the tests?

There are several Praxis test prep resources available, both for purchase and at no cost. Khan Academy offers free test

The 21st-century has seen some major changes in the way gay and lesbian people's rights are treated. Before 2015, there was a patchwork of state laws dealing with the issue. Indeed, Amanda Machado writes in The Plight of Being a Gay Teacher in The Atlantic that gay teachers were frequently fired when state education departments purged their rolls of LGBT teachers. As the Supreme Court noted in its decision which made same-sex marriage legal, "Well into the 20th century, many States condemned same-sex intimacy as immoral, and homosexuality was treated as an illness. Later in the century, cultural and political developments allowed same-sex couples to lead more open and public lives. Extensive public and private dialogue followed, along with shifts in public attitudes." The Supreme Court decision of June 26, 2015, legalizing same-sex marriages has had a major impact on how gay and lesbian citizens are treated legally. Unfortunately, as you and I know only too well, just because something is legal doesn't mean that all sectors of society will accept it. That is certainly the case with the perception of gay and lesbian people.

In this video, David Weston, CEO of the Teacher Development Trust and former science and maths teacher, talks about coming out as an LGBT teacher.

Gay and lesbian teachers

We have always had gay and lesbian teachers. Until recently, they were mostly closeted, especially

Each state sets its own teacher certification requirements. While many private schools do not require you to be certified, it is in your best interests to obtain certification. Why is that so? Simply because it adds one more important credential to your resume. That will help keep you marketable for many years to come.

Here is the contact information you need to find out what the specific requirements are in the various states and territories.

A Teacher's Influence

If there is one thing that I have learned over many years of teaching, it is that our students learn by example.

• They learn not only the lessons that we try to teach them but also lessons that, by their very nature, are perhaps more subtle and implied.
• These are the lessons that children often learn by osmosis or example.

I also know that the lessons learned and the impressions made when a child is young last a lifetime.

• This is one of the most significant responsibilities that we teachers and parents have as adults.
• Young minds process information quite differently than adult minds do.
• We have to be aware of that constantly. That doesn't mean that we have to dumb down information and concepts.
• It just means that we can assume nothing when it comes to how a child's mind will process the information it receives.

The following is pure fiction, of course, but it makes one wonder how things might have turned out if some of these teachers had tried a different approach. Perhaps if they had framed their arguments differently or taken the time to ensure that their students understood what was taught, there might have been different results.

40 a.d.

Setting: High on one of the seven hills of Rome

Aurelius Flagellus Horribilis looked up from his table. The three discipuli in his charge were supposed to be working on their times tables.