Teachers Must View Themselves As Learners In Order To Be Effective Teachers
Dr. Joanne Barnett is the CEO of Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School or PA Virtual, located in the King of Prussia area of Pennsylvania. PA Virtual opened in 2001 and teaches over 3,000 students from grade K-12.
What is the most challenging aspect of teaching in the classroom environment?
"The majority of teachers want to create the best learning environment possible for their students, but resources and policies can prevent teachers from implementing the type of teaching and learning that their students need. The challenge of defining the 'classroom environment' is a result of technological advances. The classroom in the 21st century is continually changing. Today's classrooms do not look like classrooms of 10 years ago. This creates a challenge for teachers who must design and implement teaching and learning in a variety of instructional formats when their pre-service programs only prepared them to teach in the traditional face-to-face model."
Are continuing education courses beneficial for teachers?
"I believe teachers must view themselves as learners in order to be effective teachers. Continuing education is not only beneficial but should be required. Continuing education comes in many forms. At my school, we provide in-house training and learning grants to allow teachers to take on an action project for one year and try an intervention with their students and write a research report. This is not in the form of a course, but it is continuing education. We provide these grants because we view our teachers as practitioners who can generate knowledge that informs."
Do you feel a Master of Education would be helpful in your day-to-day career?
"Furthering one's education is always beneficial, however, I don't like to see teachers getting a master's degree only because it places them higher on the step scale and raises their salary. School districts rightfully provide teachers with a financial incentive to continue their learning, because there is value in having teacher leaders in their classrooms with the skill set that comes with a master's degree. So, advanced degrees are absolutely helpful, but only for those who are genuinely seeking a more advanced level of study than when they were getting their bachelor's degree."
Do you have any advice for people wanting to enter the teaching profession?
" I always want to leave my students with the ability to question and to analyze and to make decisions — to help them develop the skills to figure out the answers instead of giving them the answers. Teachers need to continually examine who they are and question why they became teachers. This type of self-reflection and examination will help teachers decipher their educational philosophy and what they hope to achieve as an educator."
Christina Thompson is a freelance writer living in Philadelphia. She reports on various topics such as: Social Media, Local Events, Entertainment, Food and Drink and more. Her work can be found at http://firstsendmedia.com/
