Teacher World

With the treasury’s economic flood gates being wide open, are we looking at changing times in education?

The state of Georgia is poised to receive the first package of economic stimulus money for public schools. Of course these are frightening times as well. How is the state of Georgia going to spend this money? As we all know, even grown, adult politicians can act like kids in a candy store when stuck with a surplus of cash!

However, Governor Sonny Perdue is coming through with the voice of reason…

“Perdue suggests the money could be spent on several programs already being discussed in Georgia, including one to pay math and science teachers more as a way to recruit more qualified people to the two subjects.”
-Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 30th, 2009

From the perspective of a prospective teacher or one who is considering advancing their career within education, these are fairly exciting times.

Right now, public education will be in possession of two things they have had little of over the past 8 or so years… funding and common sense.

For prospective and experienced teachers, now might be the time to learn more about teaching degrees and master’s degree programs in education. As connections between public education and maintaining the American quality of life become more apparent, the teaching profession should see some major advancement!

You can learn more about the Economic Recovery Act of 2009 here.

Funding Education, Teacher Education

Yes, it is depressing times for educators in these struggling times. For the most part, it seems like Americans are united when contemplating the most important assets of our country.

For example, we can, for the most part, unanimously agree that education is a vital part of our economy. It is an asset that should be continually challenged and updated. The system of education should be something that is at the forefront of all of our thoughts, since it is essentially the mechanism of manufacturing the next generation’s workforce.

And, since our motivated and educated workforce is what has given our country our powerhouse status and provided us the incredible way of life that we enjoy, you would think such obvious associations would encourage better behavior on behalf of our government and corporate citizens.

But, alas, it is never the case…

“The elimination of a $10 million Teacher Mentor Intern Program, which pays for substitute teachers to allow more experienced teachers to leave the classroom to mentor new teachers.” – Dec. 16th, 2008, New York State government website press release

Now, let’s take a moment and put this quote into perspective… So, recently our federal government provided a bailout package to the failing and completely insolvent AIG company. And, for the fantastic work of the financial department of this company who has successfully helped freeze our credit system, put many, many thousands of people out of work, bring our economic growth to a screeching halt and additionally smack a great big black eye on our country, AIG executives are being paid out MILLIONS in bonus payments.

To put this into perspective, the bonus payments of only a few of AIG’s top executives, who have blatantly robbed America, would be enough to cover the cost of the entire state of New York’s Teacher Mentor Intern Program.

There go a bunch of opportunities for new substitute teachers, and there goes a great opportunity for New York to advance there ability to create more highly effective educators.

Well… That’s life at the present. However, you can contact your local government and express your opinion with regard to new budget allocations. You can find out who your congressional representative is by entering your zip code here.

Let’s hope we can change the course of events and start creating more opportunities for substitute teachers and encourage more intelligent individuals to consider becoming a teacher.

Find teaching education options here.

Funding Education, Substitute Teaching

With mounting financial troubles in California, public education is burdened with much of the financial cut-backs.

“School districts did not receive a full cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to account for rising salaries, utilities, and supplies. The state’s deepening fiscal crisis may require midyear cuts. School construction projects are in jeopardy due to the credit crisis. More school districts are asking their communities to pass parcel tax elections in order to compensate for unreliable state funds.” EdSource.org – Jan. 2009

For some unknown reason, we always seem to look to public education for cutting budgets whenever we’re in a pinch. When thinking about how we, as Californians or Americans, have arrived here as the most powerful and wealthy nation in the world, it’s baffling how easily we forget.

We have created an economic system fertile for business growth, for developing a nation that attracts the best and brightest, and for creating educational foundations that support the continual development of our infrastructure (eg. our wonderful quality of life!).

For some reason, there seems to be a blatant disconnect between cause and effect. Has Governor Schwarzenegger, California residents and the rest of America forgotten that our government leaders and our leaders of technological innovation were once 10 year old 5th graders, 15 year old high school students, and 20 year old college kids?

Much of the burgeoning fiscal policy seems to be a reflection of our country’s knee-jerk reaction to make expendable that which does not directly and instantly affect our situation. We are, in a way, treating education as we would a luxury expenditure rather than the vital building block for tomorrow’s workforce (and those who will be supporting us once we no longer have the faculties to support ourselves!).

Is there anything we can do? Of course, make your voice heard. Email your congressman. If you’re a teacher, advance your education with a Master’s degree in education and become a better teacher. And of course, you can vote. Certainly one large step toward supporting the development of our public education system occurred during the Nov. 4th, 2008 election.

Funding Education

Unfortunately, one of the biggest fears of those considering teaching as a possible profession is an uncertain professional environment when finally entering the classroom.

A big worry for most who are interested in the profession is whether there will be a support group on school grounds willing to help a new teacher learn the ropes. More often than not, public schools are riddled with apathetic educators who are settled in their ways of teaching and are unwilling to see the big picture, and consequently, unwilling to put out that extra effort to help new teachers acclimatize to a foreign environment.

However, things are about to change..

“To support our teachers, the Obama-Biden plan will expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. They will also provide incentives to give teachers paid common planning time so they can collaborate to share best practices.” Obama’s new education agenda

President Obama has pledged to create a better system of education and an infrastructure enabling new educators to incorporate their passion for educating tomorrow’s leaders. The changes stated in the new administration’s education plan displays foresight representing a more efficient and effective system of educating and preparing our country’s youth.

The development of universal mentoring programs adds a missing link into the process of educating educators. Many states have already incorporated some semblance of the mentoring concept; however, the adoption of teacher mentoring as a mandatory step toward the completion of an educator’s inception into the profession will give a much needed emphasis to continuing education.

As a positive fallout for better preparing teachers to succeed will certainly be an alleviation of anxiety for many who are considering teaching as a future career option. In the end, this is what we truly need, more highly skilled and highly motivated people teaching our youth. Read more…

Teacher Education