Reflection Paper # 1

The evolution of teacher preparation programs from colonial times to present day was a progressive change in both the increasing of its professionalism and value. During colonial times education barely existed and teaching wasn’t in fact considered to be a profession. It was viewed more as a temporary employment than it was as a career. Most of the teachers never even attended secondary school, which was considered to be a ranking between a primary school and college or university. They picked up their teaching skills by serving as trainees to master teachers and a large amount of them were under a sealed agreement to pay for their passage in America by teaching for a fixed number of years. Skills for teaching were not considered necessary but the knowledge of knowing how to teach was considered desirable. People who went into teaching were primarily teenagers who taught for about a year or two. They didn’t last long because they would get fired for either drinking or stealing. When the 1980s came around all that changed for the better. Reports were sent out for the reshaping of education and the increasing of professionalism for all those longing to become teachers. The undergraduate teaching major was replaced with a master’s-level degree and not to long after that came the bachelor and master degree. Teachers were also offered the opportunity to attend school for a fifth year to obtain a teacher’s license. Today we have alternative teacher preparation programs that allow teachers to be trained in teaching “on-the-job”. In attending these programs they are given the opportunity to experience teaching hands on (in a class room setting), however they do not become official teachers till after the completion of the program. The most well-known alternative teaching program today is the Teach for America (TFA). Critics argue that TFA does not sufficiently prepare teachers with the skills they need in teaching, with that being said they argue that the students pay the price for such actions. Others see TFA as a benefit for change in the near future. They say the more training teachers get before interring the actual classrooms the better it will help them farther along in their career. Overall, based on what I’ve read from the text book, I’ve learned that the way teaching preparation programs were viewed back in the colonial times cannot compare to the way they are viewed today. Today teaching is an actual enjoyable career. Not only is it desirable, but the aptitude of it is necessary and greatly needed.