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Introduction: Teaching: An All-Terrain Career PathJerie Weasmer & Amelia Mays WoodsPublished online: 02 Apr 2010.

To cite this article: Jerie Weasmer & Amelia Mays Woods (2002) Introduction: Teaching: An All-Terrain Career Path, The ClearingHouse: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 75:4, 172-174

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Introduction Teaching:

An All-Terrain Career Path JERIE WEASMER and AMELIA MAYS WOODS

o embark on an all-terrain race, an athlete needs T fundamental equipment, mental and physical pre- paredness, and personal commitment. These necessi- ties are also requisite for a teacher venturing into the profession. Early on the career path, a novice develops classroom management skills and explores curricular and instructional possibilities. Even the best teacher education program cannot fully prepare a neophyte to coordinate a lesson while handling disciplinary matters and considering individual student needs. Adapting to the culture and expectations of the school can also be taxing. Because juggling such assorted situations challenges even those with the greatest potential for success, novice teachers too often are forced to rely on trial and error to address the unexpected. For this reason professional development in the early stages of teaching is vital.

Organizational and personal environments also influence the job satisfaction of veteran teachers. Crowded classrooms, conflicts with parents, insuffi- cient administrative support, and limited internal and external rewards may press teachers toward burnout. The personal lives of veteran teachers also affect con- tentment with work. Struggling marriages, personal health, or financial stresses can drain the resources a teacher draws from to meet school demands. Without additional support in the workplace, teachers’ sense of personal efficacy can falter. To counter these negative pressures, measures aimed at stimulating growth and building competency may rekindle enthusiasm. Involvement in professional organizations, leadership on school committees, and advanced coursework may energize flagging spirits. Avocational outlets may also contribute to a teacher’s sense of efficacy.

This theme issue of The Clearing House focuses on the career paths of teachers. Some authors present research data and their implications, and others reflect on career-stage experiences. The significance of profession- al development in the career cycles of teachers emerges repeatedly.

Susan Lynn’s ’The Winding Path: Understanding the Career Cycle of Teachers” describes Fessler’s Teacher Career Cycle Model, a union of the literature on career stages with that on adult growth and development. This is an attempt to describe an eight-stage teacher career cycle within the context of a dynamic and flexible social system. Movement through cycles is recursive rather than linear. Fessler implies that teachers move in and out of career stages in response to personal and organi- zational environments. Lynn defines specific profes- sional development applications needed at all stages of the career cycle to retain and stimulate quality teachers.

Kristie L. Walsdorf and Susan K. Lynn‘s ”The Early Years: Mediating the Organizational Environment” cites isolation and loneliness as key to the high attrition rate. Walsdorf and Lynn propose strategies for begin- ning teachers and administrators to address barriers in the organizational environment. Administrators must support neophytes with orientation, in-service training, reasonable teaching assignments, and nonevaluative feedback when student discipline matters arise. Begin- ning teachers need to learn to use time wisely, to set aside time for relaxation, and to reduce course assign- ments if the paper load is too heavy. Often novice teachers enter the field armed with contemporary theo- ries and practices but are pressed by veteran colleagues to conform to the norms of the school. Remaining con- nected with university personnel and with others in the

lerie Weasmer is an associate professor of English a t Eastern lllinois University in Charleston, lllinois. Amelia Mays Woods is an associate professor of physical education

a t lndiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana.

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Vol. 75, No. 4 Introduction 1 73

school who share similar philosophies can preserve new teachers’ knowledge of current pedagogy.

Susan Slick’s ”Teachers Are Enthusiastic Participants in a Learning Community” describes an off-campus two-year graduate program at the University of Wis- consin, Stevens Point, including fifty-two K- 12 veteran teachers. The program was designed as a learning com- munity. Participants developed personal and profes- sional goals and connected ideas in their coursework with applications in their classroom. The focus was on collaboration to effect positive change in their school organizations. At the close of the two-year program, teachers’ enthusiasm, due to their newfound empower- ment, led them to conclude that a similar learning community would greatly improve their own school cultures and enhance job satisfaction.

Rosanne Yost’s “’I Think I Can’: Mentoring as a Means of Enhancing Teacher Efficacy” recounts a qual- itative study of a mentor program at a small Midwest- ern university, where four veterans mentored novices. Yost argues that mentoring is a vital form of profes- sional development that encourages teachers to be reflective practitioners, decision makers, problem solvers, and researchers. Interviews, document collec- tion, and observation provided data that led to results indicating that through mentoring the veteran teacher’s self-efficacy is heightened. The reflection generated by mentoring made mentors better aware of their teaching and leadership skills. Such opportunities benefited not only the veteran teacher and his or her students but also the novice in his or her early career stage.

Brent Hardin and Marie Hardin‘s ”Into the Main- stream: Practical Strategies for Teaching in Inclusive Environments” outlines ways that teachers can increase their effectiveness when teaching students with a wide range of abilities in an inclusive classroom, Some educators do not believe that they have been adequate- ly prepared to teach in inclusive environments. However, at any career stage they can incorporate a number of simple applications to increase their effectiveness and grow more confident. Using peer tutors, implementing cooperative learning, and apply- ing reverse-inclusion techniques in the classroom can be powerful strategies to provide successful learning experiences for all students.

Amelia Mays Woods and Jerie Weasmer’s ”Maintain- ing Job Satisfaction: Engaging Professionals as Active Participants” explores a variety of strategies for enhanc- ing job satisfaction. When teachers play active roles as agents for change in the schools, they become stake- holders. If they are encouraged to play major roles in shaping the curriculum, their efficacy is recognized. Collegiality is also a primary contributor to job satis- faction. Opportunities for teachers to interact with col- leagues allow for the exchange of ideas and invite peer mentoring. Often teachers join listservs or chatboards

to enjoy discourse with colleagues from other parts of the country. Exploring new vistas through advanced degree work or developing interests in unfamiliar fields offers breadth to teachers’ knowledge and experience.

Becky L. Bobecks ”Teacher Resiliency: A Key to Career Longevity” addresses factors that contribute to a teacher’s resiliency. Significant relationships with col- leagues, administrators, and parents can increase the resources a new teacher can draw on in adjusting to conditions. Developing a sense of personal ownership of the classroom and the curriculum and participating in decision making in the school community also aid in building resilience. Sharing laughter with colleagues and with students reduces stress and contributes to improved physical and mental health.

Dianne Chambers’s “The Real World and the Class- room: Second-Career Teachers” reports the results of interviews with ten pre-service and in-service suburban secondary teachers. Second-career teachers offer valu- able skills from their previous careers, new perspectives on classroom practices, and the willingness to make use of innovative pedagogy. They require support throughout teacher preparation and their beginning years of teaching that differs in significant ways from that needed by first-career teachers. Education pro- grams, in-service training workshops, and mentoring by fellow teachers and principals are essential to help second-career teachers make full use of their previous- ly learned skills by helping them to reflect on connec- tions between the first and second careers.

Jerie Weasmer’s “A Gift of Time: Career History of a Late-Entry Teacher” charts the course of an elementary educator, who struggles to meet the demands of farm life, to juggle the schedules of five children, and to complete B.A. and M.A. degrees while also maintaining an effective classroom. Despite repeated frustrations with the school’s bureaucracy and tragic family crises, she continued to thrive and grow as an educator. Tran- sition classes, offered between kindergarten and first grade to give struggling students an additional prepara- tion year, proved to be her most joyous teaching expe- riences. Examining the career history of this late-entry educator affords a glimpse of her movement through several career stages.

Peter Werner‘s ”Teaching and Avocations: An Idle Mind Is the Devil’s Workshop Revisited” advocates the pursuit of leisure activities to revitalize educators. Time for family life, spiritual needs, and social concerns is vital. Avocations or hobbies, Werner maintains, serve to enhance teachers‘ professional lives and enrich the developing lives of students. Such activities can ward off stress, allowing educators to return to their work refreshed. Through leisure activities, moral and ethical values are developed. Pleasure derived from worthy use of leisure reinforces a person’s beliefs that she or he is doing something good.

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1 74 The Clearing House March/April2002

Mary Hogg’s ”Simon Edgewood: One Teacher’s Story” relates the tale of a postgraduate student who seeks to return to the classroom. Edgewood taught for five years at the regional university where he had completed his master’s degree in speech communication and then left the profession for five years. Although he was able to integrate his teaching skills with his new job, he realized that what he most wanted was to return to teaching.

Lana Danielson’s “Developing and Retaining Quali- ty Classroom Teachers through Mentoring” stresses the need for formal preparation for mentoring pre-service and peer teachers, an undertaking that can play a sig- nificant role in professional development. Veteran

teachers aid newcomers in acclimating to the school routines and culture, and the benefits for mentors are also noteworthy. Through mentoring, teachers employ critical reflection that may challenge existing beliefs and lead to change.

All of the contributing authors offer insights into the paths chosen by teachers as they move through their careers. This is a beginning point for reading and considering the influences that organizational and personal environments can have on teachers. When career stages and their influences on teachers govern professional development, career growth and enthusiasm thrive.

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