• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

July 25, 2013 Teacher Branding

Teachers Need an Authentic Career Path

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Franchesca Warren

For fifteen years Franchesca taught English/Language Arts in two urban districts in Atlanta, Georgia, and Memphis, Tennessee. Increasingly frustrated with decisions being made about public education from people who were not in the classroom, in 2012 she decided to start a blog about what it was really like to teach in public schools. In the last four years, The Educator's Room has grown to become the premiere source for resources, tools, and strategies for all things teaching and learning. To learn more about Franchesca Warren's work, please visit www.franchescalanewarren.com.
  • Abbott Elementary: Development Week was a Mess! - September 28, 2022
  • Frederick Douglass: “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” - July 4, 2021
  • President Biden Pushes For Teachers To Get Their COVID Vaccine Dose By March - March 2, 2021
  • We’re Just People Who Don’t Want To Be Killed! A Student Reflection About Insurrection - January 26, 2021
  • Betsy DeVos Resigns: Most Teachers Say Good Riddance - January 8, 2021
  • Class Divide in Emergency Learning: A Crisis Overseas - September 10, 2020
  • Practicing Self-Care in the Midst of Chaos - August 31, 2020
  • Do the Work: Equity Symposium for Teachers - August 23, 2020
  • Universities Collaborate on the Biggest Experiment in Higher Ed: Reopening - August 3, 2020
  • The Day of Teacher Self-Care is Happening August 1, 2020 - July 21, 2020

After teaching for thirteen years, attending countless hours of professional development, and teaching hundreds of kids, I am bored with being in the classroom. I'm not bored with actually teaching children, but I'm more discouraged by the politics that go with what/how/when to teach in the classroom. Ultimately, teachers need a career path that does not include having to go into administration to 'escape' the classroom. We need options not ultimatums in a bid to escape the systematic abuse happening to teachers in schools.

This unrest slowly crept in, and before I knew it, I was sitting in my classroom trying to figure out what I could do to create a career path that allowed me to be great.

I am bored with being in the classroom. Click To Tweet

Morning after morning I would walk into my classroom slightly dreading going into the classroom to teach the same curriculum I had always taught. Sure the kids made my job more interesting, but I wanted to do something more with my experience in education. As I began to review my options in education, I found that my options were limited. I could either move into administration or go to the Central office. At this point in my career, I knew I  didn't want to work in an environment where I sat in an office and had limited contact with students.

I love being in a school working with teachers and students on the brink of adulthood. They make me laugh and in many ways keep me young. So I decided to see if I could find some opportunities to stay in the classroom, but in another capacity. Unfortunately, there were none.  After thinking about the degrees, time and professional development I put into my career, I came up with the startling realization that there are virtually no career paths for teachers in the classroom.

This problem leads to talented teachers leaving the classroom, where we're needed most and can leave our classrooms lacking in talent. So how can we create a real career path for teachers? It's simple, creating a career path should not only give teachers more opportunities to lead in the classroom but should give them the opportunity to make more money while still spending their time in the classroom.

A career path for a teacher should be one that's not only rewarding to the teacher, but to the entire school body. Think about these options:

1. Master Teacher- This should be a teacher with at least five years' experience in the classroom who has proven that they are not only a master of their content area but in the pedagogy of educating children. Master teachers will be the mentors for new teachers and their classrooms should essentially be demonstration classrooms for the district to model effective pedagogy and strategies.  Ideally, this position would rotate out by grade level, content level, and teacher needs, but the point is that districts should recognize these teachers as masters of their craft.  These teachers demonstrate growth in their students starting by where they're at in the beginning d the school year and this growth is tied with NOTHING dealing with standardized testing. Instead, the use of portfolios, student/teacher interviews, and other measurable factors should be used during this process.

2. Teacher Evaluators- Teacher evaluators will be the teachers who will use their time evaluating and coaching fellow teachers on their areas of strength.  Instead of a principal who may (or may not) have actual classroom experience evaluating you, teacher evaluators will bring classroom experience. They would hold pre-conferences, coaching sessions and post-conference with teachers. While the school's administration would still ideally do the summative conferences, it would be imperative for there be a teacher to evaluate fellow teachers.

3. Collaborative Teacher-  These teacher leaders would work directly with the special education department to make sure that the goals in IEPs are not only reasonable but that there is a true collaboration in the classroom between the General Education and Special Education teacher.

While these positions seem like they would dream jobs for teachers, they would also help retain quality teachers in the classroom for the following reasons:

-These positions should pay at least 40-50% more than a teacher's regular salary.

-These teacher leaders would be on the same calendars as teachers, with the majority of the summer working independently planning for the following year.

-Teachers would rotate out of the above positions every two years with the option to always to return to the classroom if wanted.

If this model was used, we could really empower teachers at the school level to not only be leaders but to still directly affect what was happening in the classroom.  As I look at what the next seventeen years in the classroom will look like for me, I know that opportunities listed above would not only motivate me but re-energize my work with students and teachers.

teachers
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

Teacher Branding 101: Teacher Brainwashing Has to Stop In Order to Change a School a Transformational Leader is a Must A Teacher's Worth Default ThumbnailEmpowering Yourself as an Expert
« The Educator's Room + Paula Kay Glass Discuss Teacher Branding
Former IN Governor Daniels Attempts to Censor Educators »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • Ask The Educator's Room: I'm dating a student's dad. Should we tell the school?
  • My Union Showed Up for Me, and I'll Never Forget It
  • Your Students Deserve a Diverse Classroom Library. Here's How to Set It Up.
  • You Don't Have to Watch the Tyre Nichols Video, But Be Ready to Talk About It

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.