Checkpoint: Teaching as a Professional Career

There are many details that describe teaching as a professional career. To highlight a few I will start with first specialized subject knowledge such as a math teacher for college courses also having a math degree. Teachers must also have general knowledge of other subjects that is not their specialized subject so they meet the demands that may be presented. Teachers must have four general types of specialized knowledge and that is knowledge of content, pedagogical content knowledge which is the ability to illustrate abstract concepts, general pedagogical knowledge which is the knowledge of general principals of teaching and learning, and finally knowledge of learners and learning which is knowledge of theories of development and learning. Second is the emphasis on decision making. Teachers must be able to make decisions about what they will teach and how to construct their lesson plan according to the students learning abilities. Decision making involves goal-oriented problem solving based on professional knowledge. Decision making is influenced by three different things that teachers must incorporate on a daily basis; these three factors are goals, professional knowledge, and context. Third is reflection, which is being able to assess themselves on how they are doing rather than relying on someone else to tell them. Reflecting teachers very conscious of what they are doing throughout the day, they can even be self-critical about their teaching. Providing reflection of one’s own teaching allows for that teacher to better themselves each day. All of these factors that define teaching as a professional career unite with each other to create a successful teacher. Day by day a teacher must make decisions about the knowledge they will teach and be willing to give a self-assessment after the day is finished.