Reflection Paper #1 (EDF1005)

Teacher preparation programs from colonial times to the present day have highly evolved. During the colonial times there was not as much teacher education as there is now. Back then most elementary teachers hadn't even ever attended a secondary school. During the medieval times, students learns their skills and mastered it by being sort of like assistance to their own teachers and advisers. During the colonial times, many teachers received their knowledge through this system as well. Some educators of colonial times were nothing but people who had a contract with the government to teach in order to pay for their passage to America for a certain amount of time. Thankfully, during the 1980s they decided it was time to attempt to reshape education. It was decided that teachers were not as professional or prepared to to meet the conditions of a successful par. The Holmes Group and the Carnegie Forum wrote two highly publicized reports that emphasize on the need of better education for teachers. A bachelor's and master's degree is now required to be met to become an educator. A few colleges continued with their undergraduate education programs.
Today, teachers must complete a Bachelors or a Masters program in order to reach the "professional status." Teachers can also take a fifth year of school to receive their teaching license. There is an alternative teaching preparation program in which the student learns how to teach by being with a professional teacher. This teacher becomes their adviser, and it's similar to a training at a new job. This is also how the colonial times, and medieval times prepared their educators. Although spending some time in the classroom can help to attain teaching skills and perfect these skills, most students graduate with the traditional program of receiving your bachelors, or masters degrees.
One of the most publicized alternative programs is called Teach for America (TFA). TFA was started in 1990 by a student at Princeton named Wendy Kopp. She structured out the idea of this program as a thesis paper. The program sends it's members to teach for two years in schools who need assistance due to being poor, and having lack of resources. It's very hard to get accepted into TFA. This program is controversial because it is said to not adequately prepare teachers and as a result, the students are not properly educated. Many teachers of this program quit teaching after two years. I imagine that the reason being is because they are being assigned to difficult rural classrooms. If they do not have the patience and passion to be able to fix the problems and educate these students properly, than they won't enjoy their job.