Essay On Importance Of Professional Organizations

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The Importance of Professional Organizations
Growing up, I was always told to find what you love doing most then find a way to get paid for it. Early on, I realized I will have two great loves in my life: helping people and reading. These passions of mine has inspired me to teach and share my passion with others; specifically with at-risk students and low-income families who may struggle with literacy. With this in mind, I find that the National Education Association (NEA) and the International Reading Association (IRA) are two professional organizations that I can greatly benefit from.
The National Education Association is one of the largest professional employee organizations. The organization was born in 1857 out of the need for a better public education system (NEA, Our History, 2014). Teachers who saw prevalence of illiteracy among children who will later become adults felt that it was paramount to do something about it. Eventually, they joined with the American Teachers Association and grew to serve over 3 million members from educators who teach pre-school to graduate level (NEA, Our History, 2014). Their vision is to have a great public school for everyone while advocating for education professionals. Today, they focus on important issues such as child safety, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), Common Core Standards, Education Funding, and resources for parents. They offer tools such as lesson plans, classroom management techniques, teaching strategies as well as offer advice and support (NEA, Tools and Ideas, 2014).
There are many advantages in joining the NEA. For one, they are a very large organization that has its strength in numbers. Their main focus is to improve education in the public system. If I were to join...

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... desirable organization to be part of it. Large organizations such as the NEA focuses on a number of issues, so diverse, that it is almost better to be a smaller organization because you can then just focus on one area. Therefore, being small can be a drawback but it also can be a great advantage. While the IRA may be small, they have a good mission and are helping people all over the world.
Professional organizations can offer a wealth of resources to educators and education professionals. They can advocate for you, help you build a network to collaborate with, help you build your career, keep you up-to-date with the latest practices, as well as policies in education. When it is time to graduate, I will more than likely join one or both of these professional organizations because their support will serve me well in my continuous quest for professional development.

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