The Evolution and Duties of Teaching

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The Evolution and Duties of Teaching

Most people think that the only thing you need to do to be a teacher is to

teach children. There are plenty of other tasks that follow.

In the year of 1829, Samuel R. Hall in his Lectures on School Keeping

maintained that many of the deplorable conditions in schools that were due to poor

teaching, even going so far as to quote from a writer in the Journal of Education

who claimed that “every person who is conscious of his imbecility in other

business, esteems himself fully competent to train the ignorance and weakness of

infancy, into all the virtue and power and wisdom of maturer years.”

Hall started the first normal school to prepare teachers at Concord,

Vt. in 1823. On July 3, 1839 the first state supported normal school started in

Lexington, Mass. Training was progressed very slowly before 1850. During the

next 100 Years the teacher education progressed rapidly. By 1890, there were 204

state, city, and private normal schools. Courses for teachers were offered in 114

colleges and universities. In 1950, there were 1,093 institutions preparing teachers; 432

were public, and 661 were private. In 1900 there were 172 public normal

schools in the United States.

Elementary teachers are also known as primary school teachers. They teach

children from Kindergarten to sixth grade. Teachers introduce things like

numbers, language, science, and social studies. They also teach the children how

to develop into confident healthy young children. Teachers work real close with

parents to help the children develop their full potential.

Elementary school teachers often teach a wide variety of subjects. Some

teachers specialize in a couple of subjects and teach many different classes. They

are very busy at all times. The stand in front of the students and teach. When they

are not in the front of the classroom teaching they are putting together lesson plans

for the upcoming days and correcting papers. Other parts of their job includes

figuring out interesting and innovative ways to approach educational topics

including; lectures, group discussions, hands-on activities, computer research, etc.

Teachers pass on academic subjects certain values and morals. Teachers

watch children’s social skills and try to resolve any problems they see. They are

also looking for accidents, signs of illness or any learning problems. They also

look for any abuse areas that the child might face at home or any other place.

Teachers meet with other teachers to discuss things and to do

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