The Roles Of An Elementary School Teacher

The Roles Of An Elementary School Teacher

An elementary school teacher is not just an individual that gets up and bosses kids around all day and has them take test of what he or she has taught. There is much more to an elementary school teacher that meets the eye. Elementary school teachers have many roles that they play while being with the students in the classroom. Ryan Cooper states some of these roles in the book, Those Who Can, Teach, such as the elementary school teacher being a gatekeeper, dispenser of supplies, grants of special privileges, and timekeeper. (Cooper) With all these roles or functions there is a lot of work and responsibility for an elementary school teacher to do.

In the article “Teacher - Responsibilities of Elementary and Secondary School” written by Kimberly B. Waid and Robert F. McNergney found at the web address http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2477/Teacher.html they talk about how the responsibility of a elementary and secondary school teacher has increased greatly “since the first publication of the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Education.” (Waid, McNergney) Teacher had a certain meaning in the past and historically meant a provider of academic skill and the content of knowledge. (Waid, McNergney) Now there are so many more meanings and functions of what a teacher does in his of her career. Teacher don’t just wake up in the morning thinking ok the lesson plan will be this today, teachers spend hours planning what they lessons plans are going to be for each day of the school year, and sometimes start planning for the next school months are even a year before it arrives.

Some of the responsibilities of an elementary and secondary school teacher consist of assisting students for the certain objectives that are from the curricula, planning lesson plans, and being able to communicate with their students’ parents. (Waid, McNergney) Those are only some of the common responsibilities of a teacher, in today’s world there is a lot more pressure to making sure all your students succeed. In the year 2002 the president George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act this act is accountability on the teachers and the schools for the students performance academically. So each school has to show evidence that the academic state standards are being met. (Waid, McNergney) This put a lot of pressure on teachers because if the students in his or her class is not meeting the standards then this will effect his or her job. Teachers also have to maintain classroom management and discipline, and with violence getting worse and teachers being a possible victim, this makes his or her job as a teacher more important and aware of what precautions he or she needs to take to make the classroom a safe place to learn.