In this chapter, we will begin to peer behind the scenes of what it means to be a teacher in the United States. We’ll walk through a day in the life of a teacher, break down what is involved to become a teacher, and close with characteristics of effective teachers.

1.1 A Day in the Life

To get started, let’s explore four different classrooms to get a feel for a day in the life of an elementary teacher, a secondary (middle and high school) teacher, a special education teacher, and an immersion/bilingual teacher. In the following situations, imagine what it might be like to be a teacher in each setting.

Elementary Perspective

The school doors open at 7 a.m. and you greet students as they arrive for breakfast. Soon after, you hurry to your classroom, ready for 25 students to file in. Morning brings a blur of collecting forms, answering family notes, taking attendance, and starting the day with a class meeting.

From there, the pace rarely slows. You weave English, math, science, and social studies together with lessons in friendship and cooperation. Specialists come and go—reading, speech, occupational therapy, the coach, sometimes the principal—all working alongside you to support students.

“Breaks” mean scarfing down lunch while opening mustard packets or rushing through planning while students head to art, music, or P.E. The afternoon is filled with more instruction, interrupted by nurse visits, early pickups, or the occasional school assembly.

At around 2:30, students pack up. You make sure everyone knows how they’re getting home, send them off with a hug, handshake, or high-five, then monitor dismissal. The room is quiet again—but your day isn’t over. Meetings, coaching debriefs, and tomorrow’s prep still await. Another day in the life of an elementary teacher, equal parts exhausting and inspiring, is complete.

Bilingual – Immersion Perspective

The  day looks very similar to the one described in elementary. The only thing that varies is that students are immersed in the target language such as Spanish or Vietnamese. You, as the teacher, need to make sure students are not only learning reading, writing, science, math, etc., but are also learning the target language as they develop their English skills during their language time. Being an immersion teacher is very rewarding as you are encouraging and supporting students to be bilingual, biliterate and bicultural. This means that when students are bilingual, they can speak two languages; biliterate means that students can read and write in two languages; bicultural means that students learn and appreciate their own culture and their classmate’s culture as well.

Morning begins with two sets of lesson plans—balancing language development with grade-level content. You welcome students in two languages, guiding them through routines that build both confidence and vocabulary.

The classroom hums with code-switching: math explained in English, stories shared in Spanish, students helping each other bridge meaning. You scaffold constantly—visuals, gestures, sentence starters—so every learner can participate.

Collaboration extends to families too; notes, phone calls, and conferences may shift between languages to keep communication strong. By day’s end, you’ve taught content, nurtured identity, and helped students see their bilingualism as a strength. A bilingual teacher’s day is a dance between cultures, languages, and endless possibilities.

Secondary Perspective

By first bell, your classroom is already buzzing. Nearly 150 students will pass through your door today in six different classes as a secondary school teacher. Each period is a new mix of energy, questions, and challenges. You move quickly—teaching content, managing phones, answering “Is this on the test?”, and nudging students to think more deeply.

The day is chopped into chunks: quick hallway duty, a lunch spent answering emails or helping a student make up work, and a planning period that never feels long enough. Interruptions come in the form of fire drills, pep rallies, or a student who just needs a quiet space to talk.

By the final bell, your energy is drained but your mind is still racing—grading, tomorrow’s lesson tweaks, and the one student you’ll check in with again. A high school teacher’s day is a marathon of preparation, performance, and persistence. Working with adolescents requires a special skill set and an ability to connect interpersonally with students at this critical and evolving stage of life.

Special Education Perspective

Your day begins before students arrive, reviewing individualized education plans (IEPs) and coordinating with classroom teachers. When students come in, every moment is layered: co-teaching a math lesson, pulling a small reading group, or supporting one student through a behavior plan. Flexibility is the rule, not the exception.

You juggle paperwork and progress monitoring while also adapting assignments on the spot. Collaboration is constant—meeting with speech therapists, occupational therapists, and parents to track growth and adjust goals.

The day often ends with reflection: celebrating a small breakthrough, troubleshooting a challenge, and preparing support for tomorrow. A special education teacher’s day is part strategist, part advocate, and all heart.

1.2 Becoming a Teacher

Teachers enter the profession for a variety of reasons.  Some educators are motivated by intrinsic factors, such as the need to “give back” to the student population and help to inform the next generation. Some educators believe their work contributes to creating a more just society.  Those who are motivated by intrinsic factors (factors which are internal and come from within) often find that they pursue their passions. On the other hand, some teachers are also motivated by extrinsic factors, which come from outside of the person. Extrinsic factors could include a reward, financial stability, summers off, or something else. No matter what your motivation is for teaching, all future educators need to understand teacher knowledge and how to apply it on a daily basis.

While we were walking through a day in the life of a teacher, I am sure you sensed that this profession is filled with both joy and challenge—no two days are ever the same. That’s why it’s so important to reflect on what motivates us to step into the classroom. Research consistently shows that most teachers are driven by altruistic and intrinsic reasons—such as wanting to make a difference in children’s lives and a genuine love of teaching—far more than by external rewards (Adıgüzel & Karagöl, 2022). Keeping these motivations in mind can help us stay grounded, especially during difficult times when compassion fatigue or secondary trauma makes the work feel heavy.

To ground these ideas in real classroom experience, we invited veteran educator Michelle Schardt, a 30-year K–5 teacher from Portland, Oregon, to share what keeps her inspired in the profession. Michelle reflects:

“Teaching provides endless opportunities for learning and creativity, and I thrive on both. There is rarely a dull moment in a teaching day. Kids are always coming up with some question or idea, or there is always some instructional or interpersonal challenge to solve. So much research is available about how to best make reading stick, or new ideas to use art or music to inspire. Our field is full of generous smart professionals sharing their ideas and wonderings extending the learning web even further. I am immersed in learning and puzzling and interacting all day long, and I have a rich inner life because of it. There is no other way I’d like to spend my life than in the company of children learning, and adults who want to be the best they can to create environments for them to do so.” (October, 2025)

In the next section, we’ll explore who today’s teachers are in the United States and the pathways that prepare them for this rewarding career.

Profile of Teachers Today

The last time the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Characteristics of Public School Teachers collected comprehensive data on various aspects of education was during the 2020–2021 school year. They are currently in the process of updating those numbers, but in the meantime, here is what the teacher workforce looks like based on the most recent available data:

In the 2020–21 school year, there were 3.8 million full- and part-time public school teachers, including 1.9 million elementary teachers and 1.9 million secondary teachers. In 2020–21, of all public school teachers, ninety percent held a regular or standard state teaching certificate or advanced professional certificates while fifty-one percent held masters degrees. In 2020–21, the average base salary (in current 2020–21 dollars) for full-time public school teachers was $61,600.10 While salaries differ across the country, salary levels for teachers within states or school districts are often set based on teachers’ years of experience and education credentials (commonly referred to as “steps and lanes”). Seventy-seven percent of public school teachers were female and 23 percent were male in 2020–21.

In 2020–21, the proportion of K–12 public school teachers who were White (80 percent) was significantly higher than the proportion of K–12 public school students who were White (46 percent), whereas the proportion of teachers of other racial/ethnic groups was lower than the proportion of students in those groups. For instance, 9 percent of public school teachers were Hispanic, compared with 28 percent of public school students.

In 2020–21, of all public school teachers:

• 80 percent were White
• 9 percent were Hispanic
• 6 percent were Black
• 2 percent were Asian
• 2 percent were of Two or more races
• Less than 1 percent were American Indian/Alaska Native
• Less than one-half of 1 percent were Pacific Islander

The trends are clear: in the United States, we lack a racially and culturally diverse teaching force, and that trend has not changed much in the past 20 years. While the 2020-2021 school year included more Hispanic, Asian, and multi-racial teachers, teachers are still overwhelmingly White. In the same school year, however, students who attended public schools were only 45% White (NCES, 2020b). That means that typically, students of color are taught by White teachers (Geiger, 2018).

Research confirms that a demographic match between teachers and students has significant benefits on long-term outcomes like high school graduation and college enrollment, particularly for Black students.. This demographic mismatch is not merely a statistical issue; it represents a fundamental disconnect in shared lived experiences. A teacher’s lived experience is influenced by their race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and cultural background. This personal context shapes their worldview, their understanding of student behavior, their expectations for academic success, and their ability to interpret communication styles. When a teacher’s and student’s lived experiences are dissimilar, a “cultural gap” can emerge, which can limit a teacher’s ability to connect with a student’s home life and cultural context and to choose effective instructional practices and curricular materials. The resulting disengagement is not a sign of indifference from the student but rather a symptom of a systemic and often invisible disconnect. Research also clearly demonstrates that having teachers of color benefits all students, not just students of color (Wells, Fox, & Cordova-Cobo, 2016).

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Increasing Diversity of Teachers Today

There are many reasons why teachers in the United States are not racially diverse. While the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education demanded all schools integrate to address some of the inequalities between separate schools for White and Black students, it did have other consequences that directly impacted the diversity of teachers in the United States. Recent reviews of archival data estimate that from 1964-1972, in 781 school districts across the south, 31.8% of Black teachers left the teaching profession (Thompson, 2019). Some were pushed out of the profession while others migrated north to continue teaching where their experience and credentials were valued. Tragically, some Black teachers resigned from the profession and  entered occupations which required lower skill levels.  (Milner & Howard, 2004; Thompson, 2019). To make up for the loss, districts hired white teachers from both genders who were new to the field or who lacked training.

Even though this historical antecedent did limit access to teaching jobs for Black people, racial discrimination in the hiring process continues to compound this issue. D’Amico et al. (2017) found that despite equally-qualified candidates applying for jobs in one large school district, White teacher candidates still received a disproportionate number of job offers: of the 70% White applicants, 77% received job offers, while of the 13% Black candidates, 6% received job offers (D’Amico, Pawlewicz, Earley, & McGeehan, 2017; Klein, 2017). Beyond the hiring process, retention of hired teachers is lower for teachers of color than for White teachers. For example, between the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years, only 15% of White teachers left their jobs, compared to 22% of Black teachers and 21% of Hispanic teachers (US Department of Education, 2016). Teacher disparities also exist within zip codes.  Evidence indicates that teachers are tied to the communities they serve.

Research indicates that roughly 60 percent of educators choose to teach in a region close to their home, or to their university (Reininger, 2011).  Beginning teachers may opt to teach near places which are familiar to them and they may already feel a sense of belonging in their home communities.

Recently, there have been efforts to capitalize on the connections teachers have with certain home communities. Those who reside within a community have relationships and networks centered within the region.  Rather than recruit outsiders, or those who are from different areas, recent efforts have focused on targeting individuals who live in the community.  Recruiters believe these individuals may be more invested in the students and may be intrinsically motivated to help them succeed.  Some regions have developed “Grow-Your-Own” initiatives and have developed scholarships to specifically target members of a community.  The term “Grow-Your-Own” implies that a neighborhood can grow its own educators rather than recruit teachers from far away places.

While the term “Grow-Your-Own” is relatively new, the idea of recruiting teachers from specific regions has been in existence for quite some time.  School districts are now expanding this idea and are starting to reach out to students of color in the hopes that teachers can start to bridge the divide between educators and classroom populations.

In order to combat the staffing shortages which are widespread due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, school districts have developed their own ways to harness the talent of those individuals who work within the community or who work at the school.  Bus drivers, education assistants, school volunteers, and parents have begun to think about working as long-term substitute teachers.  Some of these individuals attend community colleges to begin to obtain their teaching credential and learn about the pedagogical strategies of education pathways.

1.3 What do Great Teachers Do Differently?

As a student, you may have attended school in a rural community, in a setting where there were small class sizes, possibly with students from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Or, you might have been in a school with a large population in an urban community.  Consequently, as former students, you all bring these experiences and points of view with you into the classroom. Reflect on your experience as a student in a K-12 classroom. Your experiences as a student may have been varied.  If you cannot call to mind an experience easily, think about a learning experience from a coach, mentor, or relative.  Think of a task or situation where you learned a new skill or mastered a content area.  When you think about your relationship with this individual, what three words come to mind?

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As you reflect on your own experiences with teachers, mentors, or other influential figures, keep those memories in mind as you continue reading.

Students bring knowledge with them as they enter schools and classrooms.  In fact, their first teachers are their parents, extended family members, and members of the church and community leaders.  In these spaces, they begin to learn the values of their family, the habits and customs around work and care, and the meaning of belonging to a community. They receive an education in these settings and they bring this knowledge base with them to school.  (Moises Esteban-Guitart, 2021). Great teachers are able to reach students of diverse backgrounds because they recognize these varied forms of knowledge as assets and as the foundation upon which new learning can be built. By valuing and incorporating students’ cultural, familial, and experiential knowledge, effective teachers create inclusive environments that honor every learner’s identity and potential.

When considering how students learn, one crucial factor involves the teacher and student relationship. As we examine the characteristics of effective and ineffective teachers in our school experience, it is likely we will see correlations between the student-teacher relationship (STR) and our performance or lack of ease in the classroom. As we look at teaching through this lens, we come to understand that teaching content is only one aspect of the teacher role. Creating an emotionally caring and educationally supportive environment in our classroom can give us an advantage in engaging students for learning.

Equally essential, however, is a teacher’s deep understanding of content and pedagogy—knowing what to teach and how to teach it. Great teachers not only care deeply about their students, they also possess the knowledge and creativity to make learning meaningful and accessible. They know how to connect abstract concepts to real-life experiences, how to adapt instruction to meet varied needs, and how to design learning opportunities that build on what students already know. This combination of relational trust and instructional expertise allows teachers to create classrooms where students feel both seen and challenged.

The following TED Talk Video is presented by Ms. Rita Pierson. Ms. Pierson is an inspiring former teacher who has a philosophy that all students can learn and that a teacher can lift students to heights they never thought they could achieve. This presentation focuses on practical success and failure resulting from classroom relationships. Often pre-service teachers believe that they are preparing for a career that will require them only to teach the content. However, as teachers, we cannot shy away from the fact that we also teach complex human beings.

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While relationships and care form the foundation of effective teaching, they are not enough on their own. Great teachers also draw upon a deep and evolving body of knowledge about what they teach and how students learn. Understanding content, pedagogy, and curriculum allows teachers to transform caring intentions into meaningful learning experiences. In other words, it is through the integration of relational and professional knowledge that teachers truly impact students’ growth.

The next section explores the dimensions of teacher knowledge, including content, pedagogical, and curricular knowledge, and how each contributes to effective and equitable classroom practice.

1.4 Teacher Purposes and Beliefs

Having explored the relational side of teaching, we now turn to another essential dimension: the purposes and beliefs that guide a teacher’s work. Every teacher brings a unique philosophy to the classroom—a blend of values, motivations, and convictions about what learning should accomplish.

Teachers not only support students emotionally; they also play a critical role in helping learners understand why the content they study is important. For elementary teachers, the significance of learning to read, write, and calculate may seem obvious, but for other subjects—such as art, history, music, science, or physical education—the purpose may not be as immediately clear to students or families. This is why developing a personal teaching philosophy is vital: it helps educators articulate the value of the content they teach and communicate its relevance to students’ lives.

Teachers enter the profession for many different reasons. Some are driven by intrinsic motivations—such as a desire to give back, to nurture the next generation, or to contribute to a more just and equitable society. These internal motivations often sustain teachers through the challenges of the work. Others may be influenced by extrinsic factors, such as job stability or financial considerations. Regardless of what draws someone to the profession, all educators must develop a strong understanding of teacher knowledge and learn how to apply it thoughtfully in daily practice.

1.5 Teacher Knowledge: Content, Pedagogical and Curricular Knowledge

If teaching is the highest form of understanding, as Aristotle claims, then what are the forms of understanding and how might we develop a framework for articulating this understanding? This complex understanding is part of the foundational requisites of teacher knowledge. To teach well, educators need more than enthusiasm, they need a deep and flexible knowledge base. Educational researcher Lee Shulman (1987) identified three main dimensions of teacher knowledge that remain foundational today: content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and curricular knowledge.

Content Knowledge

Teachers must understand the subjects they teach. This includes mastery of the required standards and the ability to present them through a culturally responsive lens. Effective teachers connect content to the lived experiences of their students so that all learners see themselves reflected in the curriculum.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge

This is the ability to teach content effectively. Teachers anticipate the difficulties students may encounter, assess developmental readiness, and adapt instruction to diverse learning styles and motivations. Strong pedagogical content knowledge is built on close relationships with students and a deep understanding of how they learn.

Strong pedagogical content knowledge is grounded in close relationships with students and a deep understanding of how they learn. For example, a teacher might notice that many of her Spanish-speaking students say “a dog big” instead of “a big dog,” and design an explicit lesson explaining differences in adjective order between English and Spanish.

Curricular Knowledge

Teachers also need to know the resources and materials available for instruction. This involves selecting, adapting, and critiquing curricular tools while recognizing and avoiding stereotypes or implicit biases that may be embedded in textbooks or media.  Curricular knowledge refers to a teacher’s understanding of the materials, resources, and content used to support learning. This includes knowing when and how to adapt curriculum to make it more relevant to students’ lives and experiences.

For example, a teacher might switch out a historical fiction book set in early 1900s England with a more culturally relevant text like Esperanza Rising, which centers on themes of migration, resilience, and family, and connects more deeply with the lived experiences of many students.

Beyond the Three Dimensions

In addition to these areas, teachers benefit from a guiding philosophy of education—a research-based approach that clarifies learning goals, strategies, and values. This philosophy shapes everything from curricular choices to classroom community building and professional collaboration.

We will return to this idea of developing a personal philosophy of teaching in Chapter 3,  as it is central to becoming a reflective practitioner.

1.6 Lifelong Learning, Reflective Practitioner, and Mentoring

Teaching is not static. Effective teachers commit to lifelong learning—continually adapting their practice to meet students’ needs, respond to new research, and integrate fresh approaches. This process is often called professional development and can include:

• Attending conferences or workshops
• Participating in mentoring (as a mentee or mentor)
• Joining professional organizations
• Conducting classroom-based research

As a future teacher pursuing your degree, you are already immersed in this cycle of continuous learning.

Reflective Practice: Learning From and About Experience

Becoming a “master teacher” takes repeated cycles of planning, teaching, reflecting, and adjusting. Reflection is not optional—it’s the habit that helps you improve.

• John Dewey (1938) argued that we learn not simply from experience but from reflecting on experience. Careful analysis of what happened and why helps us direct future actions.
• Donald Schön (1987) expanded this idea with two forms of reflection:
  • Reflection-in-action: Adjusting in the moment, while teaching.
  • Reflection-on-action: Looking back after the lesson to adapt future practice.

Learning to teach often means making choices without knowing exactly how they’ll work out. Reflection helps us turn uncertainty into growth.

Dylan Wiliam describes this in the following video as the life-long process of a teacher.

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Dewey (1938) argued that reflective practice promotes a consideration for why things are as they are and how we might direct our actions and behavior through careful planning. When we underpin this planning with experience and theory, we become much more impactful. To make this point clear, we learn from reflecting on our experience and not solely from our experience. This means that it is the lessons we reflect on that move us forward.

Donald Schön (1987), a philosopher and educational researcher, took reflective practice a little further and defined two processes: reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. This means that we need to observe, reflect and rapidly adjust our teaching in the moment, versus the process to reflect and look back to be able to adapt our lessons. To elaborate on Schön’s point, we can affirm that learning to teach often means making choices and taking actions without knowing in advance what we need to learn or what the consequences will be. Thinking about these notions encourages teachers to be reflective practitioners; a professional who learns both from experience and about experience.

With these perspectives, we can argue that both schools of thought are beneficial when talking about reflective practitioners. Teachers who think about their practice, reflect on the impact of their practice, and evaluate their practice in terms of student understanding. Here, we move from our own personal growth to the growth and change of our society.

Now, let’s talk about when we should start reflecting. A good starting point is for us to learn from our own teaching. We need to reflect, or think, about the implications that our own values and experiences bring to the classroom. With this being said, reflection on practice is something we must do for ourselves, since only we have had our particular teaching experiences and only we can choose how to interpret and make use of them. However, this individual activity also may benefit from the perspective and feedback offered by fellow professionals. Others’ ideas and values may differ from our own, and therefore, they can help in working out our own thoughts and in bringing new ideas that we may otherwise take for granted. Collectively reflecting on a subject area or lesson plan is an excellent way to help evolve ideas or strategies that can improve our own practice.

Reflection can happen in any number of ways, but here, we are going to list five general categories:

• Reflecting on your own practice
• Talking and collaborating with colleagues
• Participating in professional associations
• Attending professional development workshops and conferences
• Reading professional literature

John Kamal (2020), in his article Making Time for Reflective Practice, offers practical strategies for developing as an effective practitioner through intentional reflection on one’s teaching. For instance, taking notes after a lesson can provide valuable insight into the aspects of instruction that were successful and those that may require adjustment. To ensure that reflection becomes a sustainable habit rather than an additional task, educators are encouraged to integrate it into activities they already enjoy or routinely engage in. For example, those who enjoy journaling may use that space to document teaching insights, while others may prefer to reflect through conversation with a trusted colleague or peer mentor. These practices help make reflection both manageable and meaningful. Teachers who engage in such ongoing analysis of their work are on the path to becoming reflective practitioners and professionals who learn both from experience and about experience.

Conclusion

Why do teachers teach? It is something inside them—a drive, a force, a passion, a desire to engage with their students and witness their growth and success? Choosing to be a teacher is not a monetary pursuit, as a teacher’s salary is hardly adequate considering all that they give to their students. Becoming a teacher is often described as a calling. It is not for the faint of heart, but for those who love children and people, who have a passion for learning, and who understand education’s power to transform lives and contribute to a more just society. Most teachers love to learn and seek to inspire that same process of discovery and growth in others.

As you reflect on your own path, consider: Why do you want to teach? As you continue reading, we hope that your reasons for entering this profession, and the vision that sustains you, become even clearer.

References

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Images

1. 1 “Where are All the Millennial Teachers of Color?”, New America

1. 2 “A Teacher and a Girl Doing a High Five ” by RDNE Stock project- free stock photo is in the Public Domain, CC0

1. 3 “Amistad School Visit” by , Wikipedia Commons is in the Public Domain, CC0

1. 4 “Mooseheart High School science teacher Curt Schlinkman ” by PICRYL is licensed under CC BY 4.0

1. 5 “Special Education Sees Historic Boost in funding” by Laura E. Hernández , Learning Policy Institute is licensed under CC BY 4.0

1. 6: “Black Teacher Images” by U.S. Embassy South Africa , Raw Pixel is in the Public Domain, CC0

1. 7 “Feminist Perspectives on Learning, Media and Technology – femedtech” by Raw Pixel is in the Public Domain, CC0

Videos

1. 1 “Why Teachers of Color Matter for Students of Color to Succeed”, Edutopia is licensed under CC BY 4.0

1. 2 “The Day I became a good teacher” by Heimlers History teachers is licensed under CC BY 4.0

1. 3 “Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion” by Youtube is in the Public Domain, CC0

1.4 “Teacher Reflective Practice” by Dylan Wiliam, Youtube is in the Public Domain, CC0