Inspiring the Next Generation of Teachers
Our nation focused on Education a few weeks ago as NBC transformed Rockefeller Center into a “Learning Plaza” (www.educationnation.com), where attendees walked through exhibits and gained information about the status of education in the United States. The two-day Education Nation Summit spotlighted some of the biggest issues we educators face today. The summit featured a Teacher Town Hall, many panel discussions on important topics regarding the challenges and opportunities of education reform, as well as a Department of Education announcement of the TEACH Campaign (www.teach.gov). TEACH celebrates teaching and offers resources and guidelines on how to enter the teaching profession. Many prominent educational leaders, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan participated in the Summit.
As baby boomers retire and we educate to compete in a 21st Century global society, our country will need many more outstanding teachers than are being prepared for the profession today. Secretary Duncan recently said that we require about 200,000 new teachers each year in the next 10 years. In addition, we need more Latino and African American males to enter the profession to provide role models and meaningful connections to the increasing numbers of Latino and African American students in our schools. African American and Latino males, for example, comprise less than 4% of our teaching profession. We’d love to hear from you!
How can we inspire and attract talented, accomplished people into the teaching profession? More specifically, how can we recruit more Latino and African American males into the profession?
Please help promote the TEACH Campaign:
www.teach.gov
www.facebook.com/teachgov
www.twitter.com/teachgov
Antero, Edit, Jemal, Jeff, Katie, Laurie, Leah, Linda, Lisa, Nick, Pam, Patrick, Tracey, Stephanie and Steve