Priorities for Teachers

Provide positive message and modeling about teaching careers.

Collaborate with families, community organizations, and other education partners to advocate for changes to improve the desirability of teaching as a profession.

Encourage students from under-represented populations to consider a teaching career.

Ensure that every PreK-12 student — regardless of socioeconomic status, geographic location, race, gender, or other personal characteristic — has access to a challenging and broad curriculum that includes: access to upper-level coursework; specialized programs of interest to individual students; and 21st century skills that foster creativity and problem solving, and open a full range of postsecondary opportunities. Recommended collaborators: NEA and Affiliates, TPPs, Schools/Districts, External Partners/Community, Policymakers

Ensure that teaching and learning experienced by PreK-12 students engages them with authentic experiences, community connections, opportunities to choose the content and kinds of demonstrations of mastery that best represent their individual learning styles. Recommended collaborators: NEA and Affiliates, TPPs, Schools/Districts, External Partners/Community, Policymakers

Participate in training to develop teacher leadership skills as cooperating teachers and adjunct TPP instructors.

Participate as cooperating teacher and mentor for candidates appropriately matched to their qualifications.

Provide best-practice tutoring to candidates needing academic support.

Ensure candidates engage in a full range of experiences working with parents, families, and in the community during field experiences.

Collaboratively develop and implement experiences to help aspiring teachers build positive connections with the communities where they work and for schools, unions, and communities to provide support for the psychological, cultural, and emotional needs of the aspiring teacher. Recommended collaborators: NEA and Affiliates, TPPs, Schools/Districts, External Partners/Community

Collaborate in development of standards for “profession readiness” and assist in developing performance-based assessment processes for those standards.

Participate in training to serve more effectively in roles as either mentor teacher or instructional coach.

Model effective professional practice including building a positive culture of support for peers and for PreK-12 student learning.

Collaboratively develop and implement experiences to help emerging teachers build positive connections with the communities where they work. Recommended collaborators: NEA and Affiliates, TPPs, Schools/Districts, External Partners/Community

Collaboratively develop and implement programs to support the psychological, cultural, and emotional needs of emerging teachers — particularly those from underrepresented groups — during induction. Recommended collaborators: NEA and Affiliates, TPPs, Schools/Districts, External Partners/Community

Participate in a locally bargained peer review system.

Collaborate in developing standards for professional licensure and assist in developing performance-based assessment processes for those standards.

Participate actively in using data from and reflection on their own performance, feedback from peer coaching and observation, and information from teacher evaluation to develop individual goals for professional growth.

Participate in group goal setting and seek to align individual goals with group needs.

Demonstrate a life-long passion for learning and improved professional performance.

Collaborate with communities and districts in the development of culturally responsive opportunities for students to engage in authentic community-based learning projects.

Advocate for and participate in a locally bargained peer review system.

Participate actively in opportunities to lead the profession through involvement in local, state, and national NEA.

Participate in training as a community facilitator; apply those skills to foster use of local and extended virtual communities.

Offer support to colleagues who may be pursuing NBC.

Model professional dispositions through enthusiastic ongoing participation in professional learning, peer coaching, and peer review.

Expand leadership skills by volunteering to participate in Association leaders training.

Increase involvement through volunteering and running for union office.