3.4 Professional Organizations (Joining a Larger Community)

Professional organizations are essential contributors in assisting educators in developing, building, and sustaining teachers’ professional learning networks.

Discussion Questions

Consider the following questions:

  • What are your professional organization’s belief statements or position statements on teaching
  • What journals do your organization publish for practicing teachers?
  • What resources do your professional organization provide teachers?
  • What special events does your organization hold for teachers?

Professional organizations are important to ongoing professional development and growth. Teachers take advantage of conferences, meetings and opportunities to both mentor and be mentored through the professional organizations for their content areas and/or interest areas.

All professional organizations have web sites that assist in understanding their content, the activities and opportunities they provide to their members, and any publications that the organization may publish for its members. In addition, most professional organizations offer a student rate that can assist in building your resume and networking with like-minded educators. A list of national professional organizations adapted from Masters in Education (2019) appear below.

Professional Organizations by Subject/Concentration Area

  • National Council of Teachers of English – NCTE www.ncte.org
  • National Science Teachers Association – NSTA www.nsta.org
  • National Council for the Social Studies – NCSS http://www.socialstudies.org/
  • American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages – ACTFL www.actfl.org
  • American Association of Family and Consumer Science – AAFCS www.aafcs.org
  • International Literacy Association – ILA http://literacyworldwide.org
  • National Council of Teachers of Mathematics – NCTM http://www.nctm.org/
  • Professional Organizations for birth-6th grade practitioners
  • Association for Childhood Education International www.acei.org
  • Teachers First https://www.teachersfirst.com/proforgs.cfm
  • Association of American Educators https://www.aaeteachers.org/
  • Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), Division for Early Childhood (DEC) http://www.dec-sped.org/
  • National Association for the Education of Young Children http://www.naeyc.org/

In addition to those on the national level, most states will also have professional organizations for various contents and grade levels.  These are an excellent way to make contacts with other educators in your state.

Suggested Activities

3.1 Describe the process of becoming a teacher in New York State

3.1 Think – pair – share; outline, discuss and then create a potential timeline for completing your teacher certification process over the next four years.

3.1 In small groups discuss the aspects of the certification process which seem most easily accomplished and those that seem most difficult.

3.2 Create New York State TEACH account

3.3 Write a draft of the pre-service teacher resume

3.4 Identify professional organizations according to content and grade level specialties

3.5. Locate, research, and join either a local or national organization, preferably related to your content concentration or major that supports students, pre-service, and/or beginning teachers.