If we didn’t know before, we surely know now that everyone who fills the role of classroom teacher is not necessarily called to the profession. The challenges that we are facing across the teacher corps is partly due to some adults choosing teaching or being placed in the classroom for the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, many have chosen the profession because they believe that the requirements for tenure and stability are not as demanding relative to other careers. Others entered teaching because someone provided them with an employment opportunity when everything else failed. Still others somehow entered through a back door when no one was paying attention. While each of these cases may be a legitimate reason for gaining employment in the profession, they are also explanations for why educators must be more discriminating as they hire, recruit, and train classroom instructors. We can’t afford to be lackadaisical when it comes to teaching because it is proven to be the most critical component in a child’s education. Aside from possessing the requisite teaching credentials and academic qualifications, the best and most effective teaching professionals are successful because they are passionate about teaching and want to impact the lives of their students. Successful classroom instructors carry a sense of pride, integrity, and dedication into their classrooms each day. It is a labor of concern and commitment from their perspectives that motivates them to create, discern, and nurture the academic potential of all of their students.

With all the proposals being considered by school districts related to teacher recruitment and training, we really need to come to grips with the fact that even the best training and development cannot transform a person into a really good or great teacher, if that person is not called or destined to be in the profession or lacks the zeal or skill set to help students reach their academic potential. Professional development is effective for ensuring that teachers have the “hardware” that is necessary for the classroom; however, it is very difficult for teacher training to engineer passion or impact the “software” aspects of teaching, as these components are intangible and not altogether teachable in a seminar or conference. Teacher hardware includes curriculum guides, classroom pedagogy and management, and other instruction-related issues that lay the foundation for curriculum content and instruction. The software of classroom teaching relates to a teaching professional’s intuitive, distinctive, and personalized capacity and know-how that signals teacher effectiveness and sets really good instructors apart from others. While all teachers are not destined to be great instructors (and we certainly want to help train and develop them toward becoming the best teaching professional as is possible), the reality is that some are simply in the wrong profession and would do themselves and our children a favor by stepping aside and pursuing work in a field more closely aligned with their passion, gifts and abilities.