Teacher choices: Teacher development

Abstract

This article explores the individual and institutional professional choices related to the teacher development of the 19 exemplar elementary, secondary English, and math teachers who were still teaching 10-plus years after they entered teaching, either through New Jersey's alternate route (AR) program or college-based (CB) programs in the state. By examining the history of teacher development reform movements affecting the careers of these teachers and the ways in which these exemplar teachers chose to build their careers, two case studies are drawn to demonstrate the impact of the institution as well as the individuals' professional motivation. The cases highlight the different professional paths and choices these teachers selected. In conclusion, the article recognizes that, rather than their initial choice of pathway, teachers' development into mature veterans was affected most by their ongoing individual choices of professionalism, which include the effects of the institutions in which they chose to work.