Our First Teachers

Like many communities across the nation, Salt Lake City has experienced dramatic shifts in the composition of its population. Increases in ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity are among the dynamic opportunities before us.

Because education systems must acknowledge and learn from families and their influence on young people, the Families, Intercollegiate Routes to Studying Teaching (FIRST) project was created to embrace the role of family influence on the decision to enter the teaching profession. As a 2011-2012 Scholar in Residence effort, project FIRST was designed to and continues to specifically define, recognize, and celebrate family knowledge as a critical factor influencing the decision to seek careers in teaching.

During the 2011-2012 academic year, the families of students enrolled in the Teacher Recruitment Scholarship program through the University of Utah, Salt Lake Community College, and five local school districts met to examine families’ perspectives on the decision to become teachers. As a community-based network of families, participants in FIRST examined the influence of their families’ experiences in schools and identified how their children will shape the future of the teaching profession.

Our discussions defined the role families play in building pathways to the teaching profession. Families also shared ideas on how they support their children’s decisions to become teachers. They showcased a collective vision for the type of educators their children will become.

Project findings specifically highlighted the values families place on educators who care deeply about all students in classrooms. Our FIRST families encouraged the idea that all teachers must believe in and celebrate the richness of diversity in each student’s life. Families cited their children’s potential, as future teachers, to reach out to students in k-12 classrooms in ways that mirror their own life histories and goals for the future.

Sharing the message on the value of the teaching profession was a notable outcome of project FIRST. Family participants committed to serve as future ambassadors to other families to support and diversify the pool of future teachers. A series of family events is scheduled for the spring of 2013 to further conversations on the impact of families as the first teachers of those who enter the profession.