Is the Teacher an Expert?
By Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins
Who is an expert?
An expert is a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of a skill in a particular area. Can it be said then, that a teacher is an expert in education? Do we have a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge in all the areas we teach? I dare say that we have knowledge of our subject area, but each day we are learning more as we teach, hence the reason we have ongoing professional development sessions throughout our careers. Growth is essential and being an “expert” is a lifelong journey.
From early on, budding educators learn that before they can impart content knowledge, classroom management must be conquered. A teacher cannot teach a classroom if he/she cannot manage it, and that is not something that is taught in college. So , what does one do? Plan obsessively. Lesson plans should have contingencies, and often need revision. After completing a plan, one should ask ,”Okay, now what could go wrong and how should it be handled if it does?”
Another management key is scoping out the class before it even enters the classroom. As soon as one receives his/her class list, scathe it. Converse with previous teachers and ask questions. While different teachers have varying views of students and diverse relationships, some basic information can be garnered and utilized. Who should/shouldn’t sit together? What incentives or discouragements worked well? Whose parents are cooperative and what strengths or weaknesses were prevalent? This type of foreknowledge can aid in reaching that goal of expertise.
As educators we might be skilled, knowledgeable, and learned, but the process to being an expert is ongoing. Expertise has to do with personal growth as well. We should never be satisfied with mediocre – we should strive to be better. Our growth and learning should continue. We should be aware of where our strong points are and keep improving those points.
Are we ever done learning, so we can be the experts? Are we at our full capacity as experts? Can we improve anything in our personal lives or career? If we stop learning or refrain from finding ways to improve our professionalism, then we will become stagnant. Hopefully, we can all say that we have grown professionally since we first left college, so much so that we can teach better than when we did when we first started teaching. 
Yes, we have grown professionally, but I don’t think we are experts. It is necessary to keep on earning experience so we can get better at what we do. Part of gaining experience is by investing in knowledge that will provide interest. We can also strive to be an expert so we can be at the top of our game, but we are simply not at the top – we can get better in all we do. The process to get to the expert level can take a while and usually doesn’t take one day, one year, or five years. Just like fine wine, we can age to perfection as we study to enhance our profession. There is absolutely no need to think that in the process we won’t make mistakes, but we can always hit the restart button, especially when we have new students. Yes, we may fall in the process, but we can get up since mastery is possible. The aim is to try to get better at what we do – soar to perfection!