Content Knowledge
Human Development and Learning
Diversity
Planning for Instruction
Learning Environment
Instructional Delivery
Communication
Assessment
Collaborative Relationships
Reflection and Professional Growth
Professional Conduct
The competent teacher understands the central concepts, methods of inquiry, and structures of the disciplines and creates learning experiences that make the content meaningful to all students.
"To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge."~ Kong Fu Zi
All teachers need to be able to exhibit precise and widespread knowledge of content and need to be able to make connections across subjects. One of the many ways to make these connections is to teach an integrated unit on a particular subject. This will give the students a better understanding of one topic while incorporating all of the many subject areas.
My mentor teacher informed me that after ISATs were complete, I was able to teach an integrated unit to the students. Since it was March, I chose to do a unit on Ireland. For roughly two weeks I used all of the many subjects to teach a different aspect of Ireland. Connecting all of the subjects with one outlying topic was a great way to really hold my student’s interest.
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Human Development and LearningThe competent teacher understands how individuals grow, develop, and learn and provides learning opportunities that support the intellectual, social, and personal development of all students.
"Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and diligence."~ Abigail Adams
I believe that it is important that all teachers continue to further develop their knowledge and skills as educators no matter how long they have been in the profession. This can be done by simply keeping up on the newest research by reading, conversing with other teachers, attending school and district meetings, continuing ones education within a university or by attending conferences held outside of the school.
Since I am still in college pursuing a bachelor’s degree, I am obviously unable to attend another university in order to gain more knowledge and useful skills to implement into my classroom. Instead of attending a university for needed information and classes, I have been attending all school and district meetings as well as their institutes. These meetings have given me a great insight as to how a school is run “behind the scenes”. Within the many institutes, I have also taken away a lot of information which has been incredibly helpful within my classroom.
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DiversityThe competent teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.
"The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as long as we live."~ Mortimer Adler
Every student does not learn in the same way. For that reason, I feel that it is important to adapt lessons to meet the needs of all students. In order to do this, I do a number of things, which depend on the lesson and the objective(s) that are to be met by the students. Some of the modifications that I make are as follows: shorten or lengthen an assigned reading, omit or add questions based upon the student’s ability, assign books leveled to the student’s abilities, give more time to complete material, read assignments or tests, and allow students to type assignments.
In the beginning of my student teaching, I felt unsure as to how to adapt my lessons to meet the needs of all of my students. As I spent more time within the classroom I got to know the needs of my students more and more and have gained a better understanding as to how to adapt my lessons more efficiently. As stated above, I do so by shortening or lengthening an assigned reading, omitting or adding questions based upon the student’s abilities, assigning books leveled to the student’s abilities, giving more time to complete material, reading assignments or tests, and allowing students to type assignments.
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Planning for InstructionThe competent teacher understands instructional planning and designs instruction based upon knowledge of the discipline, students, the community, and curriculum goals.
"He who fails to plan, is planning to fail."
~ Anonymous
Creating lesson plans that match with the state standards is very necessary. The state standards were created for a reason. They are to guide teachers as to what each student needs to learn by the time they leave that grade. Designing each lesson to meet one or more of the standards will not only ensure the students exposure to the topic, but will serve the teacher with evidence that that topic has been covered.
The format that I used to create lessons during my student teaching is all about standard based learning. In each lesson it enabled me to think about not only how I was going to teach the lesson, what modifications I would be making, how I would introduce the lesson, how I planned on assessing the students, but also what state standards were touched upon.
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Learning EnvironmentThe competent teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
"If your plan is for one year, plant rice;
If your plan is for ten years, plant trees;
If your plan is for a hundred years,
Educate children."~ ConfuciusI believe that the environment of the classroom is incredibly important. When one has a bare and empty classroom, it can vastly change the mood and demeanor of the students within that room in a negative light. While just the opposite, having a full and decorated classroom will change the mood and demeanor of the students in a positive way. Within my classroom, I am always trying to hang up student work, colorful posters, and helpful bulletin boards. All of these, I change as often as possible to keep the environment interesting.
When beginning an integrated unit on Ireland I decided to put up a KWL chart that was in the shape and color of the Ireland flag. This served two purposes for my students; they were able to refer to this for information about Ireland and also as a visual reminder of what the Irish flag looks like.
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Instructional DeliveryThe competent teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and performance skills.
"There is no paint by numbers way to the future."
~ Anonymous
Knowing that all students learn differently is what inspires me to utilize all of the many forms of instruction. When teaching a lesson I do what I can to have part of it verbal, another visual, tactile, kinesthetic, and so on. Touching upon each form of instruction helps all students to succeed no matter how they learn.
At times I feel that it is difficult to incorporate all of the different learning styles into my teaching, but with every lesson I try my best so that all of my students can benefit from my teachings. Some ways in which I incorporate all of the forms of learning is to verbally give directions, write those directions on the board, I also try to bring in any kind of manipulative that relates to the lesson, and if it is possible I have the students get up out of their chairs so that they can move around.
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CommunicationThe competent teacher uses knowledge of effective written, verbal, non-verbal, and visual communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom.
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand."
~ ConfuciusCommunication between the teacher and the student’s family is absolutely crucial for a student’s success. If the teacher and the family can be on the same page when it comes to education; it can only mean positive things for that student. Teachers need to be sure that they not only communicate with the parents on issues that the student may be having, but also on positive occurrences within the classroom as well.
I have found that sending a weekly newsletter to all of my student’s parents is a great way to keep them informed about what is going on with in the classroom. The parents really seem to enjoy being able to read about what their child is learning about for the week. I also make sure to write in planners, send e-mails, and talk to parents on the phone when it is necessary.
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AssessmentThe competent teacher understands various formal and informal assessment strategies and uses them to support the continuous development of all students.
"What we want... is for students to get more interested in things, more involved in them, more engaged in wanting to know; to have projects that they can get excited about and work on over long periods of time, to be stimulated to find things out on their own."~ Howard Gardner
The ways in which teachers assess students can greatly affect the student’s success. If one child does not do overly well with tests and written assessments, then more than likely they will not do very well. On the other hand, if we allow students to show us what they know in a variety of ways, we will get a better determination as to what each child really does know.
While student teaching, I am always trying to find new ways to assess my students to determine if they have learned what I am teaching. I do this by giving written tests, letting them draw certain aspects, verbally tell me what they know, act out what they have learned, or even to write a story using the information they have learned.
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Collaborative RelationshipsThe competent teacher understands the role of the community in education and develops and maintains collaborative relationships with colleagues, parents/guardians, and the community to support students' learning and well-being.
"Communities of the mind are collections of individuals who are bonded together by natural will and to a set of shared ideals and ideals."~ Thomas Sergiovanni
Working well with students is only part of the job of a teacher. It is also important for the teacher to work well and collaborate with other staff members. Being able to communicate well with other staff members is also incredibly helpful because these other teachers can help to give ideas, encouragement, and support when needed.
I have been working effectively with staff and other teachers in many ways. I attend all grade level meetings, district institutes, school meetings, and I am on the SILT team with my mentor teacher. I also planned a hands-on, minds-on science and social studies lesson with about ten other pre-service teachers. When one works with others, it is obviously of importance to collaborate well with them, and I feel that I have the ability to do so.
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Reflection and Professional GrowthThe competent teacher is a reflection practitioner who contunually evaluates how choices and actions affect students, parents, and other professionals, in the learning community and actively seeks opportunities to grow professionally.
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”~ Albert Einstein
Having the capability to teach a lesson and then take some time to actually think about how it all panned out and what could be improved, or tweaked, is something that all teachers must do. I feel that reflecting is the most important part of any lesson. This gives one the chance to think about what they would do different, and what would remain the same, when given the opportunity to reflect. Reflection is also something that can be done by having someone else watch and critique a taught lesson. Having that outsider’s perspective can make all of the difference.
As an intern, with someone who watches and critiques every lesson that I teach, I find my mentor’s input to be very important for my reflection process. After every lesson I welcome her advice and compliments. This gives me a better idea as to how the lesson went from a different perspective.
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Professional ConductThe competent teacher understands education as a profession, maintains standards of professional conduct, and provides leadership to improve students' learning and well-being.
"There are a couple of teachers I have had without whose influence I would not be as happy with who I am."~ Mackenzie Astin
I believe that it is very important to dress and act in a professional manner while working with the students and other staff members. We, as teachers, are important role models for many of our children. We need to show our students through example, how to be productive members of society.
