Reflection and Professional Growth
The competent teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates how choices and actions affect students, parents, and other professionals in the learning community and actively seeks opportunities to grow professionally.
Knowledge Indicators - The competent teacher:
10A. understands that reflection is an integral part of professional growth and improvement of instruction.
10B. understands methods of inquiry that provide for a variety of self-assessment and problem-solving strategies for reflecting on practice.
10C. understands major areas of research on the learning process and resources that are available for professional development.
10D. understands teachers’ attitudes and behaviors that positively or negatively influence behavior of individuals with disabilities.
Performance Indicators - The competent teacher:
10E. uses classroom observation, information about students, pedagogical knowledge, and research as sources for active reflection, evaluation, and revision of practice.
10F. collaborates with other professionals as resources for problem-solving, generating new ideas, sharing experiences, and seeking and giving feedback.
10G. participates in professional dialogue and continuous learning to support his/her own development as a learner and a teacher.
10H. actively seeks and collaboratively shares a variety of instructional resources with colleagues.
10I. assesses his or her own needs for knowledge and skills related to teaching students with disabilities and seeks assistance and resources.
10A. understands that reflection is an integral part of professional growth and improvement of instruction.
10B. understands methods of inquiry that provide for a variety of self-assessment and problem-solving strategies for reflecting on practice.
10C. understands major areas of research on the learning process and resources that are available for professional development.
10D. understands teachers’ attitudes and behaviors that positively or negatively influence behavior of individuals with disabilities.
Performance Indicators - The competent teacher:
10E. uses classroom observation, information about students, pedagogical knowledge, and research as sources for active reflection, evaluation, and revision of practice.
10F. collaborates with other professionals as resources for problem-solving, generating new ideas, sharing experiences, and seeking and giving feedback.
10G. participates in professional dialogue and continuous learning to support his/her own development as a learner and a teacher.
10H. actively seeks and collaboratively shares a variety of instructional resources with colleagues.
10I. assesses his or her own needs for knowledge and skills related to teaching students with disabilities and seeks assistance and resources.
Reflection
Artifact: Midterm Evaluation
PTS 10 Reflection and Professional Growth: The competent teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates how choices and actions affect students, parents, and other professionals in the learning community and actively seeks opportunities to grow professionally.
Write a paragraph explaining your knowledge and understanding of that standard—put the standard into your own words.
To me, this standard means that a teacher is constantly evaluating and reevaluating the choices that he/she makes every day. This constant evaluation is important in order to make affective and logical decisions about how to teach and about how to collaborate with parents and other teachers alike. Not only is the competent teacher a constant evaluator, but they are also constantly seeking ways to better themselves and their community. They actively look for ways to develop their skills and develop relationships with members of the community is order to provide the best educational experience for her/his students as possible.
Explain how the artifact you chose demonstrates your understanding and application of the standard.
The artifact that I chose to show my competency in this standard was my midterm evaluation for my early field placement. I had to evaluate myself on how I thought I was doing, which naturally gave me a good time to reflect on my experiences and the choices that I had made during my short few weeks in the classroom. I chose this artifact because I think that it clearly shows that understand the reflective process and understand also where the need for growth is in me as a teacher. Knowledge indicator 10A states that the competent teacher “understands that reflection is an integral part of professional growth and improvement of instruction.” I think that this midterm evaluation clearly shows that I understand this, given that in order to complete it I had to take time to reflect on each question and then reflect on how I felt I handled each scenario. Another reason why I believe that this midterm shows that I am competent in this standard is because not only did I have to reflect on the midterm, but I also had an evaluation conference that went along with this, and I had to share my ideas with my supervisor and cooperating teacher. I had to listen to their comments about my performance and also explain why I gave myself the marks that I did. The conferences are like active reflective moments, and I had to take what I had given myself on the sheet and use that to again reflect on their comments and suggestions on how to do better in the future.
If the artifact has been used in your practice, reflect on how your teaching will change in the future to further meet the standard.
Having had my midterm evaluation conference, and having given myself an evaluation and taken the time to reflect upon it, I think that this can only positively affect my teaching for the future. The things that I reflected on are now in the forefront of my mind so I am much more conscious of them while I am teaching. Even before I teach every day, I think that the reflection from the evaluation will help me to adequately prepare for the next day in class in regard to what I need to work on, what the students need to work on, and how better I can help them reach their goals as well as mine.
Conclude with a paragraph discussing how you are more prepared to Teach and Learn in a Diverse Society as a result of satisfactorily meeting the standard.
I feel more prepared to teach and learn in a diverse society because of now having been part of the evaluation and reflection process specifically about my teaching. I think that in the future I will be more likely to reflect out of habit than necessity and thusly the reflection will come through in my teaching, which will hopefully improve with every new chance to grow and learn. Teaching is not a job that you do, is something that you are, if you are a teacher than you are a being of immediate reflection and contemplation and an active participant in the education process for yourself and most importantly your students. If teaching is just a job, than you’re not really a teacher.
Artifact: Midterm Evaluation
PTS 10 Reflection and Professional Growth: The competent teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates how choices and actions affect students, parents, and other professionals in the learning community and actively seeks opportunities to grow professionally.
Write a paragraph explaining your knowledge and understanding of that standard—put the standard into your own words.
To me, this standard means that a teacher is constantly evaluating and reevaluating the choices that he/she makes every day. This constant evaluation is important in order to make affective and logical decisions about how to teach and about how to collaborate with parents and other teachers alike. Not only is the competent teacher a constant evaluator, but they are also constantly seeking ways to better themselves and their community. They actively look for ways to develop their skills and develop relationships with members of the community is order to provide the best educational experience for her/his students as possible.
Explain how the artifact you chose demonstrates your understanding and application of the standard.
The artifact that I chose to show my competency in this standard was my midterm evaluation for my early field placement. I had to evaluate myself on how I thought I was doing, which naturally gave me a good time to reflect on my experiences and the choices that I had made during my short few weeks in the classroom. I chose this artifact because I think that it clearly shows that understand the reflective process and understand also where the need for growth is in me as a teacher. Knowledge indicator 10A states that the competent teacher “understands that reflection is an integral part of professional growth and improvement of instruction.” I think that this midterm evaluation clearly shows that I understand this, given that in order to complete it I had to take time to reflect on each question and then reflect on how I felt I handled each scenario. Another reason why I believe that this midterm shows that I am competent in this standard is because not only did I have to reflect on the midterm, but I also had an evaluation conference that went along with this, and I had to share my ideas with my supervisor and cooperating teacher. I had to listen to their comments about my performance and also explain why I gave myself the marks that I did. The conferences are like active reflective moments, and I had to take what I had given myself on the sheet and use that to again reflect on their comments and suggestions on how to do better in the future.
If the artifact has been used in your practice, reflect on how your teaching will change in the future to further meet the standard.
Having had my midterm evaluation conference, and having given myself an evaluation and taken the time to reflect upon it, I think that this can only positively affect my teaching for the future. The things that I reflected on are now in the forefront of my mind so I am much more conscious of them while I am teaching. Even before I teach every day, I think that the reflection from the evaluation will help me to adequately prepare for the next day in class in regard to what I need to work on, what the students need to work on, and how better I can help them reach their goals as well as mine.
Conclude with a paragraph discussing how you are more prepared to Teach and Learn in a Diverse Society as a result of satisfactorily meeting the standard.
I feel more prepared to teach and learn in a diverse society because of now having been part of the evaluation and reflection process specifically about my teaching. I think that in the future I will be more likely to reflect out of habit than necessity and thusly the reflection will come through in my teaching, which will hopefully improve with every new chance to grow and learn. Teaching is not a job that you do, is something that you are, if you are a teacher than you are a being of immediate reflection and contemplation and an active participant in the education process for yourself and most importantly your students. If teaching is just a job, than you’re not really a teacher.