Teacher candidates build an understanding of the teaching profession by:
1: being informed on professional responsibilities and policies in a collegial and professional school setting.
2: enhancing through reflective, collaborative, and professional growth-centered practice, which benefit students.
3: being informed on legal and ethical responsibilities, which students benefit from have a safe and respectful learning environment.
P1: It is important to create a network of communication within, and not limited too, your department and the hallway where your classroom is located. As a single teacher it is easy to shut the door and be involved solely with just your students. Yet, so much can be missed out of the profession if a teacher shuts the door and keeps to themselves. In the high school I am interning it seems as though there is not much school camaraderie between teachers during and after school, although, there is one tradition that I have participated in daily. Before each period I open my door and stand to greet my students as they enter the classroom. This not only is a great way to make connections with students and stop those that I need to speak privately with, but it is also a bonding time between the other three teachers that are close in proximity to my room. Another small, but effective way to promote professionalism within my teaching career is dressing appropriately. By dressing up it is a pleasant signal to your fellow faculty and students that you are showing up and dressed nice because they deserve your professionalism and respect.
P2: Reflecting on lesson plans to improve them for the future is a heavy, but necessary task in order to help yourself and your students have high quality learning and work. After teaching a lesson, it takes about three minutes to jot down a few notes on what worked and what did not work, so next time you come to the lesson plan you can adjust accordingly. It is a good habit that I will instill once I have my own classroom.
Another type of reflection is to orally collaborate with fellow teachers for resources, ideas for activities, classroom set-up, and discussion on development of students. This type of discussion with teacher is not only helpful to personal growth, but also curriculum growth. For example, I attended a small group meeting with four other teachers. Prior to the meeting I gave my students a survey, which asked them to anonymously answer questions on “daily and unit learning targets or objectives”. They were asked whether they were used in my classroom and whether they could recall any. During the meeting we synthesized our surveys and then wrote up plans to better implement daily learning targets within the classroom. This was an important team-building experience as we used each other as sounding boards to better our teaching skills.
P3: State law makers and school district employers spend time creating laws and codes to give teachers guidelines for knowing how to create safe and respectful learning environments as well as creating a protection for the teacher. Within the first week of my internship I took time to get to know the school and their handbook/policies. Not only are teachers responsible for students’ cognitive growth, but they are also responsible for the children’s safety. The school policies/procedures are in-place—no off-campus lunches, internet protection, evacuation procedures—to keep the students safe. During my internship, I got to lead my students in the controlled chaos of three fire-drills. The school district has mandated that there should be one drill every month, which will help the process become routine for when there might be an actual emergency.
To stay informed on the district and state laws I attended an informative interview with the head of human resources department at the district office. He spent most of his time explaining the situations to be aware of as a new teacher, and the two he devoted most of his time with were bullying and student-teacher relationships. Online and class bullying is a rampant issue that flood school systems. Being aware of what bullying consists of and the steps of managing it in the classroom, hallways, parking lots, and lunchrooms are important assets to a professional teacher. I have come across issue in the classroom where I have had to have one-on-one talks with students about their feeling on situations I have noticed in class. These talks have resulted in moving the harassed student, talking directing to the student who is harassing, and/or physically putting myself between two students. Recent schools policy has put large emphasis on stopping bullying before it becomes repetitive, which can harm students’ feeling of security at school and their self-perception. The policy of student-teacher relationships have become another large issue within school districts recently. Due to past inappropriate teacher conduct laws and policies—no hugging students (side-hugs are deemed okay), keeping the door open when one or a few students are in the room, and not getting involved in the outside, personal life of a student—have been put into more strict action. Due to my young age and my youthful look, I have had to draw the line with some students who try to include me into gossiping with them, sharing their food, and other seemingly harmless situations. Yet, it is important to create a warm, yet professional relationship with students that help them to feel safe and keep the teacher free from messy situations. I have found that my students respond positively with me when they know that I have limits and where the line is drawn.
Stacey Barber's bPortfolio 