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TEACHER QUALITY STANDARD #4
Teachers demonstrate professionalism through ethical conduct, reflection, and leadership.
Reflection and professionalism are important because teaching is a journey. Everyday we learn something new, and with that there is always something to reflect upon. If a lesson doesn't go as planned, I can reflect to understand why that might have happened, and what I can do differently next time. This is what will help me to improve my teaching and learn everyday along the way. Being a leader is innate in being a teacher, we are leaders for students everyday. This is a major responsibility because we are a part of shaping the future generation. Being a leader that is respectful and kind, but also has high expectations is important in helping students grow. Throughout this semester, I have reflected and improved based upon that reflection. Talking with my mentor teacher was also a great way of reflecting and figuring out where I can go next, what went well, and what I can improve upon. I have reflective notes after my meetings with my mentor teacher and university coach that allow for me to look back and remember specific concepts that we discussed, and what that means in terms of moving forward.
ELEMENT A: Teachers demonstrate high standards for professional conduct.
Giving timely feedback to students is an important part of professional conduct. This allows students the opportunity to see right away where they are at, what they are doing well, and what their next step may be. During my high school placement, I used comments on Google Classroom to quickly give feedback to students about projects they are working on. This allows for students to feel confident moving forward with the next step, because they quickly got feedback on the previous assignment or previous step. This opens up the conversation if students have further questions or would like further help with their assignments. For my artifact with this element, I added some screenshots of comments I gave students on the work they were doing.
ELEMENT B: Teachers link professional growth to their professional goals.
Professional growth is all about growth mindset, getting feedback, and using that feedback in the future. Throughout this semester, I have received feedback from both my mentor teachers and my university coach. When I was given feedback, I worked to incorporate it into my next steps. For example, while I was at my elementary placement, in the first half of my experience, I had only done formative assessment. After receiving the feedback to focus on summative assessment, I created a rubric thinking through the studio habits that my mentor teacher and I focused on with students this semester. I thought through what each level would look like for each of those studio habits. This was valuable in thinking about grading as well as thinking about what I was truly expecting from students.
ELEMENT C: Teachers respond to a complex, dynamic environment.
As with every teacher this year, COVID-19 has tested our ability to respond to a dynamic environment. That is truly at the core of teaching. There is always going to be changes, and teachers are amazing at adapting to new situations. This semester, I have taught fully in-person, hybrid, and fully online. In my high school placement, I taught both hybrid and fully online. In my elementary school placement, I taught fully online and fully in-person. During my elementary placement, one student tested positive for COVID-19. This made it so that grade was online for 10 days. My mentor teacher and I quickly changed our plans to accommodate for remote learning for those students. This allowed for me to practice those quick transitions. For my artifact, I included a photograph from fully online, fully in-person, and hybrid.
ELEMENT D: Teachers demonstrate leadership in the school, the community, and the teaching profession.
During my high school placement, I had the opportunity to work with National Art Honor Society at Fort Collins High School. This allowed for me to become a part of the larger community of the school I was placed in. Any student is welcome to be a part of this organization, and they do volunteer work with the community both at the school and the larger Fort Collins community. This experience allowed for me to develop my leadership skills and become more knowledgeable about art programs outside of the classroom. I was also lucky to be able to attend staff meetings, as well as district art meetings. This gave me further insights, and allowed for a stronger sense of community. My artifact for this element is an image of the NAHS sale to fundraise for the organization to keep going and giving back to the community.
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