Maintaining the Standards of Teaching
Teachers should commit to ongoing education throughout a career to improve their craft and the professional standards of teaching. Teachers must constantly evaluate their teaching methods, their effectiveness, and new ideas regarding student growth and learner development. When evaluating, teachers should assess ways to improve through professional development by gaining more content knowledge and understanding of teaching.
Teachers utilize a variety of evaluation techniques and use them to adapt practice to improve learning for all students. During teaching, I apply a variety of formative assessments throughout the lesson, which allow me to evaluate my performance. One of the successful ways that I was able to access my practice was through the use of project-based learning. For my student teaching, the class worked on a month-long project that required different aspects, time frames, and levels of participation. With this intensive project, I was able to assess my performance as a teacher by monitoring student performance.
Teachers should also continue their formal education and training throughout their careers. As a way of gaining and continuing my professional practice, I continued my education by pursuing a Masters in Teaching from Hollins University. I intend to continue to be a learner throughout my career as a teacher through a variety of career and personal development.
As part of continuing development, I am committed to facilitating an ethical practice throughout my career. As both a leader and educator, I evaluate and reflect upon ethical decisions and assure I am an advocate who models safe, legal behavior in all areas of life. A means of improving upon ethical practice is through commitment to professional teacher organizations, such as the National Education Association. Through membership in such organizations, teachers gain valuable information about the profession and remain connected to other educators.
For more detailed information on my ideas regarding professional learning and ethical practice, please see my essay on Virginia Professional Practice Standard (PPS) #6: Professionalism.