Standard Nine: Professional Commitment and Responsibility - The teacher is a reflective practitioner who demonstrates a commitment to professional standards and is continuously engaged in purposeful mastery of the art and science of teaching.
Standard nine, professional commitment and responsibility, means that a teacher has to be professional throughout his or her career. As a teacher I have to look and act professional. You must be able to exemplify responsibility and commitment professionally to the students and community, but also illustrating and modeling how to be a great leader and demonstrate the same ideas and concepts that we as teachers expect our students to demonstrate.
NIH Certificate
NIH Certificate
- My first artifact is my NIH certificate of completion, which means that I completed a course in Protecting Human Research Participants. This is a great reflection of this standard because it shows that I have completed steps in becoming a professional. It shows my professionalism when conducting research on human participants and commitment to their individual rights. This standard should be found in every type of career, but more through the educational system because as you teach you not only represent yourself, but the school, the students, and the community that surrounds you.
We All Grow
- My second artifact for this standard is a children's book I wrote, called We All Grow. A first grade class that I was observing asked me why people and things grow differently. I had a project coming up and I decided that writing a children's book would be great idea for my students and my class. So with my class, I had every student do a different page of the story and draw what they thought would represent it. Once everyone was done, I was able to have them stand in order and the whole class read the book. At the end, read and showed my book to the class. Overall, I think this is great for students because it is great experience for students have the opportunity to write something or help illustrate so they have a personal connection to the story. I believe that this illustrates my professionalism because I created something that they wanted to know about and made it into and educational experience for all students.
Observation Notes
- The last standard is observation notes from Mrs. Terah Moore from the College of Idaho. She would give me amazing observation notes of the "happenings within the classroom" but with questions throughout the observation to have me reflect on my own teaching. I would first think about what I was saying, but then would write responses back about my lesson which became helpful in planning future lessons. With these observations, I would read things that I wouldn't have thought of on my own, but it was nice to see a different perspective other than my own when I was teaching. She would include tips for my next lesson that I would be more than willing to try and became very successful while using them. Overall seeing an outside perspective and being able to adapt to what they suggest, shows how I am able to change my teaching in a professional manor.
News article about Discovery Elementary
- At Discovery Elementary, we received a grant to become a 21st century classroom. This was an incredible placement to be apart of. We had access to instant checks of assessment, student engagement levels increased, and the teachers became very resourceful. We are able to incorporate activities that some classrooms would not have access too, and we were able to create enjoyable and authentic activities that can be adapted and adjusted for differentiated instruction.