Year 3

Fall 2021

Goal

While professional responsibilities is always an extremely important teaching competence, this year being our 3rd year practicum it is even more pertinent and applicable. Being in classrooms the first week of school has allowed me to review common professional responsibilities not only with the teacher but with students asd well. During this semester, or more specifically during our five week practicum, I have many goals I would like to accomplish or see myself effectively incorporating into my work this semester. My goal this semester pertains to classroom management. Being in a kindergarten classroom I believe classroom management to be one of the most important goals. Students are for the most part, brand new to a classroom environment. It is our duty as teachers to make a comfortable, engaging and inviting classroom where rich learning experiences will occur. Kindergarten acts as the education ground for the rest of their schooling. Ensuring we as teachers, and in this case myself are adapting to student needs, following curriculum rules and guidelines and organizing the classroom effectively are all mini goals that go hand in hand with my main goal for this teaching competency.

This artifact is an excerpt from my Winter 2020 journal entries about inspiring education in Alberta. I found this one particularly important, especially in terms of professional responsibilities. It is our duties as teachers to inspire students while adhering to our specific and appropriate responsibilities. This artifact connects program outcomes for professional responsibilities 1,6 and 7 through my field study and documents released by the government. (P 1,6,7). This artifact speaks specifically about inclusive education and what I have learned and observed through my field study class and mentor teacher. This document help's teachers become more self aware of their responsibilities and their purpose of educating students. While I have learned the basics of professional responsibilities including the ATA code of conduct, I still have many things to learn about in class hands on responsibilities. I am very eager to continue this journey and learn more about what it takes to be a leader.

Fall 2020

The artifact I chose for the professional responsibilities portion of teaching competencies is my course synthesis project. This project ties everything we have done this semester into a small document. It uses in-class learning, homework, readings, mentor teacher discussions and classwork to create big ideas. These big ideas are to be taken with me through the rest of my education courses and eventually teaching. They are a way for me to connect my personal experiences with course content and mentor teacher conversations. Professional responsibility is a term that means so much. It means being able to foster students with a positive and educational learning experience while maintaining obvious codes of conduct. Through many of our assignments this semester I got to learn about different aspects that all combine to create these professional responsibilities. Our lesson plan includes many important things like an assessment or curriculum goals and our reading log contains program outcomes and quality literature. All of these projects or assignments make up some of the main points we learned. They are all intertwined in many ways and effectively knowing how to implement them in teaching is important. Some of the main ideas I have chosen all pertain to professional responsibilities like phonological awareness, differentiation, classroom management and adaptability. These are key terms we discussed and learned in class with activities and examples and are also topics brought up with my mentor teacher conversations. All of them are important and will be used in my future classrooms. A goal I have within professional responsibilities is exploring differentiation and classroom management more. Not being able to be in a classroom this year has halted these real-life experiences that I could have used to connect to lectures and readings. I look forward to being back in a classroom soon and being able to further dive into these principles. Through more classroom work and next semester, whether I am in a classroom or not I will be able to learn more about these terms and apply them to more situations.

Winter 2021

The artifact I chose that best fits the professional responsibilities section of teaching competencies is my workshop log. This log was completed in my EDUC effective assessment course and contained many highlighted points about different important topics. I believe my workshop log "demonstrates deep thinking through seminar responses, lesson critiques, and journal reflections" (PR10). The foundation of authentic teaching is built on competent and responsible teachers. Through each workshop, we analyzed ideas and methods by teaching professionals on how to ensure that we are providing students with the best form of teaching possible. The workshop provided me with further learning on topics discussed in class and allowed for connections to be made between essential assessment terms. Professional responsibilities as a teacher include many things. Some examples would be like the creation of reliable and valid tests and assignments, delivering engaging instruction, supporting all types of learners, and much more.

A teacher who spoke to me and allowed me to think clearly about my role as a teacher in our workshop log was Rick Wormeli. Through his videos, he highlights the importance of teacher responsibilities and how it is our duty to provide students with ample room to grow and learn through their work. He believes that redos, retake, and do-overs are necessary and should be implemented in the assessment process. From him and many other teaching models, I have learned many things when it comes to effective assessment. My future classrooms' goal is to create an environment where all protocols are followed and respected and to create a space where students can truly feel valued. These workshops have enabled me to go more in-depth into what I believe is essential to not only assessment but our roles as educators. My action plan will be to remain reflective through my in-class learnings and connect to actual life practices. I will consistently engage with further workshops to expand my knowledge to demonstrate my commitment to be a lifelong learner and professional.