ProCADs and Ethics

Attitudes towards Teaching Methods: Content and assessment change alongside changes in the broader society, and a teacher must understand and address those changes through effective planning, instruction, and assessment. Lesson plans and methods should not be understood as guidelines written in stone but a reflection on possibilities that can be adapted to new and diverse situations.

Attitudes toward Students: Diversity exists across students and teachers and within students and teachers. Effective teaching values that diversity and includes it in all areas of planning, instruction, and assessment.

Attitudes toward Schools: While a teacher may be isolated to a single classroom, no classroom exists divorced from other classrooms or from its social context. A teacher must value the input and experience of others in the development of effective planning, instruction, and assessment.

Open-Mindedness Dispositions: The classroom is the first time many students are placed in close proximity to those from other backgrounds and cultures. In this space, a teacher must provide safety and challenge to all students, which requires a stance of open-mindedness to the ways and knowledge of diverse people.

Self-Reflection Dispositions: The most important posture in a teacher’s toolkit is self-reflection that drives changes and development in knowledge and action. Teaching is an art and a science, and a teacher must determine what a classroom needs, year after year, class after class. A teacher must use self-reflection as the foundation for effective planning, instruction, and assessment for all students.

Curiosity Dispositions: In common parlance, a good teacher is a lifelong learner. To this end, effective teachers demonstrate a disposition toward curiosity, both toward understanding how things work and toward imagining how things might be made better.

Educational Equity Dispositions: It is difficult to imagine that one teacher can change the world, but effective teachers are willing to try. While much can be accomplished within a single classroom, a strong educational equity and advocacy disposition also means forming alliances across classrooms and communities.

Professional Competencies: Teaching competencies include proficiency in planning, teaching, and assessing, but there are other duties and responsibilities that transcend a learning segment.  Professional competencies include self-presentation, self-representation, professional collegiality and demeanor, and taking responsibility for assigned tasks.