Proficiency Project
1) Equity in Excellence for All Learners
The teacher should understand and respect different cultures and foster an environment that makes every student feel welcome. The teacher should strive to understand that different students come from different backgrounds and help those different backgrounds come together to foster a better learning environment for all the students in the classroom. Differences in learning styles and techniques should be treasured by the teacher as a gem in aiding the teacher to bring the global community into the awareness of all his/her students. Also, the teacher should encourage his/her students to work using the different traits that each child possesses and helping to foster those children to recognize and cherish those different talents and quirks as prized possessions that should bring them together not tear them apart.
2) Learner-Centered Knowledge
The teacher is expected to develop a strong working knowledge of the subject material and should be able to relate that material to students in a way that students understand the subject material, also. Not only that, but teachers are required to continue studying their subject material because teachers are expected to continuously be learning so that they always remember that they are also students of their subject material. They are to remember that they are to attend continuing professional development courses every year so that they are up to date on the new developments of their profession and knowledgeable in the current research of how best to handle children in the classroom. Teachers are expected to make the subjects they teach fit into the “real world” for their students. Instead of just teaching the theory of the concepts, they should develop some form of experiments to make the theories “come to life.” For example, I watched a video of a science teacher that was teaching on the way that the digestive system processes food. Instead of just teaching the theory, she has the kids take a piece of bread and insert it into a Ziploc bag and mush it with their fingers to resemble, “chewing it up.” She has them notice how difficult it is without liquid. After that, she has them add water and reminds them that this is what happens when you swallow and the food goes into the stomach. Then she has them take a piece of paper towel and put it in with the bread and water and “take out” the water and close up the bag again. When that is done she has them insert some chemical (it wasn’t listed in the video) to dissolve the bread more and finally she has them cut a small hole in the corner of the bag. Thankfully the small video clip ends with her explaining that the left over is sitting in their rectum. You can see the video here. What Makes a Great Teacher? It’s the video labeled, “The Tour Guide.” Finally, a teacher must remember to keep any lesson they design centered on a multicultural perspective. I’m not quite sure you could be blamed by any parent or teacher that a lesson that ends with bread being turned into poop is racist. :-)
3) Learner-Centered Instruction
The purpose of maintaining a learner-centered community is to keep a line of communication open between the teacher and the students. It ensures that the students always know that the teacher is approachable and that the teacher is a line of support for the student. The teacher is expected to be a responsible adult that can maintain a room full of students while acting as a classroom manager and engaging the room with the appropriate set of rules and regulations to keep all the students in the room safe and secure while also encouraging a learning environment that promotes all students are learning to the best of their abilities. The teacher is required and expected to give assessments to measure how the students are learning the material that they are required to learn. However, “An assessment is not only for measuring student achievement but also for measuring how effective you are teaching.” – Unknown author. The teacher should use these assessments to help the students engage themselves in the love of learning and help guide them to develop their own reasons for wanting to learn. Students should take responsibility for their own creativity and teachers should help spawn that characteristic. Teachers should help equip their students to stay involved with all members of the students’ community by helping them to create new ideas and research various types of learning thru touch, feel, smell, hear, and see. This should enable every type of learner the ability to engage them self in the world of learning.
4) Learner-Centered Communication
The teacher is expected to be able to communicate in such a way that establishes a working environment with everyone involved including: the students, parents, other teachers, administration, and outside community. A teacher is expected to act in a respectable manner that is non-confrontational and maintain that demeanor even when approached by someone, whoever that maybe, that may not be communicating in a very respectable manner. A teacher is expected to respond to that “someone” in a calm and collected tone of voice and be able to communicate clearly in a way that still allows the subject of the conversation to be resolved. The teacher is to encourage an environment between the school and the community that fosters an open line of communication. The students should always feel welcome to speak to the teacher about anything they would like to discuss and not feel like they are limited to certain subjects or contexts. The teacher should learn to involve many different aspects of technology in communicating with parents and peers, such as e-mail, blogs, text messaging, “snail mail”, and phone calls. A teacher should also incorporate these different areas of communication to allow children with different disabilities in their classes to learn using the various styles; For example, some children with eye problems might learn better if the information for the day was typed in large print on a computer screen and displayed or magnified with a projector on the wall instead of hand written on a white board.
5) Learner-Centered Professional Development
A teacher must remember to work within a set of rules and regulations to establish the best opportunities for the student he/she is trying to educate. A teacher is part of a team and is held to a professional code of ethics that must be adhered to and respected at all times. That team is there to encourage and educate the teacher continually and to help the teacher continue to grow in their subject material for the benefit of the student no matter how long the teacher has been teaching. The teacher should always be known as,“The Learner.” A teacher should always keep students’ rights and teachers’ responsibilities at the forefront of their mind when making daily decisions concerning the learning community. The teacher should seek to contribute to educational reform and educational programs that foster learning, as well as seek to improve programs within certain areas of study that are not necessarily pertaining to the one included only in the area of study that he/she is in.
1) Equity in Excellence for All Learners
The teacher should understand and respect different cultures and foster an environment that makes every student feel welcome. The teacher should strive to understand that different students come from different backgrounds and help those different backgrounds come together to foster a better learning environment for all the students in the classroom. Differences in learning styles and techniques should be treasured by the teacher as a gem in aiding the teacher to bring the global community into the awareness of all his/her students. Also, the teacher should encourage his/her students to work using the different traits that each child possesses and helping to foster those children to recognize and cherish those different talents and quirks as prized possessions that should bring them together not tear them apart.
2) Learner-Centered Knowledge
The teacher is expected to develop a strong working knowledge of the subject material and should be able to relate that material to students in a way that students understand the subject material, also. Not only that, but teachers are required to continue studying their subject material because teachers are expected to continuously be learning so that they always remember that they are also students of their subject material. They are to remember that they are to attend continuing professional development courses every year so that they are up to date on the new developments of their profession and knowledgeable in the current research of how best to handle children in the classroom. Teachers are expected to make the subjects they teach fit into the “real world” for their students. Instead of just teaching the theory of the concepts, they should develop some form of experiments to make the theories “come to life.” For example, I watched a video of a science teacher that was teaching on the way that the digestive system processes food. Instead of just teaching the theory, she has the kids take a piece of bread and insert it into a Ziploc bag and mush it with their fingers to resemble, “chewing it up.” She has them notice how difficult it is without liquid. After that, she has them add water and reminds them that this is what happens when you swallow and the food goes into the stomach. Then she has them take a piece of paper towel and put it in with the bread and water and “take out” the water and close up the bag again. When that is done she has them insert some chemical (it wasn’t listed in the video) to dissolve the bread more and finally she has them cut a small hole in the corner of the bag. Thankfully the small video clip ends with her explaining that the left over is sitting in their rectum. You can see the video here. What Makes a Great Teacher? It’s the video labeled, “The Tour Guide.” Finally, a teacher must remember to keep any lesson they design centered on a multicultural perspective. I’m not quite sure you could be blamed by any parent or teacher that a lesson that ends with bread being turned into poop is racist. :-)
3) Learner-Centered Instruction
The purpose of maintaining a learner-centered community is to keep a line of communication open between the teacher and the students. It ensures that the students always know that the teacher is approachable and that the teacher is a line of support for the student. The teacher is expected to be a responsible adult that can maintain a room full of students while acting as a classroom manager and engaging the room with the appropriate set of rules and regulations to keep all the students in the room safe and secure while also encouraging a learning environment that promotes all students are learning to the best of their abilities. The teacher is required and expected to give assessments to measure how the students are learning the material that they are required to learn. However, “An assessment is not only for measuring student achievement but also for measuring how effective you are teaching.” – Unknown author. The teacher should use these assessments to help the students engage themselves in the love of learning and help guide them to develop their own reasons for wanting to learn. Students should take responsibility for their own creativity and teachers should help spawn that characteristic. Teachers should help equip their students to stay involved with all members of the students’ community by helping them to create new ideas and research various types of learning thru touch, feel, smell, hear, and see. This should enable every type of learner the ability to engage them self in the world of learning.
4) Learner-Centered Communication
The teacher is expected to be able to communicate in such a way that establishes a working environment with everyone involved including: the students, parents, other teachers, administration, and outside community. A teacher is expected to act in a respectable manner that is non-confrontational and maintain that demeanor even when approached by someone, whoever that maybe, that may not be communicating in a very respectable manner. A teacher is expected to respond to that “someone” in a calm and collected tone of voice and be able to communicate clearly in a way that still allows the subject of the conversation to be resolved. The teacher is to encourage an environment between the school and the community that fosters an open line of communication. The students should always feel welcome to speak to the teacher about anything they would like to discuss and not feel like they are limited to certain subjects or contexts. The teacher should learn to involve many different aspects of technology in communicating with parents and peers, such as e-mail, blogs, text messaging, “snail mail”, and phone calls. A teacher should also incorporate these different areas of communication to allow children with different disabilities in their classes to learn using the various styles; For example, some children with eye problems might learn better if the information for the day was typed in large print on a computer screen and displayed or magnified with a projector on the wall instead of hand written on a white board.
5) Learner-Centered Professional Development
A teacher must remember to work within a set of rules and regulations to establish the best opportunities for the student he/she is trying to educate. A teacher is part of a team and is held to a professional code of ethics that must be adhered to and respected at all times. That team is there to encourage and educate the teacher continually and to help the teacher continue to grow in their subject material for the benefit of the student no matter how long the teacher has been teaching. The teacher should always be known as,“The Learner.” A teacher should always keep students’ rights and teachers’ responsibilities at the forefront of their mind when making daily decisions concerning the learning community. The teacher should seek to contribute to educational reform and educational programs that foster learning, as well as seek to improve programs within certain areas of study that are not necessarily pertaining to the one included only in the area of study that he/she is in.