Educators support, mentor or encourage other educators and those preparing to enter the profession. Educators contribute their expertise to activities offered by their schools, districts, professional organizations, post-secondary institutions or contribute in other ways.
Evidence: Technology Presentation & Reflection
For this piece of evidence, I have chosen my Technology Presentation that I did for my Applications of Educational Technology course this year. The assignment was to find an education technology resource and present it to several of my classmates. The resource I chose was Class Dojo, a communication tool between teachers, students and parents. The application tracks student behaviour through “instant feedback” that allows the teacher to reward positive behaviour and record or deduct points for inappropriate behaviour. Teachers, students, and parents are provided with a snapshot of the student’s behaviour trends in class and it can also show the teacher the class tally of points. The resource also has a “Teacher Toolkit” that provides in-class management tools. There is also the option to create your own behaviours to reward, giving the option to link rewards with successful learner traits or your individual schools value system. In my presentation, I gave an overview of the resource and discussed ways that it could be implemented in the classroom, as well as any potential drawbacks with about 30 of my peers.Through this presentation, I was able to learn about a technology resource that I myself would like to try out in my own classroom and share it with my peers. It relates to this specific standard because sharing resources that could be useful to other student teachers in their future classrooms is a way of supporting those preparing to enter the profession.
This evidence piece impacted my knowledge about teaching and learning by showing me how much we can benefit from learning with and from our peers. Throughout this course I presented and have been a participant in other people's presentations, and I have learned so much. I presented this resource three times with the same core outline of what I was going to say, yet with each group new questions and observations came up and I learned more about my resource each time through discussion and reflection. I believe that the learning that happened during this presentation went two ways- between presenter and participants. It showed me that through contributing to the profession by sharing something I had become knowledgeable about, I was still able to learn more through my peers. I think this experience shows the cycle of learning and sharing within the profession and how we are continuously learning with and from one another in all aspects of the field.
This evidence piece addresses a collaborative approach to teaching and learning, sharing and presenting resources with our peers and learning with and from each other as we do so.It addresses all learning styles, as collaborative learning and sharing can be done in many different ways and formats. One strength of this evidence piece is the presentation itself. During the presentation, I got the opportunity to present this resource to three different groups of peers. This gave me the chance to share the resource with multiple people about to enter the profession and share with them the strengths I saw in the resource, as well as hear the strengths they saw in it that I hadn’t previously thought of. Leading up to the presentation, I got to explore resources that I felt strongly about which I can now carry into my career as something I am knowledgeable about and can share with future colleagues. Another strength of this evidence piece is the resource itself, I think this tool would be extremely useful when communicating students’ behaviours to parents. TRB Standard 4 talks about the importance of valuing the support and involvement of parents, guardians, and families; I believe this application is a great way to track and record student behaviour while sharing and keeping families informed. I believe parental/family support is essential in ensuring our students are learning effectively, and communicating behaviour (both positive and negative) is one way to ensure the students are receiving the right types of support both at home and at school.
I think it is important to contribute to the profession because of the impact it has on the students. As a teacher, if I come across a resource, strategy, or piece of research or thinking that could benefit the students, I think it’s important we share it with our peers so that they may have the option to utilize it with their own students as well as to gain further insight and perspectives on the thing you have found for your own learning. Every individual has their own strengths and interests, and when that comes together through contributing to the profession (in whichever format that may be), the community grows stronger and the students benefit.
As I grow as a teacher I plan to hold this standard true by continuing to be a lifelong learner, sharing my learning with my peers in formal and informal settings, and by contributing my own strengths and interests to the school community.I think this standard is linked closely with having a growth mindset and being open to always learning more. With each individual contributing to the profession, the ability to improve knowledge and skills collectively improves. I think recognizing your own strengths as well as the individual strengths of your colleagues is important in building a strong community where every resource, including the teachers, are being utilized to ensure the students are benefitting as much as they can. Whether it is a resource being shared like in this piece of evidence, a club you are running that you have an interest and/or expertise level in, or sharing your knowledge in a professional development setting, it contributes to the profession which in turn positively affects the students- and that is the most important thing.
Evidence: EDUcation Expo Station & Reflection
For this piece of evidence, I have chosen my EdExpo Station on fostering an introvert friendly classroom. The EdExpo is an event put on within the Education Faculty of VIU consisting of pre-service teachers giving presentations and running stations that present their learning on a particular topic in education. For our station, we created a model “classroom” featuring various things one could incorporate into their real class to make the space more introvert friendly. In addition to our station, we also created a website that shared our learning and recommendations on the topic (link here).
During this experience, I worked with a group of 3 other pre-service teachers to identify a question we had as we entered the field: how to solution to the question we posed. Our question asked how teachers can facilitate a classroom community and culture that caters to the strengths of both introverts and extroverts. The purpose of this project was to support those preparing to enter the profession through inquiry and presentation. In our station, we were able to facilitate conversations with participants on what an introvert friendly classroom can look like and ways to incorporate it within the new curriculum. This experience allowed me to explore this topic and contribute my expertise that I gained to my peers. This evidence piece has impacted my insights about my teaching and learning relative to the standard by showing me that at any stage in your career you are able to contribute to the profession. Through the process of inquiry, I was able to identify an area I felt I needed more information in and then share my findings with other pre-service teachers in the program. I also experienced firsthand the support that educators have for one-another and each other's development as teachers both through collaborating on this project and at the event itself where everyone shared their findings.
This evidence shows an inquiry approach for teaching and learning where the participants identify a question they care about and then find resources and research to find an answer. The project itself was also an example of collaborative learning, collaborating with group members to research and present our findings and ideas. Finally, the Ed-Expo itself was an example of the “student-as-teacher” model of teaching and learning.
Our presentation was designed to appeal specifically to introverted learners, however it addressed all types of learners through the different mediums of communication we had present. We had 1-2 group members at the station at all times to greet participants, answer questions, and discuss our question and answers for participants who learn best through listening and conversation; we had our website as well as informational plaques around the room for participants who learn best through reading; and finally we had the room set up as a physical example “classroom” for participants who learn best through concrete and experiential learning. One important aspect of our station was to model an environment that reflected our topic. One of the strengths of this evidence piece is the ability we had to contribute our expertise in a variety of different ways that suited the diverse learning needs of the participants attending. Another strength of this piece is the reciprocity of contributions that occurred at our station, not only were we helping to support and encourage those preparing to enter the profession, we were equally supported and encouraged through the conversations that occurred and the questions that were posed to us.
I think it is important to contribute to the profession because of the impact it has on the students. Reflecting and discussing with colleagues is also a way to deepen understanding, gain new perspectives, and overall contributes to being a lifelong learner. Every individual has their own strengths and interests, and when that comes together through contributing to the profession (in whichever format that may be), the community grows stronger and the students benefit.
As I grow as a teacher I plan to hold this standard true by continuing to be a lifelong learner, sharing my learning with my peers in formal and informal settings, and by contributing my own strengths and interests to the school community. I think this standard is linked closely with having a growth mindset and being open to always learning more. With each individual contributing to the profession, the ability to improve knowledge and skills collectively improves. I think recognizing your own strengths as well as the individual strengths of your colleagues is important in building a strong community where every resource, including the teachers, are being utilized to ensure the students are benefitting as much as they can. Whether it is information being shared like in this piece of evidence, an extracurricular you are running, or sharing your knowledge in a professional development setting, it contributes to the profession which in turnpositively affects the students- and that is the most important thing.