We believe that the novice teacher should have a commitment to and skills for life-long learning.
Definitions: A novice teacher is a teacher education program graduate entering teaching. Life-long learning is a continuing search for knowledge and understandings.
Rationale: We believe this because learning to teach is an ongoing process. Because we practice our profession and live our lives in a global society and both the profession and teaching conditions change, our sense of self and efforts as individuals and as professionals must evolve. The novice teacher should be able to model life-long learning attitudes and processes and be able to construct an environment that fosters these attitudes and processes.
Reflection: Characteristic 1 discusses the importance of being a life-long learner. I chose to discuss this characteristic, because I feel that it is one of the most important characteristics of the novice teacher. Even when I have been teaching for 30 years, I will be learning new ways to better my teaching methods. Being a life-long learner will benefit my students, make me a better teacher, and show my commitment to my career in teaching.
Artifact 1: I will be completing a mini-inquiry this semester in which I test how hands-on manipulatives and visuals help English Language Learners comprehend content. This will be beneficial to me, because I could learn how to best meet the needs of English Language Learners in my classroom. This will also be beneficial to the student in my classroom, because the study could help me meet her needs. Completing inquiry will aid me in life-long learning, because it will help me learn more about my students' needs. In the future, I will complete inquiry that helps me learn how to best instruct my entire class.
Artifact 2: I also wrote a letter to my students' parents this semester. This can help aid in life-long learning because it shows my interest in the well-being of the students' of my classroom. It will also help the parents or guardians of my students get to know me better.
Characteristic #8
We believe that the novice teacher should be a reflective practitioner.
Definition: A reflective practitioner is one who attempts to make sense of events in the educational environment and who critically examines choices to inform practice.
Rationale: We believe this because being a reflective practitioner empowers teachers. The process of reflection promotes effective teaching, improves the quality of learning, and facilitates the development of teacher as researcher and learner.
Reflection: I chose to talk about characteristic 8, because I feel that it is very important to reflect on instruction. I have learned to reflect on my lessons to help me understand what went well, what I should change if I teach the lesson again, and what I learned about myself as a teacher. I find doing this beneficial, because it helps me improve my teaching skills. I will continue to reflect on my practice, because I have found the reflection can help me better myself.
Artifact 1: I have been reflecting in my researcher's notebook and have found this very helpful. I take observations of my students and reflect on lessons I taught in my notebook. The fact that I can reflect immediately after I teach is great, because I tend to forget specifics by the time I get home to my computer. I like the fact that I can write about my wonderings or observations in my researcher notebook. It is nice to have something to reflect in without having a prompt. I will continue to use a researcher notebook after I graduate, because I like looking back to see how my observations and wonderings have changed over time.
Artifact 2: I have also been reflecting through my practice by blogging. I enjoy receiving comments about my reflections, but I would like the blog to be more open-ended. Sometimes, I do not have as much to say about the prompts given as I do about other things. I like looking back at how my posts have changed since tutor year, because I see how I have grown as a teacher. When I graduate, I will continue to blog to help me reflect on my practice.
