FOUNDATIONS OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
This is a selection of ideas that have have been taken from the Foundations of Professional Practice.
There are more ways that the Foundations can be incorporated into this unit, thus these are only a select few for educators to begin considering.
There are more ways that the Foundations can be incorporated into this unit, thus these are only a select few for educators to begin considering.
The Ethical Standards- Integrity.
Honesty, reliability and moral action are embodied in the ethical standard of Integrity. Continual reflection assists members in exercising integrity in their professional commitments and responsibilities.
- Educators should continuously reflect on their lessons. When reflecting, they should take the time to determine what worked and what did not work in their lessons, in order to plan more effectively for the next lesson.
- Ensure that students understand the content. This can be done through assessment for learning which should be taking place on a daily basis. An easy way to accomplish this is through exit slips to see what they have learned the day of or simple multiple choice quizzes conducted before the start of a lesson to see what they learned the day before.
- Ensure that students did not gain any misconceptions from the lesson and if they had them, they were debunked. This can be done through continuous assessment for learning.
The Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession- Commitment to Students and Student Learning
Members are dedicated in their care and commitment to students. They treat students equitably and with respect and are sensitive to factors that influence individual student learning. Members facilitate the development of students as contributing citizens of Canadian society.
- Educators should be conscientious of individual student learning. This can help determine what is the best format to conduct a lesson in order that students gain the most from it.
- Ensure that lessons contain DI with scaffolding for the different stages learners could be in. This will allow students to work at difference paces, without the risk of material being too difficult for some, or too easy for others.
- Consider the types of learner when planning lessons: should include visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. All lessons should be conducted with all three types of learning in mind, as a classroom will always be full of different types of learners.
- Consider the readiness of your learners, their interests, and learning profiles when lesson planning in order to plan the most effective lesson.
- Students should be able to learn the way they do best. Students should always be given options on matierls, processes, and products.
The Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession- Leadership in Learning Communities
Members promote and participate in the creation if collaborative, safe and supportive learning communities. They recognize their shared responsibilities and their leadership roles in order to facilitate student success. Members maintain and uphold the principles of the ethical standards in these learning communities.
- Educators should ensure that students have the opportunity to work in collaborative groups.
- Students will learn how to share responsibility within a group.
- Students will have a chance to develop their leadership skills when working in groups.
- Groups should be well balanced when formed to ensure that all students can learn equally from the experience.
The Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession- Professional Practice
Members apply professional knowledge and experience to promote student learning. They use appropriate pedagogy, assessment and evaluation, resources and technology in planning for and responding to the needs of individual students and learning communities. Members refine their
professional practice through ongoing inquiry, dialogue and reflection.
professional practice through ongoing inquiry, dialogue and reflection.
- Educators should plan lesson according to the needs of their students.
- Educators should design their lessons around student interests on topics and ways that students learn best in accordance with learning styles and multiple intelligences.
- Assessment and evaluation should reflect student learning.
The Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession- Professional Knowledge
Members strive to be current in their professional knowledge and recognize its relationship to practice. They understand and reflect on student development, learning theory, pedagogy, curriculum, ethics, educational research and related policies and legislation to inform professional judgement in practice.
- Educators should be current in their knowledge of the topic as well as strategies, resources, and technologies. Educators should be constantly reading articles, trying out new instructional strategies, and looking for new resources to try including technology.
- In this age, many students learn best through the use of technology and teachers should ensure that they are up to date with what is available for them to use. Uses of technology can include: websites, blogging, twitter, clickers, document cameras, SMARTboards, prezis, livebinder, etc.
- Educators should be constantly be working towards increasing their professional development. This can be done through professional development days, attending in house service days, and conferences.
Points to Consider When Designing Lessons
- It is important that after every lesson, teachers should take the time to reflect what went well and what didn't. With this in mind, they will be able to plan an effect lesson for the next day.
- Teachers should ensure that gestures and laser pointers are used to support oral communication in class.
- Students with visual and auditory impairments should be given preferential seating (such as allowing them to sit closer to the front of the room) in order for better hearing and visual opportunities during lecture style lessons.
- PowerPoint slides should contain large font, few points of text, and large clear pictures in an uncluttered format. Key words should be highlighted, bolded, or larger than the average word.
- Instructions for class activities should be communicated visually through written instruction and again orally in order to accommodate for different learning styles.
- Instruction should be simplified for students in both verbal and written instruction in order to keep things clear and concise for students.
- Multimodal learning should be used during instruction.
- Lessons should be “chunked” in order to help students retain more of the information.
- Lessons should be scaffolded in order to help students retain more information.
- Repetition shouldl also be used in order to help students remember the information better.
- Students should know that they are able to come for extra help before and after class and school and during their lunch.
- Students should be balanced in respect to gender, motivation level, academic strength, and confidence when put into groups.
- Students should be able to work individually, in pairs, and in groups for answering questions and working on interactive activities.
- Group activities should be co-ordinated that students should not have to move too far around the room, especially if there are those in the classroom with mobility disabilities.
- Students will be able to work in groups on a daily basis through various activities such as think-pair-shares, group discussions, labs, and their STSE projects where they will be able to complete a case study on a specific topic related to human intervention and biodiversity as well as to work in groups for a debate project that will look at the impact of climate change on the diversity of living things.
- Students will also have the chance to speak in class to develop their public speaking and leadership by answering questions, providing group information, or their opinions. When having the chance for students to speak out it is important that students not be singled out, but instead have the chance to speak on behalf of their group/pair which will reduce stress levels for students.