Category Archives: 1 Prof. Values & Personal Commitment

SPR Goals

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Social Justice

  • I aim to embrace and implement the schools behaviour policies so that the children have continuity and understand what is expected of them
  • I aim to encourage and promote the four capacities of the Curriculum for Excellence through example and encouragement
  • I aim to engage and remain up to date with world events and use this knowledge

Integrity

  • I aim to regularly ask relevant questions to gain a better understanding of all elements of teaching
  • I aim to reflect insightfully and critically so that I am able to progress as a professional.

Trust and Respect

  • I aim to develop relationships with each individual pupil in my class and through this display trust and respect
  • Through relationship and good behaviour management, I aim to create an environment where the children feel save to engage and express themselves whilst learning
  • I aim to understand each child is an individual and therefore needs to be treated as one

Professional Commitment

  • I aim to show commitment and enthusiasm as part of my daily routine through the way I conduct myself, speak and interact with both staff and pupils and present myself in terms of appearance but also in the way I work
  • I aim to fully engage with the professional reading to show my commitment to growing as a professional as this is something I have struggled with in the past

What can we learn from other professionals?

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Working in a professional manor is something that is far from limited to the teaching career. Consistently displaying respectable professional attributes, behaviour and good conduct are paramount aspects of many lines of work. This is effectively communicated when watching ‘One Born Every Minute’- a programme following specific stories of a hospitals delivery suite.

Throughout the entire programme the various professionals involved during the birth of a baby- including nurses, midwives and birth specialists- displayed a number of noticeable professional skills. For example, each member exhibited an obvious level of concern and care for their patients. They helped to keep the people in their care as relaxed and peaceful as possible by using calming language and maintaining a consistent qualified and well practiced demeanour. Through remaining relaxed and in control of the situation, particularly throughout difficult situations, they displayed great levels of expertise and experience for their given speciality. They showed skills in assessing each patient as an individual and what the best form of treatment would be for that situation and person, treating each individual with respect and in high esteem- exactly as one should. Each person dressed both respectably and appropriately whilst still managing to express individuality and personality- for example, by wearing a Hijab.

I felt that throughout the entire programme everyone involved displayed professionalism. Consequently, even when patients were going through an intensely distressing time, they were kept up to date and constantly aware of what was going on. I can only imagine this helped to make a truly horrible experience as easy as possible considering the beyond difficult circumstances. For me, this has really emphasised that having a strong level of knowledge and expertise is closely linked to behaving professionally.

Considering this, I feel that my attitude towards how different learning styles should be prioritised throughout a degree has changed. Where I still believe that practical based training should play a massive part of learning, I understand in a much clearer way that performing background reading and attending lectures is also vitally important. Without knowledge and a clear understanding of your profession, how do you expect to behave with integrity and in a way that demands respect?

Alongside the impressive behaviour of the professionals throughout the programme, I also particularly liked when the camera focused briefly on a man cleaning the corridor of the ward. I felt that this discreetly highlighted the need for all professionals to work together and successfully for operations to run smoothly.

Through watching this programme with a critical eye, I first and foremost feel that I have a renewed sense of respect for professionals. Throughout my studies, I want to remember how impressive it is to behave in a way that displays true proficiency and expertise. I want to be a teacher that not only works as an efficient educator, but as a role model for each of my pupils.

What does it mean to reflect?

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Through reading over unit 3 of the online modules my understanding of what it means to write reflectively has definitely improved. Previously when I considered the word ‘reflection’, I thought it to solely mean ‘to look back on’. I hadn’t contemplated the idea that when writing essays, it has a heavier meaning.

However, I now feel that I understand the importance of identifying where it was that I went wrong and how to increase my understanding of any given topic when reflecting. I appreciate the significance of understanding feedback and how to apply it in the future. In the past I have found it difficult to fully accept critical feedback when I’ve put 100% effort into a piece of work. However as I gain more experience and practice, I welcome that this is a huge part of learning and developing both as a person and a professional.

What is it to be an enquiring practitioner?

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To be an enquiring practitioner is to ‘find out or investigate with a rationale approach that can be explained or defended’, as defined by Menter et al (2011). In other words, being an enquiring practitioner is performing the continual act of research and reflection in order to positively impact a pupil’s academic experience.

It’s my understanding that enquiring practice is an act performed by professionals, either individually or collaboratively, where time is set aside to analyse the systems in current use and see if there is any room for development. It’s easy to get ‘stuck in your ways’ both in a professional and a personal sense. But through performing constant critical reflection we create opportunities to identify areas of work that are in need of improving.

This- a continual attempt to progress forward- is an obvious benefit to being an enquiring practitioner. However there are, of course, challenges that come with it too. For example, there is always the potential for difficulties to arise when performing collaborative work; misunderstandings between group members, lack of motivation, differences in learning styles etc.

As a student teacher, I understand that being an enquiring practitioner is going to be an integral part of my new profession. I hope that being aware of its meaning and the benefits of integrating it into my day-to-day professional practice will allow me to fully participate and make the most of the skills that come along with it.

Active Learning

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Active learning is defined as ‘any instructional method that engages students in the learning process. In short, active learning requires students to do meaningful learning activities and think about what they are doing.’

Personally I find active learning very helpful. In fact, without applying techniques like using different colours to reference my work or re-writing notes I’ve taken during lectures, I find it very difficult to retain information. When I look back to when I was studying for my final exams at school, I realise that I engaged with active learning on a very regular basis- it’s definitely a style of learning that I can employ.

I find that when I’m working towards a project or an essay, I need to understand exactly why I’m doing what I’m doing so that I can in turn, fully apply myself to the task in hand. I think that this is largely linked to active learning, as proved by the definition; ‘active learning requires students to do meaningful learning activities and think about what they are doing.’

In my opinion, this is one of the main benefits of implementing skills and techniques defined as active learning. Knowing exactly what you’re doing and why and keeping your brain actively engaged with the task is vital to successful learning.

In relation to this, working collaboratively with peers is also linked closely to aspects of active learning.

I think one of the most obvious benefits of working co-operatively is the idea that each individual person has the ability to bring something completely unique to a group discussion. This can spark all sorts of new ideas or thoughts that one person might not have considered on their own. Working as part of a team reduces the responsibilities of each person and instead, provides an opportunity for equal distribution of work and tasks.

Welcome to your WordPress eportfolio

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Welcome to your eportfolio. This is where you will document and share your professional thoughts and experiences over the course of your study at the University of Dundee and beyond that when you begin teaching. You have the control over what you want to make public and what you would rather keep on a password protected page.

The eportfolio in the form of this WordPress blog allows you to pull in material from other digital sources:

You can pull in a YouTube video:

You can pull in a Soundcloud audio track:

You can pull in a Flickr page

Teacher, Lorraine Lapthorne conducts her class in the Grade Two room at the Drouin State School, Drouin, Victoria

You can just about pull in anything that you think will add substance and depth to your writing.