Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. My Rationale
3. Current Resume

Professional Standards

1. Content and Curriculum
   
   
2. Knowledge of Students and their Learning
   
   
3. Learning Environments
   
   
4. Assessment
   
   
5. Planning and Instruction
   
   
6. Professionalism
   
   

Learning Environments

"Teachers create learning environments that encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation."

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."

William Arthur Ward

Artifact (as evidence of meeting standard)

As I expressed in my rationale I believe that the students’ willingness and ability to be actively engaged in worthwhile learning directly correlates to the learning environment I create in my classroom. Through student teaching I realized that what I taught, and how I taught it, had just as much impact on the learning environment in my classroom as did the noise level and placement of desks. The lesson plans that I develop for my classes must include activities and procedures that allow a positive and constructive learning environment to take shape. As a teacher, it is my goal to create a comfortable, student-centered learning environment based on academic responsibility; utilizing all resources at my disposal while nurturing student individuality.

I quickly realized that this was one of the most difficult tasks I would undertake as a student teacher. Creating an appropriate and effective learning environment was an all-encompassing process. First, I attempted to establish procedures and classroom management techniques that fostered a comfortable learning environment. To do that I required everyone to behave respectfully toward each other and toward me; ridicule and distracting activities were not allowed. Additionally, I attempted to teach students that honest people could draw different conclusions from the same set of facts. This proved to be a requirement that was necessary and enacted regularly. My classes participated in discussions and debates where the students were encouraged to share their perspectives. To do so they had to feel that their opinion was respected and that they would not be ridiculed. I also attempted to use examples of diverse opinions and non-traditional viewpoints in an attempt toMay 3, 2004>

Another way I attempted to foster this positive learning environment was through lesson plans. During my student teaching I varied the activities and content in the classroom in a constant attempt to achieve the best learning environment possible. I quickly learned that a one-way act in front of the classroom for 55 minutes of every class was not going to achieve all of my teaching goals. When I was just a lecturer or taskmaster, students were not actively engaged in learning. However, when I introduced lessons that transferred a portion of the academic responsibility to my students and allowed them to work together collaboratively, they were not only more interested and actively engaged in the material, but they also had a better sense of the self-motivation and sense of community necessary to succeed.

The artifact I have included to illustrate this standard is an example lesson plan that I created in the first few weeks of teaching. This lesson illustrates the way that I was able to use effective time and resource management to organize a student centered activity encompassing individual and collaborative work while placing academic responsibility in the hands of the students.