Description

Hailey Cooper

Educators value and care for all students and act in their best interests.

I think this standard is one of the first things that come to mind when thinking of how teachers should behave in their careers; you would not want to have a teacher that only acts in their own self interest. I think this is a standard to keep in mind not just for interpersonal interactions but also when considering lesson planning and enhancing the curricula. Treating all students with dignity means that you as a teacher have to understand what it means to be different from your peers, and when you can do that you can also better teach that to your classes. Some of these things have perhaps not been in the curriculum until recently (or at all) like trans issues, but caring for your students means you’re at least trying, and setting an example for your students to do the same.

Educators understand and apply knowledge of student growth and development.
5. Educators implement effective practices in areas of classroom management, planning, instruction, assessment, evaluation and reporting.

When I started thinking about the teaching standards, these two went hand in hand for me. I considered how they might affect teaching developmentally disabled or special needs students. As a teacher you need to be familiar with how kids generally develop, with a special attention paid towards your area of schooling (subject area but primarily grade). But as with anything there are outliers, those that are simply different for a variety of reasons. Where do you draw the line when trying to figure out what is different about a student? We are not psychiatrists, nor are we pediatric doctors. How can you help a child (and their parents) learn better without letting preconceived notions about what a _____ child looks like get in the way? How do you treat your special needs student differently in a way that is beneficial, and when is it better to give them the same work? You also need to know when to reach out to your colleagues. Some teachers will have dealt with a particular student that you don’t know how to accommodate. Standard 5 also mentions effective assessment. Different students will accel with different types of instruction and assessment strategies, and depending on what grade you are teaching, some kids will be at different places in their cognitive development. If half your students don’t do well in traditional testing but do seem to know the material, it would be best to vary your types of assessment so that the ones that don’t do well aren’t at a continual disadvantage.

Educators engage in career-long learning.

I think to be an effective teacher you need to always be trying to improve both your methods and your knowledge of your teaching area. I want to always be doing new art - for personal growth, to teach myself something new for the class, and to create examples for a lesson. It shows in the teaching if we care about our learning. If we think we know all we need then we’ll be less likely to attend workshops that can help with new developments in neuroscience and understanding children’s development, or previously unknown or untaught facts about residential schools, or how to talk about people with gender dysphoria and people who are transgender. There will always be new things to learn, and purposefully neglecting to learn them can put your students at a disadvantage.

BC Standards Response This page is part of the collection 'Philosophy'.

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