Educators are role models who act ethically and honestly.
Actions have consequences especially in a professional setting. Being honest and open with one’s self will define a teacher in where they are and where they want to be as a professional. Ethics is the act of having personal beliefs that seek the best interest of individual students. Educators as role models teach students more than just curriculum based lessons. The everyday student-teacher interactions may have a lasting impact thus teachers should consider the consequences of their own positive and negative behaviors. “How would you like to be remembered”, is the question I would ask in terms of being a role model.
Educators have a broad knowledge base and understand the subject areas they teach.
The lack of effort is visible to students. Why would a student work hard for you, if you are not willing to work hard for them? How can someone teach a subject without understanding the concepts themselves? With amazing resource available to teachers, blatant acts of ignorance is harmful to students because it undermines their intelligence. Teachers should work harder than the student. I am surprised this is on the list of standards because with the amount of great teachers and professors, a novice educator can, at the very least, emulate a lesson taught by a passionate teacher.
Educators value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families and communities in schools.
Parent/teacher communication is often avoided by students based on my experiences in high school. This is a missed opportunity for teachers as parents should be involved with their student’s education and I believe that educators should be the proactive one. Parents could be a great resource to help students achieve yet teachers only contact parents when they are obligated to. A teacher should demonstrate the value of involvement by offering easily accessible channels of communication to parents, faculty, students and administration. For example, email address, phone number, websites, and general meetings.
Educators engage in career-long learning.
The curiosity for knowledge and the willingness to share it, is not something that simply ends after a teacher leaves the classroom. The purpose of obtaining knowledge would be for personal growth rather than just achieving a simple goal. Lifelong learning starts with a genuine interest in a little bit of everything. I believe this is the habit of a great educator. This is not something that is taught or learnt but it is practiced every day. Being open minded and experiencing new extremes should be embraced rather than feared, which is why teachers should never get comfortable with where they are in life.
Educators implement effective practices in areas of classroom management, planning, instruction, assessment, evaluation and reporting.
The work of being an educator should begin with a plan. Being creative, thoughtful and reflective are important tools to help teachers become a more effective educator. Asking important questions like “what is the purpose of the lesson”, “how could it be more effective” and “who would be left out”, makes a teacher critical of themselves. A teacher would be missing opportunities if new techniques, technologies or resources are not utilized because being relevant and involved helps students to be more engaged and interested rather than bored.