The 10 characteristics of a novice teacher are very important in growing as a professional. If one can often reflect and relate with these ten characteristics, they will succeed in becoming a better teacher in many ways. A pre-service teacher will grow everyday and these characteristics provide organization and goals for growing as a teacher.
Characteristic 8 is stated as "A novice teacher should be a reflective practitioner." I agree with this. As a teacher gains more experience, they must reflect on what they have succeeded and failed at. Reflection is extremely important in growing as a teacher. A novice teacher needs to reflect on how the class performed and they must assess oneself on their performance.
An artifact of Characteristic 8 would be my blog. During the participant and tutor years we have blogged about various aspects in the classroom. We have talked about assessment, technology and lessons in the blog. The blog allows one to think about their performance and how the students performed as well in various lessons and activities. The blog also allows us to receive feedback from mentor teachers and other pre-service teachers. This feedback allows for further reflection. The blog is an extremely useful tool for reflection.
Characteristic 2 is stated as "A novice teacher should be an effective communicator." This is very important for growth as a teacher. Teachers must not only communicate the content effectively, but they must communicate with the students and parents effectively. This can be done through e-mails, meetings, and phone calls. Teachers, parents, and students should all have an easy way of contacting each other if it is needed. Novice teachers must understand that effectively communicating will allow students to understand the class (content and procedures) much better.
An artifact of Characteristic 2 would be a letter to the parents that I created for Education 401. The letter was created in order to explain that I was in the classroom every Monday-Wednesday and that I would be involved in educating their child. The letter explained that I was a student at WVU as well. I provided my e-mail in the letter, so that the parent could contact me as well, an important aspect in this characteristic.
You made a lot of great points in your blog. Reflecting and relating to the 10 Characteristics will make us all better teachers. Right now, as preservice teachers, we have much to learn. Striving to meet the 10 Characteristics is very important, and will help prepare us for our future.
I like that you chose Characteristic 8, and I think that your blog is a great way to reflect on your teaching. We not only step back and look at our teaching, but the blog allows us to receive the opinions of others. Our mentors, blog partners, and teachers can give us advice and propose new questions that we may have never considered. I think that another possible artifact you could use for this characteristic is a lesson plan. Each plan has a list of reflection questions that we answer after teaching lessons. We are able to think about what went well, what went wrong, and how we can improve upon the lesson the next time. Reflecting after each lesson is extremely important; if we do not learn from our mistakes, how do we expect students to?
I also used Characteristic 2 in my blog, and used the parent letter as my artifact. Communication is key to becoming a good teacher - we have to communicate easily with our students, co-workers, administration, and parents. Making a connection with parents is extremely important; we must develop positive relationships with the people that affect our students the most.
I think that developing an e-mail log between you and your mentor teacher would also be a great artifact to include. As stated earlier, preservice teachers are constantly learning. Our mentors are catalysts in this process. If you were to develop a communication log in which you e-mailed your mentor at least once or twice a week and received responses, you could consider this effective communication. Using e-mail to contact your mentor and receive feedback can help create a better relationship.
Great job implementing the characteristics in your teaching!
The characteristics of a novice teacher describe elements of the field of education. These elements help novice teachers grow into professionals that can help students and communities. Using these characteristics happen very often while we are in our professional development schools.
Characteristic three explains that "We believe that the novice teacher should recognize that teaching is a professional, moral, and ethical enterprise, should understand moral issues and ethical practices in educational environments, and should have developed ethical frameworks which facilitate effective teaching." When finding an artifact for this I decided use my Character Education lesson plan. This was an assignment for Education 401. The assignment allowed for me to become creative and design an assignment about the Holocaust. I had students debate on whether Americans who did not want to enter WWII were un-patriotic. This put the student in a moral dilemma and they had to express their opinion.
The other characteristic I used was characteristic 6. This characteristic is described as "having in-depth knowledge of content." An artifact I used is a paper I was assigned for history 452- African American History since 1900. I discussed three newspaper articles on the assasination of Martin Luther King. Using this paper I showed my ability to conduct research and explain my findings. The paper was a final and I received a 100% on it. This shows my knowledge of history.
Dave, I think you did a really great job analyzing Characteristic 3. I also used my Character Education Lesson Plan as an artifact. As stated in my blog, it is just as important to build students moral and ethical values as it is to teach them content knowledge. We want them to all make positive contributions to our society. Incorporating character education into lessons is an efficient and effective way to do this. This lesson plan sounds as if it could also be used for Characteristic 9, which states that teachers must have a respect for human diversity. Obviously, the Holocaust was the exact opposite of accepting others and showing all cultures respect. The students were forced to examine human diversity – they not only had to look at the German Nazis and Jews, but also the patriotic, pro-war Americans and those that opposed the fighting. Another great way to represent Characteristic 3 in a social studies course would be to take the students on a field trip to volunteer with a specific organization. Learning the importance of helping your community is a great way to teach moral and ethical values, and can easily be incorporated into the values taught in Civics and social studies. (For example, when Jamestown was founded, only those who worked were given food rations.) The paper you used for Characteristic 6 is great. This paper, once again, could be used for Characteristic 9 because it shows a respect for human diversity and other cultures. It is quite amazing to think of the state of our country in the 1960s, and it is important that students learn these lessons. For this Characteristic you could also use a test or exam which you did well on in one of your history courses. Part of being a great teacher is being knowledgeable about our content area and allowing our students to see this. We want them to become excited about learning! Also, it is necessary to be able to answer the questions that students may throw at you – this only comes with an in-depth knowledge of content. Including any assignments which you were very successful on within one of your history courses would be great.
The 10 characteristics of a novice teacher are very important in growing as a professional. If one can often reflect and relate with these ten characteristics, they will succeed in becoming a better teacher in many ways. A pre-service teacher will grow everyday and these characteristics provide organization and goals for growing as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteCharacteristic 8 is stated as "A novice teacher should be a reflective practitioner." I agree with this. As a teacher gains more experience, they must reflect on what they have succeeded and failed at. Reflection is extremely important in growing as a teacher. A novice teacher needs to reflect on how the class performed and they must assess oneself on their performance.
An artifact of Characteristic 8 would be my blog. During the participant and tutor years we have blogged about various aspects in the classroom. We have talked about assessment, technology and lessons in the blog. The blog allows one to think about their performance and how the students performed as well in various lessons and activities. The blog also allows us to receive feedback from mentor teachers and other pre-service teachers. This feedback allows for further reflection. The blog is an extremely useful tool for reflection.
Characteristic 2 is stated as "A novice teacher should be an effective communicator." This is very important for growth as a teacher. Teachers must not only communicate the content effectively, but they must communicate with the students and parents effectively. This can be done through e-mails, meetings, and phone calls. Teachers, parents, and students should all have an easy way of contacting each other if it is needed. Novice teachers must understand that effectively communicating will allow students to understand the class (content and procedures) much better.
An artifact of Characteristic 2 would be a letter to the parents that I created for Education 401. The letter was created in order to explain that I was in the classroom every Monday-Wednesday and that I would be involved in educating their child. The letter explained that I was a student at WVU as well. I provided my e-mail in the letter, so that the parent could contact me as well, an important aspect in this characteristic.
Dave,
ReplyDeleteYou made a lot of great points in your blog. Reflecting and relating to the 10 Characteristics will make us all better teachers. Right now, as preservice teachers, we have much to learn. Striving to meet the 10 Characteristics is very important, and will help prepare us for our future.
I like that you chose Characteristic 8, and I think that your blog is a great way to reflect on your teaching. We not only step back and look at our teaching, but the blog allows us to receive the opinions of others. Our mentors, blog partners, and teachers can give us advice and propose new questions that we may have never considered.
I think that another possible artifact you could use for this characteristic is a lesson plan. Each plan has a list of reflection questions that we answer after teaching lessons. We are able to think about what went well, what went wrong, and how we can improve upon the lesson the next time. Reflecting after each lesson is extremely important; if we do not learn from our mistakes, how do we expect students to?
I also used Characteristic 2 in my blog, and used the parent letter as my artifact. Communication is key to becoming a good teacher - we have to communicate easily with our students, co-workers, administration, and parents. Making a connection with parents is extremely important; we must develop positive relationships with the people that affect our students the most.
I think that developing an e-mail log between you and your mentor teacher would also be a great artifact to include. As stated earlier, preservice teachers are constantly learning. Our mentors are catalysts in this process. If you were to develop a communication log in which you e-mailed your mentor at least once or twice a week and received responses, you could consider this effective communication. Using e-mail to contact your mentor and receive feedback can help create a better relationship.
Great job implementing the characteristics in your teaching!
The characteristics of a novice teacher describe elements of the field of education. These elements help novice teachers grow into professionals that can help students and communities. Using these characteristics happen very often while we are in our professional development schools.
ReplyDeleteCharacteristic three explains that "We believe that the novice teacher should recognize that teaching is a professional, moral, and ethical enterprise, should understand moral issues and ethical practices in educational environments, and should have developed ethical frameworks which facilitate effective teaching." When finding an artifact for this I decided use my Character Education lesson plan. This was an assignment for Education 401. The assignment allowed for me to become creative and design an assignment about the Holocaust. I had students debate on whether Americans who did not want to enter WWII were un-patriotic. This put the student in a moral dilemma and they had to express their opinion.
The other characteristic I used was characteristic 6. This characteristic is described as "having in-depth knowledge of content." An artifact I used is a paper I was assigned for history 452- African American History since 1900. I discussed three newspaper articles on the assasination of Martin Luther King. Using this paper I showed my ability to conduct research and explain my findings. The paper was a final and I received a 100% on it. This shows my knowledge of history.
Dave,
ReplyDeleteI think you did a really great job analyzing Characteristic 3. I also used my Character Education Lesson Plan as an artifact. As stated in my blog, it is just as important to build students moral and ethical values as it is to teach them content knowledge. We want them to all make positive contributions to our society. Incorporating character education into lessons is an efficient and effective way to do this. This lesson plan sounds as if it could also be used for Characteristic 9, which states that teachers must have a respect for human diversity. Obviously, the Holocaust was the exact opposite of accepting others and showing all cultures respect. The students were forced to examine human diversity – they not only had to look at the German Nazis and Jews, but also the patriotic, pro-war Americans and those that opposed the fighting. Another great way to represent Characteristic 3 in a social studies course would be to take the students on a field trip to volunteer with a specific organization. Learning the importance of helping your community is a great way to teach moral and ethical values, and can easily be incorporated into the values taught in Civics and social studies. (For example, when Jamestown was founded, only those who worked were given food rations.)
The paper you used for Characteristic 6 is great. This paper, once again, could be used for Characteristic 9 because it shows a respect for human diversity and other cultures. It is quite amazing to think of the state of our country in the 1960s, and it is important that students learn these lessons. For this Characteristic you could also use a test or exam which you did well on in one of your history courses. Part of being a great teacher is being knowledgeable about our content area and allowing our students to see this. We want them to become excited about learning! Also, it is necessary to be able to answer the questions that students may throw at you – this only comes with an in-depth knowledge of content. Including any assignments which you were very successful on within one of your history courses would be great.