Quality Teacher Dispositions Paper

My name is Gina Brower. I have enjoyed working or being surrounded by children my whole life. I have the
opportunity to use the Iowa Teacher Quality Pre-Service Teacher Disposition Assessment Instrument to
assess my dispositional fit with responsibilities of an early childhood education profession. I was instructed to
list and identify two characteristics within each of the five categories provided within the model and explain
my strengths within these areas and how I can use those strengths in the early childhood education
profession. I am currently in my last semester as an Early Childhood Education student. After I graduate I
plan to go on for more schooling to better myself in this field.

Caring

People with this disposition display kindness and concern for others.

Rapport: Ability to develop appropriate relationships with peers, children, and families.

I believe I have rapport because of how I can develop to form a working relationship, friendships that are
respectful. With my personality, I came on very strong and sometimes make some people very uncomfortable
and I know that I do that. I have to adapt myself to certain people to make them comfortable around me.

I have noticed when I am around adults I usually voice my opinion out. When I am around children, I am usually
listening to them and waiting for them to do what they do best is to be curious about their learning. What I
believe I need to do when Im around children is to create different relationships with the families and others
involved with the childrens daily life.

Patience: Demonstrates ability to understand childrens behaviors and is tolerant, caring and
understanding of developmental abilities of children.

I believe I have patience with children because when a behavior happens I let them calm down and collect on
what they need to participate in class and school. I also find myself being more relaxed with children and
having more freedom to be a child again.

Communication

The successful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings

Presence: A keen cognizance of and engagement in human interactions and others needs

When caring for anybody it is important to meet their needs to benefit the interactions. The type of
interactions children need to function in society, needs to be fostered by the people who are in their lives
most of the time. I have seen children that dont get the interaction from adults as a child and get lost in
talking to others in the future.

Collaborativeness: Seeks the means to involve and work with others in planning, problem solving and
learning

As an educator in early childhood it is vital to be a lifelong learner, and to create lifelong learners. In the
future, if I want to support learning I need to do continually learn myself. It is essential to be up-to-date on
the current research and trends in guiding and working in early childhood education to be effective in this
field.
Creative

The use of the imagination or original ideas

Flexibility: Adapts, adjusts and modifies practices to meet the needs of children and peers; think on
ones feet; is comfortable with change; willing to take risks

I think I am flexible with change in general and the change of working with children. It is very important to
work with the childrens interests and collaborate it within the curriculum. Research shows that if you include
the childrens interests in the classroom and provide interesting materials. When this happens, it is said that
you can see an improvement in their behaviors and engagement within the classroom. I believe having a quality
creative curriculum is essential to have in the classroom because of all the benefits it has on children.

Resourcefulness: Utilizes resources in effective ways; adapts practices to unforeseen challenges

When working with children, it is important to be resourcefulness by adapting to every different type of ages
of children. I believe children can also build up your resourcefulness. Also, when I do start working full in the
Early Childhood Field I would use the resources such as AEA and other resources that could help with special
needs people.

Critical

The ability to examine closely, to critique, and to ask questions.

Reflectiveness: Takes time consistently to evaluate effectiveness of curriculum and learning

experiences planned children, evaluates own behavior of children in terms of the larger goals of
education, nurtures reflectivity in children and peers; reflects on own growth and accountability

I find myself reflecting on myself a lot throughout the day; I think of it as a time to reflect on how I may
have been if this change or if I could change something to make it better. I also think it is good to do a self-
evaluation on yourself. When I am doing a self-evaluation, I usually think of things I could have done better
and what things I was good at throughout the day.

Being able to truly self-reflect is a helpful and essential quality to possess. This way you are not always
pointing the fingers at someone else, you can blame your-self for something you could improve on next time.

Open-mindedness: Exhibits an ability to look at different sides of an issue; recognizes the possibility
of error in ones own beliefs and practices; does not display or act upon prejudices against people or
ideas.

I think of myself of being open-mindedness in most situations. I am always eager to hear other peoples ideas
or suggestions in the areas. When working with children I always try to keep an open-mind with them, so they
dont get discouraged to express their ideas.

Professional Requirements

These are qualities and practices that people must exhibit in order to be recommenced for employment.

Professionalism: Endeavors to meet the standards expected of a teacher such as appropriateness of

dress, grooming, demeanor, punctuality, tact, discretion, and courtesy.

I see myself as a professional person. When I am working and presenting myself appropriately and
professionally. I make sure when working with children, that I have the appropriate materials ready and
available and for an y learning experiences that they may encounter in the future.
 Personal and Professional Ethics and Integrity: Adheres strongly to high moral principles and ethical
standards as expressed in the NAEYC Code of Ethics: demonstrate integrity and confidentiality.

I believe working with children involves having integrity and ethics. It bugs me, when I have to sit around.
Their families are counting on me to take good care of them and they have their trust in me to take care of
their child.

Areas of Growth

In my attempt to be a professional, I have areas of improvement which I will improve over time.

Empathy: Inclination to identify with, and see thing from the perspective of others

I need to have better understand about understanding that some people have to type of curriculum that my
work for their classroom or children that I might not agree with but, I need to accept that I cant control
other people.

Attentiveness: Concentrates on others communication; takes others communication into account

I have strong communication skills with other people, but I need to remember that I need to be a listener not
a communicator. I prefer to communicate with people by face to face. I have see that people prefer to text or
email, but it is hard to understand some text messages and emails that might be emotional.

Cultural Competence: Appreciates and capitalizes upon diversity; is aware of and acts to reduce ones
own biases; employs culturally sensitive pedagogy.

I have noticed that I have seem more diversity in early childhood classrooms, but when I saw this I wasnt
used to this at all. I come from a town that there isnt any diversity at all. I havent had any diversity in my
school either when I was in grade school.

Conclusion

I am very passionate in the sense of I believe all children need an environment that is DAP. Also children need
to have curriculum that is based on the childrens interests and develop projects that they can intergrate all
of the interest areas.