Running Head: PROFESSIONAL EDUCATOR DISCUSSION & REFLECTION.

Umu 1

Professional Educator Discussion & Reflection

Tiarah C. Umu

National University
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After interacting with my partner, I found that we had some commonalities in

characteristics pertaining to our scholar personalities. Although I did not mention it in my week

one assignment, I was also a shy student like Gabriela was and I had some similar experiences.

When discussing our personal biases, I noticed we had some similarities with socializing and the

types of classes we took. We both felt the need to challenge ourselves academically and socially

by taking initiative in getting away from distractions even if they were our own friends.

As we being to form our own personal philosophies, there are some of my own values as

well as explicit and implicit biases that could affect my teaching practice. First of all, one of my

core values is hard work. My belief is that if someone is taking their time to teach, the student

should work as hard as they can to understand the material and be successful. This could cause

my teaching practice to become effected because there is always going to be a group of students

that are simply unmotivated and uninterested in school. Also, an implicit bias that circulates my

community is that seniors in high school do not have to do any actual work because it is their last

year. This could effect my teaching practice because the students will feel like doing the

minimal amount of work to graduate, but we want them to exceed expectations in order to enroll

in any college they want. Finally, an explicit bias I have been surrounded with ever since I was

in high school is that Asians are the smartest kids on campus. Although statistics could prove

this to be true, this type of bias could cause students of other ethnic groups to look at them for

answers instead of working to find it on their own. This will hurt the learning process more than

it will help it because the answers will be given instead of earned.

Despite the many biases that circulate, teachers still need to exhibit support, care,

acceptance and fairness towards the students, parents and colleagues. I firmly believe that the

students are always the first priority, so one way I think this can be achieved is by taking the time
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to personally get to know the students outside of their classroom personalities. When I was in

school, I always performed better in classes where I felt the teacher cared about more than just

the curriculum they were required to teach. It made me feel like mu teachers were not robots,

which made the environment more comfortable. Another way I believe more support could be

expressed to students, parents and colleagues is open communication at any time and not only

when there is a problem with a student. Positive attitudes should be recognized just as much as

negative actions are these days. This could help encourage students to do more pleasant gestures

than bad. According to the Code of Ethics, ethical conduct towards students includes the seeking

to resolve problems with student (Association of American Educators, 2018); therefore, teachers

should look for ways to help students while maintaining integrity in order to assist them in

exceeding expectations for learning. TPE 6 Element 5 discusses the educators taking

responsibility for the students and the learning outcomes (Commission on Teacher Credentialing,

2016). This is something I strongly believe will show genuine care for the students because as a

student I felt helpless in certain situations where I felt that the teacher was unsupportive because

she was quick to judge and fail. Not all students learn the same and I feel like more students

would be successful if she took the time to address the needs of students rather than continuing

to enforce teaching strategies that did not work.

As a teacher candidate, there are numerous goals that I have developed for myself. Two

professional goals I have are to always put the students’ education first and to be the role model

to students that will help them grow to be hardworking individuals in school and in life. I will

work to achieve these goals by the end of my program by being open-minded to the different

styles of teaching as well as the veteran advice to be given. I think it is important to be the type

of student that we want our students to be if we want to be the best teachers possible. Being a
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good listener and observer in all my future courses will help me develop into a successful

educator in the near future as well.

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References

Association of American Educators. (2018). Code of Ethics for Educators.

Retrieved from https://www.aaeteachers.org/index.php/about-us/aae-code-of-ethics.

Commission on Teacher Credentialing. (2016). California Teaching Performance Expectations.

Retrieved from https://www.ctc.ca.gov/docs/default-source/educator-

prep/standards/adopted-tpes-2016.pdf?sfvrsn=8cb2c410_0.