The short document titled: Ontario College of Teachers Foundations of Professional Practice, presents to teachers, and teacher candidate the general code of conduct. The document present four broad categories that encompass the notion of ethical standards. This includes care, respect, trust, and integrity. According to the Ethical Standards of the Teaching Professional, in care, “members express their commitment to students’ well-being and learning through positive influence, professional judgement and empathy in practice” (9). In practice, teachers’ play an important part in a student’s academic life. It can easily be argued that besides the parents, or other primary caregivers, teachers’ play an essential role in a child’s development, therefore, it is important to remain mindful, and provide students with a compassionate and accepting classroom. Furthermore, in trust, we see that teachers must form “professional relationships with students, colleagues, parents, guardians and the public” (9). In order to strive in a school environment, students must be subjected to fairness, and honesty. In order words, if students are subjected to hostile learning environment, their creative abilities will not be nurtured. In terms of respect, “members honor human dignity, emotional wellness and cognitive development” (9). This easily related to what I mentioned earlier in regards to teachers playing an essential role in a child’s life. If the child comes from a troubled family, and experiences the same type of abuse or neglect at school, they will not be able to learn or enjoy learning. Rather, they will become hostile towards the schools, as an institution. Finally, integrity, which holds that teachers “ must exercise integrity in their professional commitments and responsibilities” (9). In my opinion, care, trust, and respect all fall into the broader category of integrity because it encompasses the notion of morality. As further maintained in the article, which is of great importance is the idea that teachers must remain committed to students and learning. In this context, teacher must value the importance of learning, but also a student’s ability to grasp new ideas and concepts. At the beginning of an academic year or term, a student may not be able to fully grasp the concepts or material presented, but if they are able show constant improvement, this should be acknowledge by the teacher. In grade 4, I struggled immensely in school, I can’t remember one subject that I specifically enjoyed, however, we were assigned a science experiment that we would present to the class. I was quite nervous to stand in front of the class and present, but I did and turns out I did really good. The teacher sent home a note to my mom expression how delighted she was at my presentation. This was a real confidence booster for me, and I feel that teaches should pay a particularly close attention to students ability to grow and improve. I’ve mentioned this example in a previous post, but I felt as though it also pertained to the subject of this article.
In the same vein, the article titled: The Professional Learning Framework for the Teaching Professional, in the preamble, explains that “members of the College refine the knowledge, skills, and values through ongoing professional learning” (21). This article provides teachers and future teachers will the knowledge in regard to professional learning. In order to grow as an educator, the Ontario College of Teachers expresses the importance of accreditation and also encourages teachers to “identify and pursue their personal interests” (23). Briefly, although quite short, it is quite difficult to provide an adequate response of this article for this blog post. While this article is well articulate, and easy to understand, I think it is an article that is best suited to read personally, without providing any further feedback, unless required. In this context, a teacher can read the article, grasp the content, and apply it to their teaching strategies. It was difficult to personally identify or personally connect with the material presented because it so straight -forward. It is, however, important to note that the article does provide some important and useful information that should be understood by all professionals in this field. My ten statements:
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