Mandatory Personal Development for Teachers

Teachers will inevitably be in contact with other professionals daily. It is always important to treat these professionals with respect. These professionals may include some of the following:

Respecting a child’s needs and understanding them. The role of the teacher is important as they are mainly involved with the development of the child through learning and play. The teacher must form a relationship with the child that is mutually trusting and respectful.

Teachers should be continually learning and assessing their teaching practices through reflection and collaboration with other teachers. It is the role of the teacher to use these teaching practices to develop in students the abilities and skills that will remain with them throughout life. Teachers should be role models for their students, to provide encouragement and praise, reassuring their students that they can achieve their dreams and reach their goals. Teaching should not only focus on academics but it should also focus on character education. Students need to be prepared to enter into their community and have the ability to interact with people from different backgrounds, cultures, religious backgrounds, social status, and values. It is important that teachers work with students to help them learn the skills of cooperation, patience, communication, empathy, understanding and teamwork, these skills are extremely important for the successful integration into further education, the workforce, family life and other social interactions. Teachers can achieve this through focusing on and encouraging group work, peer tutoring as well as games and activities that focus on social behaviors.

The “most critical elements of teacher professionalism can be classified into three categories: attitude, behavior, and communication” (Kramer, 2003). Other aspects of professionalism are punctuality, engaging with other teachers, respect, and appearance. A classroom where the teacher is badmouthing the school and staff that is not a good attitude for a teacher. It is important to “respect colleagues as fellow professionals and maintaining civility” (MCEE, 2015). When the teachers are in the breakroom talking about oh you got Johnny in your class well, he is a bad student. That displays a terrible attitude towards the students. Teacher’s need to model positive behavior for students, in the classroom there will be modeling of positive behavior for the students. Teachers need to “respect students by taking into account their age, gender, culture, setting and socioeconomic context” (MCEE, 2015). When teachers are talking, they need to “maintain appropriate confidentiality with respect to student information disclosed by or to parents/guardians unless required by law” (MCEE, 2015). It is very easy for anyone to eavesdrop on a conversation that was not intended for them. Then if a parent hears because they are friends with another staff, it gets out of control. Then before a teacher knows, they are in the principal’s office with a furious parent. Teachers are developing the mindset of students, and they need to have the professionalism to model in the right

25). The most critical attribute of a teacher’s character can be debated, but I believe that it is vital for educators to be honest. In his book, The Passionate Teacher, Robert Fried (2001) supports this idea, as he utters “kids respond to the kind of honesty that shows [teachers are] not afraid of them” (p. 143), “but they have to be convinced that [the teachers] are sincerely interested in them” (p. 146). Obviously, the quality of honesty is crucial in education. Despite the importance of honesty, it is imperative for educators to possess an assortment of positive characteristics that form their character. Furthermore, along with endless conscious and subconscious reflection, teachers with a positive character can have a favorable impact on their students, schools and communities. As Campbell (2003) explains, “the ethical teacher is, by necessity, and ethical person” (p. 23) and, regardless of the moral dilemmas they might face, ethical teachers constantly cultivate ethical knowledge through their awareness, understanding and acceptance of the demands of moral agency.

From the perspective of students, positive student/teacher relationships are important in their schooling (Bernstein-Yamashiro and Noam, 29). These relationships are important because it gives students more motivation to come to school and to try harder in class (Bernstein-Yamashiro and Noam, 33). Some example of positive student/teacher relationship includes extra help, encouragement, motivation, learning their identity, how to form and maintain professional relationships, and develop socio-emotional skills (Bernstein-Yamashiro and Noam, 2013). Not only do students do well when they have positive relationships, teachers also benefit from them as they are satisfied when students put effort into their work (Bernstein-Yamashiro and Noam, 35). It is cited that a lack of connection to caring adults in school is a variable of alienation, failure, and dropout (Bernstein-Yamashiro and Noam, 17).

Also, we should keep building on positive relationships between the teachers and children we care for. Some of the ways we can do this is by demonstrating respect for the children. We can show them we care by giving them physical affection, using eye contact, be careful with tone of voice and showing them our smile. We need to be consistent with the children. Finally,

Teachers need to be attentive to what is going on socially with their students. They too need to give positive

It is important that good relationships are established between teachers and the parents of their pupils. This is because if the parents are kept informed and are interested in what their child is doing then they will encourage the child to do the best they can and to do out of school learning and activities. It is also important that the parent trusts the school and the teacher to do the best by the child and the best way to create this trust is to keep the parent in the loop. This principle covers beneficence, autonomy and trustworthiness.

More importantly, creating positive student-teacher relationships can prevent discipline issues from arising. By establishing a persistent tone of mutual respect, students will participate in class activities with confidence that they and their opinions are valued. Students also should be taught how to appreciate the unique contributions each student brings to the class, as well as how to effectively resolve issues that may arise. I believe that demonstrating genuine respect to students and showing interest in their concerns will allow the effective use of instructional time, positive relationships to prevail, and minimal discipline problems to avail.

In order to create an environment of respect and rapport, Mrs. Williams greets her students at the door with a smile and inquires how each student is doing. The classroom interactions among the teacher and students are respectful, caring, and sensitive to students as individuals. Mrs. Williams always takes a few minutes for students to share events from their lives to make them feel important.

Establishing rapport with students is extremely important. Students should feel like a teacher genuinely cares about their well-being. Trust is an important component of the classroom learning environment. A student should respect and trust his or her teacher and the teacher should be respectful of his or her students and their families. This will encourage a nurturing learning environment and decrease behavioral problems in the classroom. When the teacher is consistently supporting the rules, and allowing the students to feel safe in the classroom, trust begins to develop. Teachers have to work to develop trust and respect in the classroom due to the fact that children in today’s world are often mistrusting because of society’s messages of the world being dangerous (world-view) as well as their own direct experiences (self-view) with abuse, violence, and neglect.

needs are met and they feel as if they are respected by the teacher. Mutual respect is once again

The first step in classroom management is to create an environment where students feel cared for and valued. To do accomplish this, teachers need to build positive student-teacher relationships. Marazano (2003) reports in his book, Classroom Management That Works, which is cited in the Jones and Jones (2013) book, that “Positive teacher-student relationships were the foundation of effective classroom management” (p.56). I am committed to creating a safe learning environment that is organized, structured and conducive to student learning. While influencing a classroom of community learners, I strive to also build positive teacher-student relationship with all of my

When I think about my role as a teacher, one of the most important things I consider is the relationships I build with my students, parents, colleagues, and community members. In the classroom, I need to ensure that I create a safe, loving, and positive learning environment. In order to make all students feel welcome, I get to know their names, the correct pronunciation and spellings, learning their culture and background, and their