E3-Exemplify an understanding of professional responsibilities and policies.
Part of the responsibility of a teacher is to constantly be growing as a professional in the field. Education is constantly changing and in order to keep up we need to have professional goals, just like we have our students make learning goals (daily weekly or monthly as the case may be), it makes sense that we too have goals to grow as teachers.
At my school we have spent the last 3 years writing standards for teachers. These standards basically break down what it means to be a professional, growing, and effective teacher (at our school). I in fact, I had the opportunity to be on the team that wrote the standards. Part of the process of the standards also included a mentor program. This opportunity came to us through Brandeis University. Brandies piloted a program of implementing a mentor program into private day schools. What made this program so successful was that the mentor program was directly tied to the standards. In most pairings it was a mentor/mentee relationship. I was a part of the program for two years and in both years I acted as a mentor for new teachers. Another unique aspect of this program was that it was not just a mentorship for new teachers, but it is for all teachers. We are currently in the fourth year of the program and have changed the relationship to be peer mentorships (unless you are a new teacher, in which case, it is a mentor/mentee relationship). I also had the opportunity to travel to Brandies last summer with my Principal and Head of School. It was an amazing experience and I love being a part of this team. This has helped me grow professionally and being a part of the team has helped me truly understand my role as a teaching professional.
Each of our goals is to be tied to one or two of the standards from our school. Attached are my goals for this year, including the school standard the goals are tied too. Professional Goals
rebeccaaf 