What do we value in what we do?
I applied and was accepted for "Mentoring for All: Creating Communities of Knowledge", a two-day professional development opportunity led by Peel Board's NTIP Side be Side Instructional Coordinator in collaboration with York University's Dr. Lana Parker. Dr. Lana Parker is seconded from Peel District School Board and her research interests include how to teach toward democracy, through listening and speaking. She is working in the Pre-Service program of Faculty of Education at York University and represented York University's new two-year Bachelor of Education program's perspective at the professional development session. Day 1 of the PD session, on February 8th, 2017, was just for associate teachers from Peel who are mentoring York University's students. Day 2 on March 22nd, 2017 will be a co-learning opportunity for all associate teachers and teacher candidates.
Day 1 of this session began with the question: What values can you not live without in your teaching practice? We were each asked to list our top two values and then as table groups we were asked to list the top two that all of us felt were the most important from our individual lists. This was a very powerful connection to the assignment on writing about our educational philosophy in the course. Though in our day-to-day teaching and learning practices we don't explicitly reflect on our educational beliefs and policies, everything we do in and for the teaching and learning community reflects our beliefs and values. They are unconscious competencies that affect everything we do as instructional leaders. As mentors, it becomes our role to make these beliefs and values explicit for our teacher candidates as they are still developing these educational philosophies. It was suggested at the session that it is very important to uncover this through learning focused conversations. though I did not start my mentoring year with this, I now believe this is probably the most important thing we can delve into at the start of the mentoring journey. Not only is this interaction purposeful for the teacher candidates who are developing their own sense of who they are as educators, it is also very beneficial for us to set the stage for what the teacher candidates in their first year of the program will observe, learn and do in the classrooms they are placed. With this understanding in place, the actions of the learning community will make sense to the teacher candidates. To provide myself as an example, what I value the most is a growth mindset and collaboration. Every learning opportunity in my classroom is immersed in these values and is informed by them. To a new teacher, unless this is made explicit, my classroom and my program might seem very random and so would the classroom environment. If I value a growth mindset and collaboration, I work with the premise that we are co-learners and struggle and making mistakes is an important part of any learning process. I demonstrate flexibility and responsive teaching. I create a program catered to the needs of the student. I value inquiry-based problem-solving approach in everything we do in the classroom. To a new teacher, who is not aware of my values and beliefs, my classroom environment will seem disorganized and noisy and my approach to the curriculum may seem random and not well-planned. I know how I a addressing the curriculum expectations while honoring the student's need to learn what interests them but the teacher candidate does not. To them, my program and teaching style may seem "laissez-faire".
Though it is late in the year, I feel that this interaction will still be helpful in enabling our teacher candidates to see what their mentor teachers value and believe in and developing their own vision for their classrooms. I plan to put this question to all mentor teachers and teacher candidate in the coming days. I will give them an opportunity to respond orally or in writing and collect evidence of their reflections.
I applied and was accepted for "Mentoring for All: Creating Communities of Knowledge", a two-day professional development opportunity led by Peel Board's NTIP Side be Side Instructional Coordinator in collaboration with York University's Dr. Lana Parker. Dr. Lana Parker is seconded from Peel District School Board and her research interests include how to teach toward democracy, through listening and speaking. She is working in the Pre-Service program of Faculty of Education at York University and represented York University's new two-year Bachelor of Education program's perspective at the professional development session. Day 1 of the PD session, on February 8th, 2017, was just for associate teachers from Peel who are mentoring York University's students. Day 2 on March 22nd, 2017 will be a co-learning opportunity for all associate teachers and teacher candidates.
Day 1 of this session began with the question: What values can you not live without in your teaching practice? We were each asked to list our top two values and then as table groups we were asked to list the top two that all of us felt were the most important from our individual lists. This was a very powerful connection to the assignment on writing about our educational philosophy in the course. Though in our day-to-day teaching and learning practices we don't explicitly reflect on our educational beliefs and policies, everything we do in and for the teaching and learning community reflects our beliefs and values. They are unconscious competencies that affect everything we do as instructional leaders. As mentors, it becomes our role to make these beliefs and values explicit for our teacher candidates as they are still developing these educational philosophies. It was suggested at the session that it is very important to uncover this through learning focused conversations. though I did not start my mentoring year with this, I now believe this is probably the most important thing we can delve into at the start of the mentoring journey. Not only is this interaction purposeful for the teacher candidates who are developing their own sense of who they are as educators, it is also very beneficial for us to set the stage for what the teacher candidates in their first year of the program will observe, learn and do in the classrooms they are placed. With this understanding in place, the actions of the learning community will make sense to the teacher candidates. To provide myself as an example, what I value the most is a growth mindset and collaboration. Every learning opportunity in my classroom is immersed in these values and is informed by them. To a new teacher, unless this is made explicit, my classroom and my program might seem very random and so would the classroom environment. If I value a growth mindset and collaboration, I work with the premise that we are co-learners and struggle and making mistakes is an important part of any learning process. I demonstrate flexibility and responsive teaching. I create a program catered to the needs of the student. I value inquiry-based problem-solving approach in everything we do in the classroom. To a new teacher, who is not aware of my values and beliefs, my classroom environment will seem disorganized and noisy and my approach to the curriculum may seem random and not well-planned. I know how I a addressing the curriculum expectations while honoring the student's need to learn what interests them but the teacher candidate does not. To them, my program and teaching style may seem "laissez-faire".
Though it is late in the year, I feel that this interaction will still be helpful in enabling our teacher candidates to see what their mentor teachers value and believe in and developing their own vision for their classrooms. I plan to put this question to all mentor teachers and teacher candidate in the coming days. I will give them an opportunity to respond orally or in writing and collect evidence of their reflections.
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