InTASC Standards #9- Professional Learning and Ethical Practices
InTASC Standard: #9- Professional Learning and Ethical Practices
The teacher engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate his/her practice, particularly the effects of his/her choices and actions on others (learners, families, other professionals, and the community), and adapts practice to meet the needs of each learner. (InTASC, 2013).
Brief Description of Evidence:
In the Fall of 2019 in my EDUC 121Child and Adolescent Development course, I worked in a group to complete an Action Research Project. Our group chose Classroom Discipline as our topic to research. We each had our own content to research and report on. I chose to research Conscious Discipline, trauma-informed social and emotional learning, because of my experience of working in an elementary school that had implemented it. I used my knowledge and former colleagues to showcase my evidence.
Analysis of What I Learned:
From working in an elementary school, I understand each classroom teacher has their own way of managing classroom discipline. In the 2017-2018 school year, the elementary school I worked at was just introducing Conscious Discipline. With it being new it took teachers different periods of time to implement this new strategy. During the 2019-2020 school year all teachers were to implement this new strategy in their classrooms. In doing so, discipline issues decreased in the first nine weeks. Classroom discipline has changed over time, but when teachers and schools work together, discipline can become less of an issue for student achievement. Even though I am not in my own classroom yet, I can apply Carol Dweck’s Power of Yet in my professional development. Originally, I started out with a fixed mindset, but I can see how Conscious Discipline has worked in the classroom and changed students' attitudes. Now I have a growth mindset because I am willing to learn and apply this new way of thinking in my classroom.
How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the InTASC Standard:
By completing this Action Research Project I am demonstrating my competency in standard 9 because I am able to engage in ongoing professional learning. I was able to do this by researching a current topic that impacts teachers today. By knowing how Conscious Discipline works, as a future teacher, I can adapt my teaching and classroom practices to meet the needs of my future students. I can use my knowledge of Conscious Discipline to help students when they are struggling. We can take a break to do breathing exercises to help calm them down so they are ready to learn again. By adopting Conscious Discipline in my classroom, this will allow me to have better control over behavior management. By being aware of the learner's brain state: survival, emotional, or executive state will allow me to adapt to each learner and meet their needs.
I still keep in contact with my former colleagues. One of my former colleagues has been teaching for over 15 years and has had a fixed mindset. In talking with her, I have noticed a change in her classroom management. She understands how important it is to meet each student where they are and how to approach each student's behavior differently. By implementing Conscious Discipline other professionals in the school building would know how to approach disruptive behaviors and appropriately manage them.
