Sept 27
What is professional practice?
We think of professionalism as suit and tie and planning our own day.
A professional continues to ask questions about the meta-cognition of their field and continually analyzes and develops their practice to hone their skill. For example, would you want a doctor who never learns past their schooling? Or a Lawyer who never updated their knowledge of the law since their school? No, probably (hopefully) not. Similar to the aquatics field where Aquafit instructors must upkeep with a certain amount of units per year in classes to keep up their knowledge and to learn new techniques and standards.
Are there any journals or knowledge standard that teachers can subscribe to to stay “current”? What would teacher “certification” look like if implemented that teachers had to go through a “re-certification”, like the aquatics field? Could it be done, because there is such a wide range of knowledge to test, and is that really what would need to be tested?
What is Teacher Inquiry?
Practicing what we teach… We expect the students to part take in life long learning, so we must believe in and follow that for ourselves. Doing teacher inquiry (once called teacher research) to continue learning. Is teaching an art form, a science, or a discipline?
Thinking about complexity and uncertainty regards to what we are trying to prepare students for whatever they face in the future, as there is no way to predict what the future holds. To have the students be aware of what the system wants from them, and the lenses through which information is filtered. And for teachers to be cognoscente of what the system, in which we work, wants from us and our students- ie good, tax paying citizens.
A big part of inquiry is to share your knowledge, probably at the end of a school year to the other teachers.
Ie. How do I engage those students who walk into my science class already thinking that they are no good at science? Or how do I encourage learning through reading?
How is inquiry “embedded in professional practice”?
Continually asking questions and being observant of the success and failures within the classroom during lessons. Why one thing did work, but something else went sideways? Or why did one lesson work with one group, but not with others? Every day there will be little moments in your day where you inquire into better practices and possibly implement them. Does “sharing” have to be massive? Or can it just be colleague to colleague? Even then you can possibly explore more points of inquiry. And possibly go further as to critique our practice or give critical feedback to ourselves and others.
What does it mean to be “curious” about one’s practice?
Kind of psychological and/or philosophical questioning of how our practice influences and is influenced by what is around us, and who is in our classes. To be observant of how different factors change the landscape of our classrooms, and then think of the “why”. And/or the “how” things fit together on many levels.
What does this look like in practice?
Always looking for ways to learn and improve on yourself as a person in life, and in your profession.
