Professional Teaching Dispositions: Exhibit dispositions required for effective teaching and professional practice
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Professional Dispositions Rubric:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Professional Dispositions Rubric:
Reflection:
With which two dispositional areas do you feel very comfortable, and why?
On which one dispositional area do you want to focus in the future, and why?
With which two dispositional areas do you feel very comfortable, and why?
- I feel quite comfortable with the "Creativity and resourcefulness" and "Demonstrates the desire and ability to plan, assess, and implement instruction to address, engage, and nurture the learning of every student" dispositions. I am a naturally creative person who finds a deep abiding interest in the subject I teach. As such, I am always looking for ways to communicate and work with the information and concepts I am working with myself. So, in my teaching, I am always trying to respond to not only new pedagogical practices but to what my students would like to learn. I am very interested in the establishment of co-learning environments, and I try to accomplish these through different and creative means. Often, I found that a quick, simple intervention was all it took to bring something to life for a student, and this was the work which came quite naturally to me, whether I was working from something original, or modifying existing plans. And it was frequent that I discovered, the students often have the best ideas for how they would like to learn.
On which one dispositional area do you want to focus in the future, and why?
- The disposition I would like to work on is: "Demonstrates a commitment to the growth and development of each student by taking into account issues of class, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, language, and special needs." While I feel I naturally took this into account through years of training with this kind of work, whether as an RA, my volunteering or educational training, I would like to develop more intentionality regarding this disposition. I wonder, how can I include 'issues' in the classroom in a way which opens up the space for productive conversations across lines of difference? And importantly, between students who are seeking to connect these--at times abstract--issues to their own lives. I am deeply moved towards relevancy in my pedagogy and see this as the next step in developing a pedagogical practice which incorporates difference as an asset in my classroom.
- These disposition support my professional goals of developing an increasingly student-centered and culturally responsive pedagogy which is powerfully moved towards relevance in my students lives. Beyond this, I seek to practice and develop modes of community-engaged research methodologies, and begin placing literary studies at the fore of community-based environmental justice projects and more. In order to accomplish these goals, I will need to creatively work towards the development of communities which are capable of taking up issues which involve--and whose solutions rely upon--difference.
