SBI3C

As a teacher in Ontario, the Ontario College of Teachers provides me with guidelines to frame my teaching pedagogy and practice, delivered in the form of “Foundations of Professional Practice.” In crafting my lesson plans for this website and any of my teaching, I take into consideration the five domains of the standards of practice for the teaching profession outlined by the college:

1. Commitment to students and student learning

2. Professional knowledge

3. Professional practice

4. Leadership in learning communities

5. Ongoing professional learning

 

Commitment to students and student learning

The college (2016) outlines that members will “facilitate the development of students as contributing citizens of Canadian society”.  Part of this means giving our students learning opportunities to develop 21st century skills. In several lessons, most notably, the “Microbial Pie” Case Study, students use critical thinking and problem solving skills to transfer knowledge to an unfamiliar context. Another aspect of preparing students for the world after school is teaching them how to create an informed opinion about controversial topics. In “Harvest of Fear” students are exposed to both sides of a controversial issue so they can realize the importance of informational bias.

​

Professional knowledge

An important emphasis of the college (2016) is the importance of striving to remain current in professional knowledge. To “reflect on student development, learning theory, pedagogy, curriculum, ethics, educational research and related policies and legislation” is how educators inform their professional judgement. The creation of my lessons, and all the teaching strategies I have used are a culmination of my professional learning over the past two years as a teacher candidate and as a student. As I have more opportunity to reflect on best teaching practices, I will continue to adapt my strategies to reflect the continued development of my professional knowledge.

 

Professional practice

I draw on my experience as both a teacher candidate and as a student to inform my teaching practice. As the college (2016) says, well-informed teaching is a combination of “appropriate pedagogy, assessment and evaluation, resources and technology in planning for and responding to the needs of individual students and learning communities”. By striving to find a variety of resources to include in my lessons, by way of podcasts, case studies, interactive learning modules, and labs, I hope that I have illustrated my effort to combine all the aspects of effective teaching to create engaging and meaningful lessons that provide students with opportunities to develop 21st century skills and encourages them to become self-directed learners.

 

Leadership in learning communities

The OCT (2016) outlines that as part of the standards of practice, educators will “promote and participate in the creation of collaborative, safe and supportive learning communities”. Many of the lessons I created for this website resource including opportunities for discussion as a class. Class discussion shows students that their voices matter and gives students the opportunity to direct their own learning.

 

Ongoing professional learning  

The college calls for a commitment to ongoing learning that is integral to effective practice and thus to our students’ learning. To be committed to being an effective teacher, I must be committed to evolving my practice as new opportunities for learning arise. As an example, in the development of this resource website, I learned how to develop a website and how to do it collaboratively. In order to be able to reflect on effective teaching strategies, I need to remain a student. I will strive to keep learning how best to serve my students.

 

Ontario College of Teachers. (2016). Standards of Practice. Retrieved from http://www.oct.ca/public/professional-standards/standards-of-practice