Statement+of+Professional+Beliefs+and+Values

Statement of Professional Beliefs and Values

As a teacher I am focused on bringing to life the learner within each child. In this way I hope to evoke responses, interest and a sense of efficacy in all the students I teach.

Before teaching I worked for Save the Children, NSW. One aspect of Save the Children’s work in NSW was providing preschools for rural indigenous children. I had the privilege of working with some of the indigenous teachers that worked in these schools. I remember one time listening to a teacher who had worked for many years with the communities and her comments on the power of the teacher as a role model for kids. She told stories of how teachers had ‘saved’ some kids in her time and how proud she felt to have been involved in this work. This idea has stayed with me ever since and I try hard to keep this focus in the ‘busyness’ of teaching.

Curiosity is at the heart of every learner

Alice when she descends down the rabbit hole begins a journey of the imagination that compels her to remark, “curiouser and curisouser!”. Despite the world transformed, and the sometimes unnerving characters she meets and events that take place, Alice continues sparked on by her unfailing curiosity. Curiosity is a powerful emotion. Education experts like Sir Ken Robinson have commented that schools kill creativity. In some ways I agree but I also believe many teachers do the opposite. I believe that if you have sparked curiosity within a child you have activated all the necessary ingredients for learning. It has been proven that children will self organise learning groups when curiosity is sparked, often regardless of the presence of an adult. A great example of this is the study completed in India where Internet activated computers were ‘left’ in rural and disadvantaged communities. In a matter of minutes, children with little or no English taught themselves and each other how to work these devices.

I aim for every child in my classroom to experience the thrill of mastering a new skill or linking and applying knowledge in different contexts. I am a firm believer in each student aiming for their personal best and not just those that regularly attain an ‘A’. I seek to develop a culture that rewards learning gained not just from high marks. In this regard I am influenced by the work of Martin Seligman whose book The Optimistic Child had a profound impact on my teaching and parenting. Seligman emphasises the need for teachers/parents to be consciously referring to effort as the key determinate in success rather than attainment. When a student produces a work for assessment the teacher’s response should first acknowledge the efforts made. This is particularly important in teaching girls, as research suggests they will see failure as a result of innate ability rather than effort. Innate ability cannot be ‘moved’, it is static and leads to a strong sense of learned helplessness. Effort however, is ‘moveable’ and provides a clear path of improvement.

In 2009 my Year 12 Modern History class achieved a high number of Band 6’s scores. People on staff were quick to congratulate me on this. Personally I was most delighted by the Band 4’s received by two students in my class who had spent their time at school supported by our Special Needs department. To me, their efforts and achievement were inspiring.

How education transforms lives

Understanding, in my experience, goes well beyond syllabus outcomes and I hope to reach students in what Julia Atkins calls their ‘inner self’. This type of learning transforms values and brings people to a new understanding of their world. Teaching history I believe provides many such opportunities. I have often considered my position on ‘how’ or ‘if’ to teach the real tragedies and horrors of history such as the holocaust. I have to say that I do not have a general rule. I assess the particular class, its maturity, students with sensitivities and the timing of such materials. Timing is important. Exam-time stress and end of term fatigue present times when students need to consolidate their learning. I expect and encourage students to ‘be human’ in engaging with these stories. I heard author John Marsden once comment on radio that children would always tell him about the impact a particular story had on their teacher as they read the novel together. He felt it was important, as do I, that teachers reveal to their students how they are impacted by knowing others struggles. I have in my room a statement posted on the wall, “Even within the most tragic moments of history lie stories of great courage, dignity and beauty.” I challenge all my students to see these features in the history they learn about.

As a teacher, I feel a responsibility to the memories of those people who experienced these horrors, to be accurate and not sanitize their experiences. I do this by integrating as much primary source material as possible and providing moments for reflecting and journaling responses.

Lessons from History

I often tell students the story of Abraham Lincoln and how on one occasion he decided as President to change the way railways were administered and run in the United States. One of his political opponents sharply criticised this decision calling Lincoln an ‘idiot’ and ‘incompetent’ in newspapers across the country. Lincoln reacted by inviting this man into the Whitehouse, listening to his concerns and totally changing the way he planned this strategy. Lincoln admitted publically that he had been foolish and that he was glad to have had the advice of this man to provide this better way forward. I like this story because it speaks to the notion of control and learning. I say to my students even the President of the USA can listen to advice, even when it is difficult and take this on board. It says that if we keep the real, objective in mind we will remain open and willing to accept different opinions. Lincoln is a hero of mine, as is Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt in response to the crippling depression in the 1930’s is said to have tried each new strategy and if it didn’t work, he tried another. He listened to experts, took their advice, did his best and not sweated too hard if it didn’t always work. He would just try something else. I delight in the opportunity to provide students with the many learning lessons that great leaders provide.

Faith

As a Catholic I believe I have a role to play in bringing to life the values of the Gospel in my teaching. These values transcend any specific religious belief. Respect for the dignity of every human being is central to the way I teach and what I hope to inspire in my students. Carl Roger’s notion of unconditional positive regards for everyone you meet shaped my interactions with our community. Another aspect of my faith that informs my teaching is the call to be a person of joy and hope. I see my faith reminding me to have fun and bring about a sense of the possibilities life offers. In this regard I am influenced by the work of Ben Zander and the ‘Art of Possibility’. Zander is an orchestra conductor who believes that great leaders make little noise, rather they seek to nurture the creative and intellectual capacity of those they lead. They set up the conditions under which everyone can do their best and work together. His work as an orchestra conductor exemplifies this idea. The conductor is the only person in the orchestra that doesn’t make a sound.

Taking Risk and Developing Learning Resilience

I take risks in my classroom, as I believe I need to lead by example. My work with ICT developing Wiki’s, blogging and using virtual worlds has been an adventure in being the learner in the classroom. I enjoy this aspect of my teaching and I believe I model resilience, hard work and collaboration when I work in this way. The collaboration comes most often when students come to my aid in using technology. I allow for a level of uncertainty to exist and whilst I aim to be the conductor of this ‘orchestra’, I explicitly acknowledge the learning I gain from my students.

Finally

Theodore Roosevelt once said that is “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” I think that this is part of a transformation of teaching that is currently taking place. Whilst I acknowledge this notion is on some levels problematic it challenges me to consider what learning is really about. If, for me, learning is about the individual then where does this statement lead us? However, if you consider the great challenges of our time such as climate change and acceptance of difference, does it not speak to some type of solution? In my journey as a reflective practitioner this quote has been challenging me more recently. My work developing collaborative learning goes some way to bringing this idea to life. I am curious to see what the full implications might be if schools were to adopt this notion in some aspects of their pedagogy. Just a thought…