How Teachers Can Develop Professionally

Discussion Post
Part I
The mission of my school district is to embrace the needs of every student no matter what the obstacles are. This means that every teacher has the duty to connect with each and every student so that no one is left behind. At the same time, those who can move ahead and have a need to keep going in order to fulfill their potential also have to be supported. Some require more challenging material and others require more support. Every student is unique and the elements that relate to the school consist of the following: 1) that every student has adequate support at home, 2) that every student receives the attention he or she requires at school, and 3) that every student is provided the resources required for meeting the aims of the curriculum.
Professional development topics that would help to reinforce understanding and application of three elements that align with the school district’s mission are: 1) the ability to make home visits, and 2) the ability to communicate with students and peers to ensure that academic needs and goals are being met. The first—making home visits—is a highly recommended practice among teaching professionals because it allows the teacher to bond with the community, show that he or she cares about every child and the families that send their children to the school, and that he or she is there to help the student in any way possible (Stetson, Stetson, Sinclair & Nix, 2012). The second development topic is similarly geared to the first one in that it also is oriented towards promoting connectivity—only this one is oriented towards the school itself. Teachers have to develop their professional ability to communicate effectively with students and other teachers in order to ensure that all students are supported while at school.
References
Stetson, R., Stetson, E., Sinclair, B., & Nix, K. (2012). Home visits: Teacher reflections
about relationships, student behavior, and achievement. Issues in Teacher Education, 21(1), 21.
Part II
Post I Response to Ray
A culture of collaboration is really one of the most important things that a school and the professional educators in that school can do to ensure that students obtain the support they need to meet their knowledge acquisition goals. As Van Brummelen (2002) points out, collaboration is not just something that professionals do, however; it is also something that individuals do spiritually speaking when the collaborate with the ultimate creative spirit—God. Every school should embrace a culture of collaboration and creativity and all teachers should work together to make sure that the right culture is brought into existence in their own classrooms, halls, and offices. The more that professionals—teachers and administrators and other staff—work together to make the school a place of positivity and encouragement, the more they will find that students are able to meet their academic goals, which is one of the main objectives of all schools.
Reference
Van Brummelen, H. (2002). Steppingstones to curriculum: A biblical path (2nd ed.).
Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design Publications
Post II Response to Scott
For a school with a multicultural education objective, teachers will have to demonstrate their own willingness to embrace diversity and people and students of different backgrounds. The difficulty here is that not everyone is always accepting of everyone else. Sometimes there are little parts of people’s lives that individuals find distasteful or objectionable and this leads to dislike, tension and confrontation. In multicultural education and training, it is not always possible to remove this tension because while exploration and appreciation can spread and increase understanding it does not necessarily lead to an overcoming of the issues that some people hold for certain ideas or groups. It is really important therefore that if your school is working towards multicultural education goals that teachers know how to help students cope with some of the issues that are bound to arise in this pursuit. Helping students process information and deal with conflict is a professional goal that teachers should have.