Professional Profile

Professional knowledge: I believe that cognitive development is influenced by the child’s social experiences with peers and adults (Karpov, 2014). My role is to co-construct learning through authentic interactions. My content knowledge needs to therefore be comprehensive to facilitate engaging curriculum.   

I view classrooms as heterogeneous, made up of diverse learners (Duchesne & McMaugh, 2016). No child will be disadvantaged under my watch as I intend to include everyone, catering for all learning styles, differentiating for students with additional learning needs and ensuring that children from ethnic minorities are equally participating in school life (Duchesne & McMaugh, 2016). Students from Indigenous backgrounds will be acknowledged for their rich cultural heritage and their school experiences with me, will be enhanced to maximize attendance.    

Professional practice: My teaching is goal oriented. My planning adopts the backward design, always starting with specific intentions and is structured to foster specific skills (Duchesne & McMaugh, 2016). My students are aware of the learning goal at the beginning of my lessons as I intentionally share what success will look like and employ practical activities to get there.

I will foster social-emotional skills as a foundation for quality teaching through building strong relationships and intentionally teaching self-regulation and social competence. My classroom is guaranteed to be interactive, inviting, intellectually stimulating and inclusive. Behavioral expectations will be established systematically to achieve this outcome.

My physical setting (the silent curriculum), will cater for group-work, safety, pleasure, smooth-transitions and easy access to resources.

Quality pedagogy, I believe, is related to quality assessment tasks. My assessments will be transparent, valid, fair, based on curriculum and varied (of/for/as). Constructive feedback will be provided regularly.  

Professional engagement: I believe in the power of reflection and continuous self-evaluation to improve practice. Knowledge is not static but rather evolving hence the necessity for ongoing professional development to meet student’s needs and better prepare them for the future (AITSL, 2020). I also count on professional collaboration and thrive to learn from veteran teacher’s expertise in the field.

It takes a village to raise a child is an accurate statement. I will invest in professional dialogues with colleagues, parents, professional teaching networks and the wider community to better cater for and meet my student’s needs (350 words).