Standard 1

Educators value the success of all students. Educators care for students and act in their best interests.

I believe that Standard 1 is at the heart of my personal pedagogy in that my most important belief about the young people I work with is that they are people before they are students.

I try to include all students in class activities and try to design learning that meets diverse student needs, interests and goals. I honor that students’ goals are all different from each other and also different from mine and the school’s.

I encourage students and ask about their interests. I care about what success means to them as individuals, as opposed to just what it might mean to myself, the school, or others. To this end, during my practicum, I included

several journaling prompts that pertained to what it means to be successful in their lives now, what it looks like for other people, what success will look like in the future, and what it might look like in a fantasy situation. Since “Educators have a privileged position of power and trust” and to show that I “understand the importance of confidentiality, and protect student privacy” (BC Teachers’ Council, 2019), I gave students a choice in whether or not they wanted to share their journal entries with me. By marking a star at the top of their page, they could indicate to me that they did not want me to read a particular entry. Although this meant that the journaling activities were all formative, and not all students received feedback on all entries, it also built a culture of trust within the classroom that I would venture to say is worth more. Students enjoyed the writing time because they had choice and felt safe.

This safety helped the students to perceive that I am genuine in my care for their physical and emotional safety, and that any comments or advice I might give in our conversations stem from my heartfelt desire for their success. Through the practice of daily discussions, with topics chosen by the students, I was able to highlight that I “respect and value the diversity in [my] classrooms, schools and communities, [am] inclusive of First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and other worldviews and perspectives” (BC Teachers’ Council, 2019), as topics such as racism, First Nations heritage, financial circumstances, sexuality, and many other potentially controversial ideas were raised by the students. By leading students in having these tough conversations and teaching them to do so in a productive, inclusive, and appropriate manner, I was also able to “foster students’ positive personal identity, mental and physical well-being, social and personal responsibility, and intellectual development” (BC Teachers’ Council, 2019) within the classroom. Throughout our conversations, I used modelling and narration to “treat students equitably with acceptance, dignity and respect” (BC Teachers’ Council, 2019), listening to what each student had to say and validating their knowledge or feelings, and at the same time encouraging the students to treat each other in the same manner in the process. By the end of my practicum, every student was participating in ways that showed they cared about the subjects and the people they were discussing them with, which showed me that they were engaging in “meaningful participation in their own learning” (BC Teachers’ Council, 2019).

As a future educator, it may seem to go without saying that I support that “Educators do not abuse or exploit students or minors for personal, sexual, ideological, material or other advantage” (BC Teachers’ Council, 2019), but that is exactly why I feel it is important to mention this aspect of Standard 1. In general, I think that these undesirable actions would be abhorrent to the majority of people in the education field, however, the existence of this sentence within the standard description shows that it is necessary. It has happened, and educators must be aware and vigilant in our practices. We must be willing to question ourselves, our colleagues, and our communities, as well as be questioned in return. Too often the worst crimes go unmentioned in society because we are afraid to offend someone by even bringing up the topic, but I believe it is important to have hard conversations with people in respectful and positive ways to build a culture of education in which all people can truly depend.

Therefore, all aspects of Standard 1 are important to me, and I will continue to uphold the standard as best I can.

References:

BC Teachers’ Council. (2019, June 19). Professional Standards for BC Educators. Province of British Columbia. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/education/kindergarten-to-grade-12/teach/teacher-regulation/standards-for-educators/edu_standards_poster-11×17.pdf.