6. The Professional Educator
Description:
The professional educator (in this content, the professional educator is a teacher) is better thought of as a career-long process rather than a series of steps that have a end in sight. The professional educator has a professional development phase that includes pre-training and formal preparation, induction years and then continuing growth for the reminder of their career. Information and services from organizations such as the National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) can help both beginning and veteran teachers in their teaching. The professional educator must follow certain ethical rules in addition to the rules laid down by the state and their school district. There are a variety of roles in addition to teaching that can be found in the education profession and though teaching can be very challenging, it does comes with many rewards.
Illustration: A nice flow chart about the factors that influence beginning teachers and vice versa.
Practical Example:
According to the Arkansas State Teachers Association website, professional educators are "value-driven, guided by principles, passion, and a purpose bigger than themselves. Professional educators believe their work is a vocation and calling rather than an occupation where one merely occupies space. Professional educators recognize that change is the norm. They are growth-oriented and consider themselves life-long learners and contributors" (Bedley). A good example of a professional educator would be a teacher that goes into her teaching because she enjoys teaching, learning and interacting with her students, peers and other people in the community. She takes workshops and conferences in order to better educate herself and confer with other teachers and professional educators regarding new education policies and theories so she can take back what she has learned to help her students. This a teacher who believes that her first year of teaching should be just as important and meaningful as the rest of her years in the education profession.
Integral Components:
Because teachers are dealing with some of the most vulnerable in society - youths, high ethical standards are required of them as a result. They must follow the Code of Ethics of the Education Profession put out by the NEA that instructs teachers to certain patterns of behavior with respect to their learners and also with respect to the teaching profession (Armstrong, Henson & Savage, 2009).
How the professional educator relates to me and my future classroom:
Since I will be a professional educator, this concept relates greatly to my future classroom. I must understand and follow the Code of Ethics followed by the teaching profession regarding my behavior in the classroom, my treatment and interaction with my students and other professionals, etc. I also will be involved in enriching and expanding my knowledge of classroom actives and different ways to teach individuals by going to different teaching workshops and classes.
Scripture:
"Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body" - James 3: 1-2. This Scripture verse goes along with being a professional educator and being held to a higher ethical standards than other individuals in our society. Especially the line "that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness" because that rings true today in our age of digital media and instant exchange of information.