Teacher Candidate Dispositions Essay Cover Sheet

English Education Program

 

Teacher Candidate: Aisling M. Andrikopoulos              Semester: Fall 2004

 

Course (check one):  _ _ I: EGL449/CEF551  X  II: EGL450/CEF552             ____ Seminar EGL 454/CEE590

 

Instructor:  Prof. LoMonico

 

What does it mean to be a professional, ethical English teacher?  What kinds of issues should good English teachers think about as they go about the daily tasks of planning, conducting and evaluating lessons?  How should they include others in their decisions about teaching and learning?  What approaches should teachers consider as important and sometimes difficult social issues arise as a result of class discussion?  These are difficult questions with no one right answer. 

 

To address these kinds of questions, several important educational organizations have developed documents, which we will work with in the English Education program:

 

·         The New York State Education Department’s “Code of Ethics”

·         The Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium’s Dispositions from their “Model Standards for Beginning Teacher Licensing and Development: A Resource for State Dialogue”

·         The National Council of Teachers of English’s “Attitudes for Teachers of English”

 

Directions to Teacher Candidates: In connection with the above documents, you have written an essay that responds to scenarios from English classrooms.  Please carefully examine your essay and list the numbers of the codes, dispositions, and attitudes to which your essay speaks.  In this manner, you will demonstrate your awareness of and your ability to address these points.  It may not be practical for every essay to speak to every code, disposition and attitude.  Since you will complete three of these essays in your work in the English Education Program, please pose as a goal for yourself that you will address each of the codes, dispositions, and attitudes at least once by the time you have written all three essays. This cover sheet and your essay should be included in your Teacher Candidate Portfolio.

 

 

	NYS “Code of Ethics”	INTASC “Dispositions”	NCTE “Attitudes”
Dispositions Essay Title:   “NCTE Attitudes Witnessed During Observations”			These are the Attitudes I included in my essay:   1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12

 

 

 

 

 

Aisling Andrikopoulos

 

EGL 440.01

 

Prof. LoMonico

 

December 7, 2004

 

NCTE Attitudes Witnessed During Observations

 

            During my observations this semester, I was fortunate enough to have visited three different high schools.  This afforded me the opportunity to observe no less than eight different teachers.  While all of these teachers had very different teaching styles, all of them displayed most of the National Council of Teachers of English Attitudes of Effective English Language Arts Teachers.  All of them were willing to have me watch their classes and even participate at certain times.  In addition, all of these teachers were willing to answer any questions I had regarding their lessons and their experiences in teaching high school classes. 

            For this Dispositions essay, I have focused on the NCTE Attitudes.  I have listed the particular attitudes that I saw reflected in the lessons and have included my observations as examples.

1.) A recognition that all students can learn and are worthy of a teacher’s attention in the English language arts classroom.

 

All the teachers I observed reflected this attitude.  I did not meet one single teacher who was so jaded in his/her profession as to think that his/her students were beyond their help.  The three teachers (an English teacher, a Special Education teacher, and a special assistant to a student) that I observed in a self-contained class in Sayville high school were especially dedicated to seeing their students succeed.

 

4.)  A conviction that teachers help students grow by encouraging creative and appropriate uses of language.

 

Two instances of this attitude that stand out for me are a teacher at Brentwood having her students write about a film they would make about their lives, and a teacher at the Academy of St. Joseph having her students making up their own sentences using new vocabulary words.

 

5.)  A willingness to seek a match between students’ needs and teachers’ objectives, methods, and materials and instruction in English language arts that places students’ needs at the center of the curriculum.

 

An example of this attitude was clearly demonstrated in a class at Sayville high school in which the teacher gave instructions on how to write index cards for the students’ research papers.  The writing of the research papers would thereby combine the visual organization of the index cards with the reading of the novel itself and the critical articles about the novel and/or the author.  The students’ need of writing a great research paper required for graduation would be met.  The process learned during this lesson would also aid the students in writing papers in the future.

 

6.)  A willingness to encourage students to respond critically to different media and communications technology.

 

This attitude was reflected to perfection by a teacher in Sayville High School.  While having her students watch the film, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” this teacher continually stopped the film to ask students questions.  The students were active participants in watching the film and making connections between the film and the novel.

 

7.)  A commitment to continued professional growth in the teaching of the English language arts.

 

This attitude was reflected by several teachers.  One teacher I observed at Sachem East spoke to me about the work he was doing toward his Master’s degree.  Most of the teachers that I spoke to were very interested in hearing about the webquests that I and my fellow classmates had to create for our Methods II class.

 

11.)  A recognition of the value of diversity of opinion.

 

This attitude was seen in many various student discussions during my observations.  One teacher in Sayville high school held a “forum” in which students could ask thought-provoking questions regarding the novel they were reading. 

 

12.)  A desire to promote the arts and humanities in the daily lives of all students.

 

This attitude was displayed by a teacher at the Academy of St. Joseph.  She had the class discuss books they had read during the summer in a style similar to “Oprah’s Book Club.”  Students talked about what books they had read and aspects about the book that they enjoyed.  The students especially enjoyed this discussion because they were essentially in control of this forum with only minimal guidance by the teacher to keep them on task.