Dispositions are the values, commitments, and professional ethics that influence behaviors toward students, families, colleagues, and communities and which affect student learning and achievement, motivation, and development, as well as the educator's own professional growth. If sincerely held, dispositions should lead to actions and patterns of professional conduct.
For Grand Canyon University teacher and administrator preparation program learners, these dispositions flow from the University's mission statement. A values-based education emphasizing community, character, and citizenship in the context of a Christian worldview seeks to teach, reinforce, support, and cause learners to contemplate certain foundational values which Christianity contends lead to a good life. These normative Christian values are integral to the development, maturity, and education of ethical and morally respectable citizens who continue on the path of life-long learning and service. For teacher and administrator preparation program learners, this is manifested in the professional dispositions each carries into the educational community.
The ten dispositions described below have been aligned to the NCATE Standards, the 2008 INTASC Principles, the ISLLC Standards, and to Danielson's 2009 Framework for Teaching as indicated in the table below.
Professional Dispositions and Standards Alignment
|
Professional Dispositions |
NCATE 2008 |
INTASC 2008 |
ISLLC 2008 |
Danielson 2009 |
|
High Expectations |
1 |
1, 2, 6 |
2 |
1, 2, 3 |
|
Respect for the Diversity of Others |
1, 4 |
3, 6 |
4 |
2 |
|
Fairness |
1, 5 |
3, 5 |
5 |
1, 2, 3, 4 |
|
Professional Conduct |
1, 3 |
3, 5 |
5 |
2, 4 |
|
Reflection |
1 |
7, 8, 9 |
2 |
4 |
|
Curiosity |
1 |
4, 7, 8 |
2 |
3, 4 |
|
Honesty |
1 |
5 |
5 |
2, 4 |
|
Compassion |
1 |
5 |
2, 5 |
2, 4 |
|
Advocacy |
1 |
10 |
4, 6 |
2, 4 |
|
Dedication |
1 |
10 |
2 |
4 |
High Expectations
Educators should believe that all students can learn and should set and support realistic expectations for student success. These expectations should be communicated in positive ways.
Educators within the College of Education believe that all students have the capacity to be successful in their academic endeavors. To that end, they support rigorous but realistic expectations for student success. Goals for learner achievement are based in the tenets of critical thinking and a global perspective of the educational community as a whole. Further, goals are stipulated to include the skills sets and best practices regarding educational theory, methodology, and assessment in order to assure learners complete their programs with a highly developed and effective pedagogy. Goals and expectations are communicated in a positive and proactive manner with the recognition that learners are capable of constructively reaching their goals. Collaboration and teamwork are emphasized in this process, in that the entire educational process is a collaborative effort directed at a successful and prudent result.
High Expectations is demonstrated by the following behaviors:
Respect for the Diversity of Others
Educators should be sensitive to individual learning and social needs of students and embrace the cultural diversity of the community. They should develop and maintain educational communities marked by respect for others. They should interact with their students, fellow educators, administrators, parents, and other community members with courtesy and civility, and establish relationships characterized by respect and rapport.
College of Education faculty strives to create a culture of mutual respect, tolerance, and fellowship among themselves, learners, and PK-12 colleagues. Faculty demonstrates pluralistic cultural behaviors, and learners are provided the requisite skills necessary to become professional models within a diverse culture. Learners implement the knowledge, skills, and dispositions required to meet the needs of students from different cultures, genders, and exceptionalities. Within this nurturing environment, learners express and demonstrate awareness of the important individual and cultural differences that form the rich cultural tapestry of a global society.
Respect for the Diversity of Others is demonstrated by the following behaviors:
Fairness
Educators should promote social justice and equity, maintain appropriate standards of confidentiality, and exercise fairness in all areas including assessment.
Fairness can be difficult to describe and is often a matter of perception. It is said that "we know it when we see it," but for educators, fairness is a much more calculated entity. Educators help students to behave in ways that promote equality among them, ensuring that all students are treated in a manner consistent with the Golden Rule, a cross-cultural ethical precept found in nearly all religions of the world. Additionally, educators maintain standards of confidentiality based in the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. § 1232g), known in education circles as FERPA or the Buckley Amendment after its principle senatorial sponsor. Educators exercise fairness in the equality with which they treat all students and in their formative and summative assessment practices.
Fairness is demonstrated by the following behaviors:
Professional Conduct
Educators should exercise sound judgment and ethical behavior. They should be a positive role model within their community.
All College of Education programs of study prepare learners to work in demographically, socioeconomically, and academically diverse settings and to anticipate future professional challenges. Teacher professional conduct is not confined to the classroom but extends outside it into the areas of service and community as well. Teachers must model ethical behavior and exhibit integrity. They are committed to positively influencing all students within their classrooms and surrounding community environs on both an academic and personal levels. They maintain confidentiality for student privacy in cooperation with federal mandates and personal ethics; as well demonstrate responsibility in areas of leadership, assessment, and organization. They interact appropriately with students and their families, as well as with peers, faculty, administrators, and external constituents. They exhibit professional traits and skills ranging from punctuality and consistent attendance to proactive attitudes in all settings.
Professional conduct is demonstrated by the following behaviors:
Reflection
Educators should recognize that reflection combined with experience leads to growth as a professional. Educators should be thoughtful about their professional practice, critically examine it, and seek continual improvement.
Reflective practice is at the heart of teaching. Learners in teacher education programs discover that highly effective teachers continuously reflect on their professional and instructional actions and decisions in support of student learning and achievement. The teacher is an instructional decision maker who monitors and adjusts instruction by using observation, contextual, and assessment data relating to students' performance and responses. These multi-layered sources of information about student learning guide instructional decisions. By reflecting on contextual, performance, formative, and summative assessment data, teachers can gage student learning and direct and revise instructional focus. Instructional decision making is based on the proactive concept of early assistance and matches instructional resources through evidence to the core of the students' needs.
Reflection is demonstrated by the following behaviors
Curiosity
Educators should promote and support curiosity and encourage active inquiry. They should be able to think innovatively and creatively, using critical thinking as a problem-solving approach.
Curiosity impels motivated students to explore and seek answers. Teachers promote curiosity through effective engagement strategies and actions that support students in their discovery of new ideas and build meaning through their own cognitive processes, as well as steer them towards becoming lifelong learners. Teachers support curiosity by creating opportunities for discovery, authentic problem solving, and inquiry-based learning and activities, and they facilitate discussion and activities to guide students to explore, discover, and construct meaning (Marzano, 2003). Student exploration and integration of information is a means to problem solve and create rather than engage in transference of knowledge. Purposefully connecting curiosity to student cognitive growth resulting in student academic success creates impactful, powerful teacher practitioners. Creating learning environments focused on intellectual curiosity will sustain high academic performance and achievement for all learners.
Curiosity is demonstrated by the following behaviors
Honesty
Educators should model integrity by their words and actions. They should be forthright with others and uphold high standards of trust, character, and integrity.
Professional behavior for educators is often defined as the process in which an individual engages while making ethical or moral decisions regarding dilemmas that occur as part of the act of teaching (Stoddard, 2006). In addition to academic qualifications, a professional teacher must act in an ethical manner based on an explicit or implicit code of conduct through the development of characteristics of a professional and they must model professionalism every day. As servant leaders, it is essential that teachers exhibit honesty in the classroom to meet the academic program goals as well as individual learning goals of the students within their responsibility. This allows teachers to develop meaningful professional relationships, integrate various perspectives, and remain transparent during the decision making process for developing and implementing holistic solutions. Teachers also encouraged to maintain high expectations in regards to student interaction and decision making by modeling increased scholarship, integrity, and character.
Honesty is demonstrated by the following behaviors:
Compassion
Educators should demonstrate professional friendliness, warmth, and genuine caring in their relationships with others while providing intellectual, emotional, and spiritual support.
Learners address the relationship of Christian heritage and servant leadership as it applies to compassion and empathy throughout their academic experience. Volunteering for on and off campus events personifies compassionate active engagement and promotes the emotional, spiritual, and intellectual growth of learners and their students. Faculty demonstration of these objectives is presented through field experiences, hands-on activities, volunteer opportunities, and community outreach programs. Through these, learners exhibit an in-depth understanding of the compassion and emotional support required of professionals in their field. Learners use their professional, academic, and peer relationships to foster skills directly related to the support of others.
Compassion is demonstrated by the following behaviors:
Advocacy
Teachers understand the impact of community involvement and servant leadership as it applies to the welfare of others in the educational setting. This is personified through awareness of social issues and has its foundation in positive student relationships. Academic programs, practicum/field experiences, and student teaching and administrative internship experiences exemplify a commitment to the promotion of positive change reflective of student and community issues and concerns. Teachers use their problem-solving skills and compassion for the welfare of others to help where they can to the best of their ability.
Advocacy is demonstrated by the following behaviors:
Dedication
Educators should be committed to the profession of teaching and learning. They should be professionally active, lifelong learners and seek opportunities for professional development.
Teaching is a calling on the heart. God puts it into the hearts of His own to minister to His children through teaching the 3 Rs, as well as His Word. To do this effectively, educators have to be committed to the profession. They should be active in professional organizations such as Phi Delta Kappa, Kappa Delta Pi, Future Teachers of America, or other educational organizations. The credentialing degree should be only the start of lifelong learning and professional development opportunities that reflect the latest research in pedagogy and instructional strategy. There is always more to know; a dedicated educator is constantly seeking that which will ultimately benefit the teaching and learning that occurs in the classroom.
Dedication is demonstrated by the following behaviors:
