Portfolio Showcase

Yesterday, I was chosen by Dr. Couturier, the physical education faculty and staff to display my professional portfolio in Park Center from 3-4pm. This is an honor and goal achieved for myself which I am very proud of. Below I am posting the letter given to me by Dr. Couturier which states why I was chosen for this event, and how I have developed into a professional educator.

Practice Interview Questions

Things to improve:

1) Look at the person interview me when answering my question

2) Be more confident with my answer and smile more

3) Explain how I could have improved the situation so the student will not be sitting out.

Any other suggestions?

Responsibility and Job Security in the classroom

As a future educator of many students, it's important to know the boundaries of both the student, and yourself. As every teacher should know, their are laws, prohibiting teachers from doing certain tasks, as well as laws for students to abide by while in the school. As a teacher, understanding ways in which you can be fired, as well as ways you cannot be fired, are extremely important. Being able to identify when things are going wrong during the lesson, and fixing them based on your responsibilities as a teacher. It may seem obvious to some, but yelling at students with negative criticism, or touching a student without consent is not allowed. Job security in the teaching profession can be difficult to some, but should not be. Understanding your obligations to teach these students, and the responsibility of being in charge of an adolescent, are crucial when finally landing a job. According to our EDU 470 textbook, "A teacher enjoys job security as long as the teacher's behavior and personal life do not disrupt or interfere with teaching effectiveness. Teachers may copy material for classroom use by adhering to three criteria: brevity, spontaneity, and cumulative effect." (2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education) During this portion of Chapter 8, it discusses these three criteria based on the term 'Fair Use'. The term Brevity discusses how a teacher can use another piece of work, depending on the length. An example of Brevity would be using a book, however you may only use up to 1,000 words or 10% of the entire book. In short, Brevity is made so teachers cannot use the full work of another individual and pass it off as their own. Spontaneity is discussed next in the chapter, about the published work of that teacher. If a teacher is currently publishing work, and wishes to distribute it to their class, they may do so due to the fact that it has not had enough time to be reviewed. However, if the teacher wishes to distribute the same work the next semester, it must be requested to be used in the classroom. Personally, I think this is a great idea because many times the teacher may have great idea's for the lesson, but not have time to get their work fully published and submitted. Lastly, the cumulative effect relates to the spontaneity criteria because this limits the amount of work a teacher can give to their class, without it being reviewed. With the federal law having such a huge impact in today's schools, teachers have to be aware of their responsibilities in order to protect their job security. Posted below is a video discussing job security across the country. Obviously this is not the case for everyone, but it is a major problem with future education majors. One thing I would like to point out, is the discussion of making yourself more marketable. Some girls discussed taking classes related to her major that may increase her likelyhood of landing a new job.