Accomplished Practice

Sample Key Indicators

#1 - ASSESSMENT

The preprofessional teacher collects and uses data gathered from a variety of sources. These sources include both traditional and alternate assessment strategies. Furthermore, the teacher can identify and match the students’ instructional plans with their cognitive, social, linguistic, cultural, emotional, and physical needs.

·         Analyzes individuals' learning needs and practices techniques which accommodate differences, including linguistic and cultural differences.

·         Draws from a repertoire of techniques to accommodate differences in students' behavior.

·         Identifies potentially disruptive student behavior.

·         Identifies students' cognitive, social, linguistic, cultural, emotional, and physical needs in order to design individual and group instruction.

·         Employs traditional and alternative assessment strategies in determining students' mastery of specified outcomes.

·         Guides students in developing and maintaining individual portfolios.

·         Modifies instruction based upon assessed student performance.

·         Provides opportunities for students to assess their own work and progress. Assists students in designing individual plans for reaching the next performance level.

·         Maintains observational and anecdotal records to monitor students' development.

·         Interprets, with assistance, data from various informal and standardized assessment Reviews assessment data and identifies students' strengths and weaknesses.

·         Communicates individual student progress in student, parent, and staff conferences.

Develops short and long term personal and professional goals relating to assessment.

PRACTICE #2 - COMMUNICATION

The preprofessional teacher recognizes the need for effective communication in the classroom and is in the process of acquiring techniques which she/he will use in the classroom.

·   Establishes positive interaction in the learning environment that uses incentives and consequences for students.

·   Establishes positive interactions between the teacher and students that are focused upon learning.

·   Varies communication (both verbal and nonverbal) according to the nature and needs of Encourages students in a positive and supportive manner.

·   Communicates to all students high expectations for learning.

·   Acquires and adapts interaction routines (e.g., active listening) for individual work, cooperative learning, and whole group activities.

·   Provides opportunities for students to learn from each other.

·   Practices strategies that support individual and group inquiry.

·   Provides opportunities for students to receive constructive feedback on individual work and behavior.

·   Identifies communication techniques for use with colleagues, school/community

·  Develops short and long term personal and professional goals relating to communication.

#3 - CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

The preprofessional teacher realizes that she/he is in the initial stages of a lifelong learning process and that self reflection is one of the key components of that process. While her/his concentration is, of necessity, inward and personal, by self-reflection, working with immediate colleagues and teammates, and meeting the goals of a personal professional development plan.

·   Identifies principles and strategies for effecting changes occurring in her/his classroom and school.

·   Participates in and supports the overall school improvement process.

·   Uses data from her/his own learning environments as a basis for reflecting upon and experimenting with personal teaching practices.

·   Participates in the design of a personal professional development plan to guide her/his own improvement.

·   Communicates student progress with students, families, and colleagues.

·   Reflects respect for diverse perspectives, ideas, and opinions in planned learning activities.

·   Supports other school personnel as they manage the continuous improvement process.

·   Participates in and supports the overall school improvement process.

·   Works to continue the development of her/his own background in instructional methodology, learning theories, second language acquisition theories, trends and subject matter.

·   Shows evidence of reflection and improvement in her/his performance in teaching/learning activities.

·   Seeks to increase her/his own professional growth by participating in training and other professional development experiences.

·   Has observed others in the role of steward and can demonstrate some of the skills involved.

·   Works as a reflective practitioner and develops the skills to recognize problems, research solutions and evaluate outcomes

·   Learns from peers and colleagues and develops professional relationships.

·   Reflects upon her/his own professional judgement and has the ability to articulate it to colleagues, parents, and the business community.

·   Develops short and long term personal and professional goals relating to continuous professional development.

#4 - CRITICAL THINKING

The preprofessional teacher is acquiring performance assessment techniques and strategies that measure higher order thinking skills in students and is building a repertoire of realistic projects and problem-solving activities designed to assist all students in demonstrating their ability to think creatively.

·   Provides opportunities for students to learn higher-order thinking skills.

·   Identifies strategies, materials, and technologies which she/he will use to expand students' thinking abilities.

·   Has strategies for utilizing discussions, group interactions, and writing to encourage student problem solving.

·   Poses problems, dilemmas, and questions in lessons.

·   Assists students in development and use of rules of evidence.

·   Varies her/his role in the instructional process (instructor, coach, mentor, facilitator, audience, critic, etc.) in relation to the purposes of instruction and the students' needs, including linguistic needs.

·   Demonstrates and models the use of higher-order thinking abilities.

·   Modifies and adapts lessons with increased attention to the learners' creative thinking abilities.

·   Encourages students to develop open-ended projects and other activities that are creative and innovative.

·   Uses technology and other appropriate tools in the learning environment.

·   Develops short term personal and professional goals relating to critical thinking.

#5 - DIVERSITY

The preprofessional teacher establishes a comfortable environment which accepts and fosters diversity. The teacher must demonstrate knowledge and awareness of varied cultures and linguistic backgrounds. The teacher creates a climate of openness, inquiry, and support by practicing strategies such as acceptance, tolerance, resolution, and mediation.

·      Accepts and values students from diverse cultures and linguistic backgrounds and treats all students equitably.

·      Fosters a learning environment in which all students are treated equitably.

·      Recognizes the cultural, linguistic and experiential diversity of students.

·      Recognizes students' learning styles and cultural and linguistic diversity and provides for a range of activities.

·      Has a repertoire of teaching techniques and strategies to effectively instruct all students.

·      Selects appropriate culturally and linguistically sensitive materials for use in the learning process.

·      Analyzes and uses school, family, and community resources in instructional activities.

·      Employs techniques useful in creating a climate of openness, mutual respect, support, and inquiry.

·      Selects and introduces materials and resources that are multicultural.

·      Acknowledges the importance of family and family structure to the individual learner.

·      Promotes student responsibility, appropriate social behavior, integrity, valuing of diversity, and honesty through learning activities.

·      Provides learning situations which will encourage the student to practice skills and gain knowledge needed in a diverse society.

·      Develops short term personal and professional goals relating to diversity.

#6 - ETHICS

Adheres to the Code of Ethics and Principles of Professional Conduct of the Education Profession in Florida .

·      Makes reasonable effort to protect students from conditions harmful to learning and/or to the student's mental and/or physical health and/or safety.

·      Does not unreasonably restrain a student from pursuit of learning.

·      Does not unreasonably deny a student access to diverse points of view.

·      Takes reasonable precautions to distinguish between personal views and those of any educational institution or organization with which the individual is affiliated.

·      Does not intentionally distort or misrepresent facts concerning an educational matter in direct or indirect public expression.

·      Does not use institutional privileges for personal gain or advantage.

·      Maintains honesty in all professional dealings.

·      Shall not on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, age, national or ethnic origin, political beliefs, marital status, handicapping condition if otherwise qualified, or social and family background deny to a colleague professional benefits or advantages or participation in any professional organization.

·      Does not interfere with a colleague's right to exercise political or civil rights and responsibilities.

#7 - HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING

Drawing upon well established human development/learning theories and concepts and a variety of information about students, the preprofessional teacher plans instructional activities.

·      Recognizes developmental levels of students and identifies differences in a group of students.

·      Uses previously acquired knowledge to link new knowledge and ideas to already familiar ideas.

·      Uses multiple activities which engage and motivate students at appropriate developmental levels.

·      Communicates with students effectively by taking into account their developmental levels, linguistic development, cultural heritage, experiential background and interests.

·      Varies activities to accommodate different student learning needs, developmental levels, experiential backgrounds, linguistic development, and cultural heritage.

·      Recognizes learning theories, subject matter structure, curriculum development, student development, and first and second language acquisition processes.

·      Uses alternative instructional strategies to develop concepts and principles and is aware of the rationale for choosing different methods.

·      Develops short term personal and professional goals relating to human development and learning.

#8 - KNOWLEDGE OF SUBJECT MATTER

The preprofessional teacher has a basic understanding of the subject field and is beginning to understand that the subject is linked to other disciplines and can be applied to real-world integrated settings. The teacher's repertoire of teaching skills includes a variety of means to assist student acquisition of new knowledge and skills using that knowledge.

·      Communicates knowledge of subject matter in a manner that enables students to learn.

·      Increases subject matter knowledge in order to integrate the learning activities.

·      Uses the materials and technologies of the subject field in developing learning activities for students.

·      Acquires currency in her/his subject field.

·      Has planned and conducted collaborative lessons with colleagues from other fields.

·      Develops short and long term personal and professional goals relating to knowledge of subject matter.

#9 - LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

The preprofessional teacher understands the importance of setting up effective learning environments and has techniques and strategies to use to do so including some that provide opportunities for student input into the processes. The teacher understands that she/he will need a variety of techniques and work to increase his/her knowledge and skills.

·      Practices a variety of techniques for establishing smooth and efficient routines.

·      Applies the established rules and standards for behaviors consistently and equitably.

·      Involves students in the management of learning environments including establishing rules and standards for behavior.

·      Recognizes cognitive, linguistic, and affective needs of individual students and arranges learning environments and activities to meet these needs.

·      Uses techniques to align student needs, instructional settings, and activities.

·      Provides opportunities for students to be accountable for their own behavior.

·      Provides a safe place to take risks.

·      Respects any student’s right to use a home language other than English for academic and social purposes.

·      Monitors learning activities by providing feedback and reinforcement to students.

·      Implements instructional activities to meet cognitive, linguistic and affective needs.

·      Arranges and manages the physical environment to facilitate student learning outcomes.

·      Uses learning time effectively, maintains instructional momentum, and makes effective use of time for administrative and organization activities.

·      Provides clear directions for instructional activities and routines.

·      Maintains academic focus of students by use of varied motivational devices.

·      Develops short term personal and professional goals relating to learning environments.

#10 - PLANNING

Recognizes the importance of setting high expectations for all students, the preprofessional teacher works with other professionals to design learning experiences that meet students' needs and interests. The teacher candidate continually seeks advice/information from appropriate resources (including feedback), interprets the information, and modifies her/his plans appropriately. Planned instruction incorporates motivational strategies and multiple resources for providing comprehensible instruction for all students. Upon reflection, the teacher continuously refines outcome assessment and learning experiences.

·      Identifies student performance outcomes for planned lessons.

·      Plans and conducts lessons with identified student performance and learning outcomes.

·      Plans activities to promote high standards for students through a climate which enhances and expects continuous improvement.

·      Provides comprehensible instruction based on performance standards required of students in Florida public schools.

·      Provides comprehensible instruction in effective learning procedures, study skills, and test-taking strategies.

·      Plans activities that utilize a variety of support and enrichment activities and materials.

·      Accesses and interprets information from multiple sources.

·      Assists students in using the resources available to them.

·      Incorporates the visual and physical environment when planning learning activities.

·      Plans activities that engage students in learning activities and employs strategies to re-engage students who are off task.

·      Demonstrates instructional flexibility and an awareness of the teachable moment.

·      Plans and conducts lessons that are interdisciplinary.

·      Helps students develop concepts through a variety of methods.

·      Regularly reflects upon her/his own practice and modifies behavior based upon that reflection.

·      Cooperatively works with colleagues in planning instruction.

·      Develops a community resource file for use in planning instructional activities.

·      Develops short and long term personal and professional goals relating to planning.

#11-ROLE OF THE TEACHER

The preprofessional teacher communicates and works cooperatively with families and colleagues to improve the educational experiences at the school.

·      Develops and expands strategies that are effective in fulfilling the role of student advocate and is familiar with the laws (State and Federal) and court-ordered Consent Decrees which assure the rights of students.

·      Provides meaningful feedback on student progress to students and families and seeks assistance for self and families.

·      Proposes ways in which families can support and reinforce classroom goals, objectives, and standards.

·      Uses the community to provide students with a variety of experiences.

·      Works with school volunteers appropriately.

·      Can describe overt signs of child abuse and severe emotional distress and knows to whom such observations should be reported.

·      Can describe overt signs of alcohol and drug abuse and knows to whom such observations should be reported.

·      Works with colleagues to identify students' educational, social, linguistic, cultural, and emotional needs.

·      Uses continuous quality improvement techniques in school improvement efforts.

·      Communicates with families of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

·      Develops short and long term personal and professional goals relating to the roles of a teacher.

#12- TECHNOLOGY

The preprofessional teacher uses technology as available at the school site and as appropriate to the learner. She/he provides students with opportunities to actively use technology and facilitates access to the use of electronic resources. The teacher also uses technology to manage, evaluate, and improve instruction.

·      Uses, on a personal basis, learning media, computer applications, and other technology.

·      Utilizes instructional and other electronic networks to gather information.

·      Can identify and use standard references in electronic form.

·      Selects and utilizes education software for instruction and management purposes based upon reviews and recommendations of other professionals.

·      Teaches students to use available computers and other forms of technology.

·      Uses technology in lesson and material preparation.

·      Uses technology to assist with instructional and classroom management.

·      Can identify and use standard references in electronic form.

·      Works with on-site technical and instructional technology specialist(s) to obtain assistance for instructional delivery.

·      Develops short term personal and professional goals relating to technology integration.