By now you should be well and truly used to writing ‘2013’ and you should be starting to think about your professional goals for this year. 2013 is going to be fantastic year, full of exciting new professional opportunities and learning curves. This year will also be a great opportunity to start thinking about, continuing or completing your National Teaching Accreditation. It doesn’t have to be a bore, and as with all goals, there is always something that you can do today to start making progress. Here are 24 ways that you can make some traction with your National Accreditation in 2013:
- Familiarise yourself with The Professional Teaching Standards – What do they mean to you and your professional career
- Standard One – Know students and how they learn. Do you know how your students create meaning?
- Standard Two – Know their content and how to teach it. What strategies do you use to effectively teach your students?
- Standard Three – Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning. How do you plan for your lessons?
- Standard Four – Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments. What practices do you have in place to ensure safe working environments
- Standard Five – Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning. How do you monitor student learning?
- Standard Six – Engage in professional learning. How do are you developing your skills as an educator?
- Standard Seven – Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/caregivers & the community. How do you engage others in student learning?
- Have a look at the NSWIT website there are some great resources
- Start having the conversation with your mentor and use your initiative
- Understand the difference between the NSW and the new national responsibilities.
- Be proactive, use your initiative and take responsibility. Its your professional accreditation.
- Understand the difference between the Domains and the Elements
- Start before your ready – make a timeline and use your initiative
- Begin to think about your evidence – what pieces of evidence can you use
- Don’t reinvent the wheel, you can use most of the resources, lesson plans and programming that you have already.
- Look in your program. Most of the evidence that you can use is already in your program
- Consult the Information for New Scheme Teachers booklet and the Evidence Guide – it’s a really great resource
- Select your evidence carefully – what pieces of evidence will represent you well?
- Visit the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership website and spend some time looking through their resources.
- Show how your piece of evidence relates to other components of the National Teaching Standards.
- When writing your reflections be honest. Quite often things don’t go to plan. How do you think on your feet?
- How does this piece of evidence relate to other Standards in the National Standards for teachers and other relevant documents?
- What teaching strategies did you use to effectively engage your students?
As the famous saying goes “How do you eat an elephant?” the answer “One bite at a time.” Your teaching accreditation can seem like a daunting task. But, as with all large tasks, there are some very simple, small steps that you can take each day to get it finished this year.