February 1, 2018 Seminar-Professional Responsibilities

After discussion with my colleagues on the topic of identity and professionalism as a teacher, I
have begun thinking about how our personal identity is reflected in the classroom with students.
Though the ATA sets out standards for professional conduct, it seems these standards do not
fully answer the question, “How much of ourselves should we share with our students?”
Palmer’s statement "Good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher" (p. 2)
leads me to believe that the identity of the teacher has a vital role in the classroom and
students’ learning. Reflecting on my own teaching philosophy leads me to agree with Palmer’s
statement.

When first reflecting on Palmer’s work, I considered how good teaching requires me to connect
the curriculum to students’ lives. This also made me think about the importance of teachers
connecting the curriculum to their own lives and how this can transform a teacher’s instruction.
In my practicum, I have begun teaching ukulele to the three Grade 5 classes. Music has always
been one of my passions and I think my own enthusiasm for music has been central to my
instruction of ukulele. While ukulele is something quite different than the students usually
experience in ACE time, which helps to instantly hook them, I think it is also my passion for
music that has engaged students and made the ukulele instruction so successful.

When teachers teach their passions, there is also a component of comfortability because the
teacher has a strong foundation of knowledge to draw from. When I’m teaching ukulele, I feel
confident because I have a strong understanding of technique that I can share with my students
and also the strategies that will scaffold the skills I’m teaching. Recently, I taught a mini ELA
lesson that I felt was less successful. The lesson was on converting direct speech to indirect
speech and though I felt confident in using this skill in my own writing, I found it more difficult to
teach to students. The strategies to scaffold the skills in the ELA lesson didn’t come as quickly
or easily as they did when I was teaching the ukulele. From this experience, I can see that by
sharing parts of my identity with students, such as my passions, I can hook students with my
enthusiasm and also provide very effective instruction.

Though I have been able to share this part of my identity with students, I have also been faced
with the dilemma of how much of my personal life I should share with students. A central part of
my teaching philosophy has always been to build strong relationships with students, and I think
to make these relationships truly authentic, students must also know about their teacher. Still, I
often wonder, “how much should my students know?” This question stems from the fact that
teachers are professionals who are held to very high expectations. One reason I think it is
difficult for teachers to define this balance of sharing with students is because, though we are
not friends with our students, the teacher-student relationship shares some characteristics of
friendship. Just as friends are supportive and caring, teachers are as well. Teachers and
students also tend to have high expectations of each other, similarly to two people who have a
friendship. Ultimately, I think finding the balance of how much teachers should share with their
students is up to the individual teacher to use their common sense. The teacher must make
frequent judgement calls about whether the information will help to strengthen relationships with
students. These decisions made by the teacher on a daily basis are what I think Palmer refers
to as “the integrity of the teacher ” (p. 2).