The Secret of Professionalism- Kate Martin

This chapter is very important for prospective teachers, and I have seen current faculty members having difficulty dealing with professionalism. It seems like every day in lunch and during team planning time, there is a complaint of some sort against a student. I find those conversations extremely awkward, and stay quiet throughout the whole conversation. A lot of the time, my cooperating teacher starts these discussions or encourages other teachers to talk badly about their students. I feel like the conversations are very inappropriate and unprofessional, but I often feel stuck in those situations without a way out. If I were a faculty member there, I’d be able to get up and leave, but I feel weird doing this since my cooperating teacher has the keys to her room and seems to be enjoying the conversations.

I have seen several instances of inappropriate behavior of teachers around their students. While doing an observation this week, I saw a teacher make a student cry twice over math problems as she scolded her for not remembering her math facts. I really felt terrible for the student, and couldn’t believe the teacher pushed her to tears more than once in the 40 minute class. I’ve also heard some really negative things said to the students in a joking manner, that I didn’t think were very appropriate. Some teachers really want their students to like them, but this often comes at the expense of keeping that professionalism. Some things that were said could be seen as hurtful and put students down in front of their peers. While you may look professional to your students, you may not have their respect for that professionalism if you behave like you are at their level.

I think I have been doing a very good job with my own professionalism during student teaching. I feel like it is very easy to look professionally, but it can be harder to act professionally. I feel like I’m getting better at hiding my emotions and frustrations while teaching and I’m very aware of my interactions with students. Last week after a long week of PSSA testing, I taught one of my first actual lessons to my math class (with a substitute teacher in for my cooperating teacher). My first period class was very unmotivated, tried to get me off track with my instruction at every possible moment, and were constantly off task. I was really frustrated with them, but instead of raising my voice or getting angry, I just stood quietly at the front of the room and waited for them to be quiet. I didn’t take it personally, because I knew they had a long week and it was almost the weekend. I had one student ask me “Why are you so frustrated with us today?” I was really surprised that she asked that, because I felt like I was completely in control of myself. I simply said I wasn’t frustrated, that I knew they had a long week and I was just trying to do the best I could to teach them, but it was difficult with all of the interruptions.