Educators engage in professional learning. Educators engage in professional learning and reflective practice to support their professional growth. Educators recognize and meet their individual professional needs through various learning opportunities. As an educator, it is important to always be improving ourselves through professional development. Teachers should always keep in mind that they too are students and need to be willing and capable of challenging their ways of being in order to grow. I believe that we should always keep up to date on teaching philosophies and engage with materials and ideas even if we end up disagreeing. By challenging our own teaching philosophy and practice we can learn and grow from other perspectives. My personal experience in high school showed me that teachers who refused to change their style or remained rigid throughout their careers had a much harder time engaging with their students than teachers who seemed willing to change and adapt. This standard is another good example of why is it important to be a lifelong learner and to understand that just because we have gone through university and are going to be certified teachers, that the learning should never stop. It is important to take professional development days seriously and to use the time provided to our best ability. Learning does not stop when we leave the classroom and needs to continue regardless of where we are. I also believe that self-reflection is key to becoming a good educator. We need to attempt to understand how and why we believe what we believe and always be open to change if required. The world we are going to engage with during our first few years as teachers will be dramatically different in the later stages of our careers and we need to be able to handle that change.
