Miss Kubara's EduBlog: Ontario’s Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession

Ontario’s Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession provide a framework of principles that describes the knowledge, skills, and values inherent in the teaching profession. Members of the Ontario College of Teachers use these standards to complement and reinforce the work they already do on a daily basis. I definitely believe these standards are relevant to 21^st century teaching and learning, they encourage innovation, collaboration, risk taking and lifelong learning.

Ontario’s Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession:	Relating the standards to my own values and beliefs about education:
Commitment to Students and Student Learning	· Being fair does not always mean to be equal. · Teachers need to be sensitive to the needs of their students. · The classroom should be a positive, and safe learning environment where all students feel respected and valued. · Every student is unique and should be treated as the individual he/she is. · Teachers should be committed to differentiating their instruction and doing all that they can to make sure ALL of their students are successful. · Teachers need to encourage students to become active, critical thinkers, problem-solvers and socially conscious global citizens.
Professional Knowledge	· Teachers must understand and reflect on the Ontario curriculum. · Teachers should plan for cross-curricular integration. - According to a recent Ontario case study: “Connecting curriculum to real-world issues led to greater use of non-fiction materials and increased relevance of reading and writing activities” (Integrated Learning in Ontario 2010). · Teachers need to know and understand their students. Read OSRs, talk to previous teachers, know about their individual learning styles, collect data (PM Benchmarks, CASI, DIBELS, PRIME), and monitor growth and progress.
Professional Practice	· Teachers must integrate a variety of teaching and learning strategies, activities, technology and resources to enhance student learning. · Teachers should clearly share with students what the learning goals are. Students should always know what is expected of them (e.g. success criteria checklists, rubrics, posted learning goals in the classroom). · It is very important for teachers to provide ongoing descriptive feedback to students. · Teachers should strive to make learning meaningful. · Teachers should provide many opportunities for students to collaborate and problem solve with their peers. · Teachers themselves should collaborate with grade partners, divisional teams and other professions to support student learning.
Leadership in Learning Communities	· All teachers should be able to build professional relationships based on trust and respect with students, parents and the community. · There should be always be ongoing two-way communication between the teacher and parents. · Communicate openly and regularly with members of the learning community through newsletters and/or available technology (e.g. classroom websites, social media, apps).
Ongoing Professional Learning	· Teachers should adopt a lifelong learning mindset and recognize that continuous professional growth is an integral part of professional practice · Teachers should engage in professional learning to enhance effective practice (e.g. participating in “Collaborative Inquiry of Learning” within the school, participating in interested workshops and professional development). · Teachers should register for Additional Qualification courses. Most are available online and provide teachers with the opportunity to network with other teachers throughout the province.