Open-mindedness, Responsibility, and Whole-heartedness
Open-mindedness: My birth by fire experience (first year teaching) taught me that strategies and environmental conditions are not one size fits all. What works for one teacher, may not work for another. And since I still regard myself as being in the learning phase of teaching, I am open to listening to any alternatives or possibilities that I need to improve. However, I do not go out of my way to gather conflicting evidence for thinking and practices I use. I guess my focus has always been on looking for a strategy or solution, but never on researching possible commentary about why something may not work. I see why it should be done.
Responsibility: I truthfully haven't thought during lesson planning about the social and political consequences of my teaching. I do think about the affective needs of my students, and in fostering critical thinking and creative thinking that they may use outside the artroom, but that has only been in the past two years as I have completed my training in GT - that awareness did not come from traditional teacher training or professional development.
Whole-heartedness: I am committed to the learning of my students and to my ongoing education, but there are times when I go on auto-pilot. I think I am getting better, but nowhere near being a master teacher.
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