E1.- Exemplify professionally-informed, growth-centered practice.

E1.- Exemplify professionally-informed, growth-centered practice. Teacher candidates develop reflective, collaborative, professional growth-centered practices through regularly evaluating the effects of his/her teaching through feedback and reflection. E1 encourages a reflective teaching practice that includes building a professional community fostering collaboration and reflection on ones practice.  As part of the undergraduate certification process, I am required to observe practicing teachers. Several of these observations can be found here, here, here and here. During these observations, I found myself to be incredibly reflective on my own practice. I am fortunate to be placed at a school with excellent teachers. The above observations are all of teachers who love to teach and are in the field to expand their practice. The teachers I observed were all very different but each one was able to relate to students in a unique way. One of the observations I did was of my own mentor teacher. I taught the same class earlier in the day and he gave me specific feedback about how I did. I asked to watch him teach the same lesson later and he agreed. It was great to see how I handled the class and the content similarly, as in I covered the same material in the same general order, but differently in my approach and rapport with students.  Through watching various teachers and the various techniques used, I am beginning to narrow-down the type of teacher I strive to be. For the majority of my life I have jotted down various teaching techniques I appreciate about teachers in an effort to compile teaching characteristics I hope to adopt. Now, as I watch others teach, I am able to discern whether the teaching traits I see are something that would work for me, or not. The traits that don't work for me are not bad, I appreciate that others can utilize various tips and tricks, but I am no longer bogged down by having to strive to do every cool thing I see other teachers do. Students in my own class will benefit from the reflections I have made of myself through this process because I will be able to play to my own strengths and therefore serve my students in a more natural and holistic way. In my remaining time at my placement school and throughout my career, I hope to take advantage of any observation opportunities I have. I enjoy watching others teach and find that not only do I always learn something (about content or teaching itself) but I am constantly analyzing my own practice when I watch others. Scheduling regular observation times will keep me reflective and fresh as a teacher.