Educators contribute to the profession.
Contributing to the profession is something that is usually attributed to more veteran educators, but I believe that there are many ways to display Standard 8 that may not be as obvious. Every conversation you have with a fellow educator — or educator in training — that results in knowledge or skills being shared is a display of Standard 8. It can be as simple as dropping by another educator’s room while you both have prep and letting them bounce some ideas off of you. I did this many times during my final practicum and it benefitted both of us as they got the chance to review their ideas, and I got access to some new techniques and ideas as well.
My biggest contribution to Standard 8 so far however has been through my role as secondary cohort representative in my education program cohort. Throughout the course of the program, I acted as the go-between for other secondary teacher candidates, faculty, and program representatives. In this role I engaged with my fellow teacher candidates to better understand the overall wellbeing of my peers, as well as to try to solve problems that were occurring. I regularly met with my elementary representative counterpart and with the program coordinator to discuss ways to improve the program itself. This was often based off of surveys and other forms of feedback we compiled from our peers (with permission). While changes couldn’t always be made to benefit our own cohort, I believe that making things better for the people who come after you is crucial for the success of not just the education program, but for our species as a whole.
Teacher candidates are often incredible sources for learning. While they are in their classes and practicums, they are able to explore new ideas, which they in turn can show their coaching teachers. The unending path of learning means that just as a teacher candidate relies on faculty and coaching teachers, faculty and coaching teacher rely on teacher candidates. Therefore the success of teacher candidates — in their academics as well as health and wellness — is paramount to a successful public education system. It was my honour to have a small part in that success, and I hope that the work we did will go on to make the next cohorts’ experiences even greater than our own.