Part 1: Professional Competencies

1. As we've discussed Legal, Ethical, and Professional Responsibilities throughout this course,

please define (in your own words) each type of responsibility and identify at least action for each

responsibility that you will employ in your practice.

The legal responsibility are when teachers fail to do their part as an adult to take care of

the student inside the classroom. It is also a part of the law, so we have to follow it, whether we

like it or not. Some examples could be student searches, suspensions, knowing the students

constitutional rights, having the duty of reporting whether the child is getting abused or

neglected back at home, and etc. One action I will take is to always follow the law, regardless of

the situation. As the teacher the one thing I need to do is follow the law, and be that model for

students.
The ethical responsibilities are the responsibilities that we carry through our morals,

beliefs, and values. Each teacher has their own code of ethics that they follow, it is basically what

guides them as teachers, and what keeps them going/working hard for their students. With their

ethics, the teachers are going to help and model for the students inside the classroom. As a

teacher, I believe that it is our job as teachers to put our 100% effort for the students, even if not

all students comply. In my practice, I want to have high expectations for my students, and always

be a positive role model for them.

The professional responsibilities are what we as professionals need to always reflect on

and improve. It is a mixture of the ethical and legal responsibilities as well. Teachers need to be

able to work with other teachers on creating a better learning environment for the students and

establishing a school culture of learning, respect, collaboration, and interpersonal awareness.

Teachers also have the responsibility of suspending judgement, and making the correct choices,

whether it is about their coworkers or students. As a teacher, our responsibility is to do our best

for the students, and believe that what we do in the classrooms, affect the students in their future.
One action I will employ is to talk to all my colleagues, and create a meeting at least once a

month where all the language teachers can come together and discuss what we can do in our

classrooms, for our lessons, and etc.

2. How will you use each of the professional competencies to drive the relationships that you

have with stakeholders (Students, Parents, Colleagues, Administrators)

(Please discuss each competency, and how it will affect at least one group of stakeholders)
With each of the professional competencies I will drive the relationships that I have with

stakeholders such as students, parents, colleagues, and administrators by always keeping in mind

the main concepts of each competency and comprehending/applying what I learned about them.

Interpersonal awareness is knowing/recognizing your biases and looking through the other

persons shoes. If I wanted to work cooperatively with students, parents, colleagues, and

administrators, I have to learn about them, and understand where they stand. I cant just push my

thinking, beliefs, or values onto them. I have to think about the other person and how they may

perceive something, or how something that I say may affect them in a certain fashion. By

understanding the other persons perspective, I will create that option of working together and

coming up with a solution to a problem by looking through both lenses. Suspending judgement is

crucial, especially as a teacher when I have to look at each students situation, and think about

what I can say or do in any situation given. I need to always keep this in mind in order to develop

cooperative/working relationship with the parents/students and reach out to both. When

suspending judgement, I have to be opened to all perspectives, look from the students eyes, try to

analyze everything that happened beforehand, how did the event occur, what factors were

involved, why did it happen, and etc. When I make these decisions, I have to be certain with

facts, and comprehend what happened before I can just call out and conclude the situation.

Through this, I can create better solutions and students will know that I care about them and how
they perceived the situation. I want them to know that I am not out to get them, but I am there to

help them and understand/help with what they are going through. Asset-based thinking is when

you look at the positives, rather than the negatives. I believe that this is important for all

especially your students, colleagues, and administrators because you work with them the entire

day during school and after school; you spend the most time with them, which means you get to

see both their good and bad sides. Nobody is perfect, of course everybody has both their positive

and negative qualities. However, as teachers I need to see the positives, and from those positives

learn from them, and become a better teacher myself. When the negatives outweigh the positives,

it is difficult to have any hope in the person, or situation given, but when teachers focus on the

positives it gives a different perspective and a new light to that situation. Through asset-based

thinking, I can create that positive school culture where teachers, students, and administrators

can work together to build a learning environment. Locus of control is having that mindset that

what I do as a teacher will impact the students and their future. My job as a teacher is to believe

in my students, even if the people around them, such as parents do not believe in their

capabilities. If I could not believe in their possibilities as students that they could achieve high

standards, than who will? I have to be that one model for them, that one person that believe in

the things that the students can accomplish. At the same time, I have to believe in the fact that

what I do inside the classroom, even though it may seem like a small influence to the students

lives, it will affect their future in a positive manner. I know it will, because the relationships that

I build inside the classroom are going to be a real and supportive relationship. As a teacher, I will

do my best to believe in each student and guide them to do better.

3. Identify one (or two) CRT disposition(s) and discuss your personal growth within these areas:
1. Sociocultural Consciousness
Sociocultural consciousness is when the teacher understands/keeps in mind each students

background, culture, values, beliefs, and thinking differs and knows that it influences the way

that they learn at school. Depending on the students culture, the way that they learn of the way

that they perceive information is divergent. At first, it was difficult to see how students actually

understood information differently because they are all learning a foreign language. However,

once I got to learn more about the students, comprehend their learning styles and how they take

in information best (imagery, reading, writing, and listening), I could see the difference that my

lessons made inside the classroom. The quizzes I give cannot be biased because students from

different cultures do not view things in a similar manner as someone who was born in America.

There are biases that we dont notice until we are told, or unless you were born in a different

culture. I think that through my internships, I have come to understand the little biases that we do

not notice, and how the teaching system in America is not fully assisting the students.

4. What will culturally responsive teaching look like in your classroom? Review the principles

of CRT (Academic Achievement, Cultural Competence, Critical Consciousness) and discuss how

you will embody at least one of these in your teaching.

(Provide specific strategies or practices)

In my classroom a culturally responsive teaching will look like a classroom where all

students are open to each others opinions, beliefs, values, and be able to share with one another

what they think, without getting into an argument. It also means that I will be applying various

cultures into my lessons, and sharing that with the students through the lessons that I give. It

could be about the geography, education system, types of etiquette, restaurants, and etc. In my

lessons, I want to teach students the diverse cultures that exist and how every culture has what

they believe is right and what they believe is wrong. Even if something was right in one culture,

it could be considered wrong in another culture. Students need to understand that not one
perspective is correct, so they can understand the various opinions that exist, and how the

world views a topic.

Academic achievement is when students achieve a certain educational goal that they

made, while I understand that students learn differently (whether itd be long term goal or short

term goal). It also means achieving high expectations. Cultural competence refers to the teachers

set of ethics and principles have, and whether or not they can properly work with students from

various cultures effectively. Critical consciousness is having that mindset, where you are always

questioning and trying to understand your surroundings. Critical consciousness is a key

ingredient for positive behavior change (Freire, 2016). I will teach my students about the

various cultures that exist, and how they differ or are similar to the students own culture. I will

teach about culture, provide activities that present each culture, so that students feel interested,

and want to learn more about it with strategies/activities such as games, food, role-play, videos,

authentic readings, and etc. Self-reflection and cultural critical conscious-ness are imperative to

improving the educational opportunities and outcomes (Gay & Kirkland, 2003). By having

students understand their situation like where they come from and their values/culture, the

students will use that as an advantage to move forward and advance in their education.

Works Cited
Freire P. Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: The Continuum Publishing Company;

2000:164.
Gay, G., & Kirkland, K. (2003). Developing Cultural Critical Consciousness and Self-Reflection

in Preservice Teacher Education. Retrieved April 9, 2017,

http://www.wou.edu/~tmcwilliams08/Developing%20Cultural%20Critical%20Consciou

ness_files/ContentServer.pdf