Professionalism

Professionalism Framing Statement

Rachel Ostler

ED698 Master’s Portfolio Spring 2023

University of Alaska Southeast

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Professionalism

The teacher engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate
his/her practice, particularly the effects of his/her choices and actions on others (learners, families,
other professionals, and the community), and adapts practice to meet the needs of each learner.

In this paper, I will focus on professionalism in the teaching profession. The artifact that I will

use to facilitate this discussion is a research project that focused on how a writers’ workshop can

improve engagement and motivation in the writing process. This paper can be found here.

Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary (n.d.) defines professionalism as “the conduct, aims, or

qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person.” Wong & Wong (2005) said

that teaching professionals are leaders who make choices and are responsible and accountable for those

choices. They are “on an endless journey of looking for better ways, new information, and improved

skills to succeed with students” (p. 293). The professional teacher should be expected to always be

looking for ways to better themselves. This means that they are looking for ways to grow and develop

and that might mean changing the way they teach.

Wardoyo et. al (2017) stated that there are four stages of teacher professionalism. These stages

are: 1) pedagogical competence, 2) personal competence, 3) social competence, and 4) professional

competence. Bouchrika (2023) says, “pedagogy in education is the study of optimal frameworks and

techniques for teaching and learning and their execution” (para. 4). When I began my year as a first-

grade teacher, I found that my students would often avoid writing assignments. They would talk to a

neighbor, look for excuses to get up or leave the classroom, or would simply sit at their desk and not

work. This problem of practice led me to wonder what intervention I could implement to increase

intrinsic motivation and engagement in the writing process. In order for me to decide what teaching

technique I should use to address my problem of practice, I looked to peer-reviewed studies that

focused on increasing motivation in the writing process. It was this research that led me to implement a

writers’ workshop in my classroom. The basis for my decision to use a writers’ workshop came from two
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key points. The first is the Social Cognitive Theory, coined by Bandura (1997) (as cited in Bandura &

Locke, 2003). This theory states that whatever factors guide and motivate, they are rooted in the belief

that one has the power to produce desired effects. If not, one has little incentive to engage or persevere

in the face of difficulties. The second was that Murray (as cited in Calkins & Ehrenworth, 2016) noted

that writers need three things: protected time to write, choice over their topics, and response from a

community of writers. By having my students participate in a writers’ workshop, I hoped to provide

these three things for them while increasing their belief in their power to produce desired effects.

For the intervention, I provided my students with a mini-lesson that focused on writing

techniques that we would be using when writing how-to papers. Students were then given a designated

amount of time to write independently while I conferenced one-on-one with students. After the

designated writing time, students were able to share their writing with their peers. Over the course of

the intervention, I met with my students and went over their writing with them, talking with them about

ways they could improve. I also tracked how often students avoided their writing assignments and

looked at writing samples weekly to determine growth in the writing process.

Before completing the study, I was hopeful that my students’ motivation and engagement in the

writing process would improve but I wanted to be sure that what I was doing would be successful before

completing implementing it as a normal routine in my classroom. After completing the study, I found

that not only did student avoidance decrease, which in turn increased their engagement, students also

showed an increase in writing scores. By using my pedagogical knowledge, I was able to find a way to

help my students be successful. I have also continued to use this knowledge to guide my decision

making in the classroom as I have continued to use a writers’ workshop.

When considering personal competence, Wardoyo et. al. (2017) listed the following indicators:

firm, stable, mature, sensible, wise, being a good example, and a fine attitude. I believe that these go

hand in hand with their indicator of social competence which says that teacher competence should
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include blending in with society as well as having good and effective communication skills. When I am

teaching, I must communicate clearly and set clear expectations with my students. In my classroom,

these clear expectations that I have for my students are high, and in turn, they can rely on me to be a

good example and a stable role model to them by setting high expectations for me. My study

highlighted the importance of setting high expectations with my students when implementing writing

instruction in the classroom. I found that when I set expectations for my students, they were able to

meet these expectations and knew exactly what was expected of them. As I continue teaching, I plan on

continuing to set high expectations. I want my students to know what is expected of them, but also

know that they are capable of succeeding. These expectations are also found in and outside of the

classroom. I teach in a small community where I often see my students and their families outside of

school. It is important that my students know that my expectations of them extend beyond school, but

their expectations of me can do the same. When my students and their families see me outside of my

classroom, I expect my professionalism to still show a capable and caring teacher. I still need to continue

to be a good example and have a good attitude.

All of the previous competences work together to create a professional competence. Wardoyo

et. al (2017) said, “Teacher professionalism is the way that teachers think about their profession, why

they should be professional, and how they behave and implement their knowledge and the skills that

are related to their profession” (p. 90). Part of this implementation includes collaboration. A large part

of growing my pedagogy is working with my team members and sharing our knowledge with each other.

When working with my team members, I often shared the findings from my study. I wanted them to be

able to grow from my findings and I expected that they would share any knowledge that had with me so

that we would all be able to be more successful.

In the fall of 2021, my collaborative team found that many of our students were struggling with

basic reading skills. The majority of our classes were below grade reading level and we needed a way to
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help them be successful. In order to combat this, we came together and looked for ways that we could

change our teaching practice. We decided on an intervention that could benefit the entire kindergarten

through third grade team while being able to use the strengths of each teacher. We grouped students

by skill level and added an extra hour to our literacy block each day. During this hour students would go

to a teacher that would be working specifically on the skills they were lacking. Every few weeks, we

would come together and discuss our students’ progress and move students to different groups as

needed. This professional collaboration made it possible for all the teachers to work together to find a

way to benefit all of our students. In turn, many students were able to gain reading skills that they

lacked.

As educators, a lot is expected of us. We are expected to not only teach, but to care for, be

examples to, and be a stable influence in our students lives. In order to do this, professionalism is of

great importance. We must do our due diligence in fulfilling these expectations so that our students can

be successful as they continue throughout their learning career.

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References

Bandura, A., & Locke, E. A. (2003). Negative self-efficacy and goal effects revisited. The Journal of

Applied Psychology, 88(1), 87-99. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uas.alaska.edu/10.1037/0021-

9010.88.1.87

Bouchrika, I. (2023). Pedagogy in education: Guide to frameworks & teaching methods. Research.com.

Retrieved April 11, 2023, from https://research.com/education/pedagogy-in-education

Calkins, L., & Ehrenworth, M. (2016). Growing extraordinary writers: Leadership decisions to raise the

level of writing across a school and a district. Reading Teacher, 70(1), 7-18.

https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1499

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Professionalism. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved April 11, 2023,

from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/professionalism

Wardoyo, C., Herdiani, A., & Sulikah. (2017). Teacher professionalism: Analysis of professionalism

phases. International Educational Studies, 10(4), 90-100.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1138573.pdf

Wong, H.K., & Wong, R.T. (2005). How to be an effective teacher: The first days of school. Harry K. Wong

Publications
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