Raechel Hormann

ELM-490
29 August 2021
Yusra Millenbaugh

Professional Dispositions Assessment

Indicate your level of agreement with each statement listed below using the response
scale of 1-5. Use this assessment to inform your Professional Dispositions Statement.
1 = Strongly Disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Undecided 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly Agree
Professional Dispositions Criteria 1 2 3 4 5

I believe a teacher must use a variety of instructional

x
strategies to optimize student learning.
I understand that students learn in many different ways. x

I demonstrate qualities of humor, empathy, and warmth. x

I am a thoughtful and responsive listener. x

I assume responsibility when working with others. x

I believe that all students can learn. x

I believe it is important to involve all students in

x
learning.

I believe the classroom environment a teacher creates

x
greatly affects students' learning and development.

I view teaching as an important profession. x

I understand that teachers’ expectations affect student

x
learning.

I view teaching as a collaborative effort among educators. x

I understand that students have certain needs that must be

x
met before learning can take place.

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 I am sensitive to student differences. x

I communicate caring, concern, and a willingness to

x
become involved with others.

I am punctual and reliable in my attendance. x

I maintain a professional appearance. x

I believe it is my job to create a learning environment

conducive to the development of students’ self-confidence x
and competence.

I respect the cultures of all students and am sensitive to

x
cultural norms.

I honor my commitments. x

I treat students with dignity and respect at all times. x

I am willing to receive feedback and assessment of my

x
teaching.

I am patient when working with students. x

I am open to adjusting and revising my plans to meet

x
student needs.

I communicate in ways that demonstrate respect for the

x
feelings, ideas, and contributions of others.

I believe it is important to learn about students and their

x
communities.

Reflection

When thinking about the professional dispositions and what it means to be a teacher,

there are many characteristics that one should practice each day. As a teacher, I will be

compassionate and dedicated to my students, advocate for their needs, hold them to high

standards, and treat them, their families, and my colleagues with fairness and respect. I plan to be

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professional in my actions, and dress, ask questions if I am unsure of something, and reflect on

feedback given to be my colleagues.

In analyzing the results of my self-assessment, I can see that I already practice all of these

dispositions, though some better than others. When saying that I will advocate for my students’

needs and looking at my self-assessment, I can see that I believe that I strongly agree that all

students learn in different ways so we should teach in different ways, involve, and engage all

students, and that the classroom should support their learning. I can see that I advocate for my

students by ensuring their needs are met and that I believe teaching them is important. I show my

respect for my colleagues by accepting their feedback and reflecting on it to ensure I can be

better next time. In the areas that I agreed with, I showed that I can me compassionate for my

students by demonstrating warmth, care, and concern, and being a thoughtful and responsive

listener, sensitive to their differences and cultural norms, and having patience when working

with them. I show that I can hold my students to high standards by agreeing that having high

expectations for them affects their learning. The results of my self- assessment show that I can be

professional by being punctual, reliable, and professionally dressed as well as taking

responsibility when working with my colleagues.

Reflecting on the last three years of my program and looking at the self-assessment, I see

several areas where I have grown. I used to think that all students learned the same way and if

they didn’t, that there was something wrong with them. I thought this because I struggled in

school, and no one took the time to help me. I have learned that when working with students, you

must keep in mind their cultural and family influences on their lives that impact their learning. I

have learned that the classroom environment and set up is just as important as the way we treat

our students and the content we teach. I have observed many classrooms, and some have barely

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anything on the walls, others are decorated with student friendly content that and makes learning

the forefront of the décor. When setting up the desks, small group settings work better for student

collaboration than straight line rows.

In comparing the Professional Dispositions of Learners (PDL) and the Model Code of

Ethics for Educators (MCEE), there are many parallels. The MCEE has a principle that states

one should be responsible to the profession (National, 2015), which states that one should be

responsible for their behavior and dress which is also addressed in the PDL (Grand Canyon,

n.d.). Another parallel between the MCEE and the PDL is that both address the responsibility

that we have to our students by being fair, compassionate, honest, respectful, and having high

expectations (National, 2015) (Grand Canyon, n.d.). By following and practicing both the MCEE

and the PDL, we can ensure that we are remaining professional and doing our jobs correctly for

the benefit of all involved.

Going back to my self-assessment, I can see that there are still areas that I can improve

in. The biggest areas that I need to improve in are my patience and sensitivity to cultural norms.

Overall, I am a patient person, however, when dealing with difficult behavior from students, I

can sometimes become overwhelmed and need to take a step back before trying again. I know I

need to find how to better get across to them that their behavior is not tolerated and keep in mind

that they may have other contributing factors to work around. In working on my sensitivity to

cultural norms, I don’t think that I am insensitive on purpose, but there are some things I do not

know or understand about different cultures. I can get better in this by asking questions to either

the parents or researching on my own and asking questions to clarify what I learned if needed.

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 References

Grand Canyon University. (n.d.). Professional Dispositions of Learners. Retrieved from

https://students.gcu.edu/Documents/15GCU0264-COEProDisposition-120115_v1.pdf

National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Communication (2015). Model

Code of Ethics for Educators. Retrieved from https://www.nasdtec.net/page/MCEE_Doc

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