Thursday, June 01, 2006

Academic Values

Our accreditation team noted that we had a statement of core values, but they were all spiritual instead of academic. They suggested we come up with a list of our Academic Core Values.

Here's mine. What am I forgetting? What am I overemphasizing?

The plan is to have as many teachers as possible write theirs, and then we can start to discuss what we will adopt for the school's list. I enjoyed thinking through what really are my academic values and how they show themselves in my teaching.



My Academic Core Values

I value LITERACY. In my teaching, I will strive to encourage my students to read and write effectively and with pleasure.

I value NUMERACY. In my teaching, I will strive to help my students to understand numbers and statistics that they come across in my class.

I value CURIOSITY. In my teaching, I will strive to encourage questioning and a desire to learn. I will teach my students tools to satisfy their curiosity and demonstrate to them my own interest in the world.

I value RATIONAL THINKING. In my teaching, I will strive to guide students through the steps of understanding arguments logically and of formulating their own logical arguments.

I value CRITICAL THINKING. In my teaching, I will strive to show students how to question what they read and hear. I will teach them to evaluate sources and to demonstrate a healthy skepticism.

I value AESTHETIC SENSIBILITY. In my teaching, I will strive to help my students to appreciate beauty.

I value ARTICULATENESS. In my teaching, I will strive to give students opportunities to learn to express themselves orally in a clear and compelling way.

I value CONCERN FOR THE WORLD. In my teaching, I will strive to give my students tools to be world citizens. I will help them to know about and understand what is going on in the world and to be concerned for the problems they see. I will help them think about ways they can be involved in solving those problems, both as students now, and as adults in the future.

I value INDIVIDUALITY. In my teaching, I will strive to treat my students as individuals, to honor their strengths and help them improve their weaknesses and to provide choices whenever possible.

I value LIFELONG LEARNING. In my teaching, I will strive to inculcate habits in my students that will help them to continue learning for the rest of their lives. I will also demonstrate to them that I am a lifelong learner.

3 comments:

Andy Bowen said...

You forgot "money."

Bridget said...

I wonder if by "individuality" you might be better served by using "responsibility" or "maturity." Individuality to me sort of leans toward disregard for others. It seems like you mean them taking more control of their learning. Or, maybe you would want to write it as "I value self-directed learners"

Does that make any sense?

Ruth said...

Hmmm, I'm not really talking about being self-directed learners, though that's good too. I'm talking about treating each student as a unique person, realizing that they won't all be at the same level, and trying to accomodate all of them.

Maybe that's just utopia.