Standard 8: Professional Development

An effective teacher must continually seek to improve their knowledge base and effectiveness as a teacher and make positive contributions to the culture of their fields.

Due to changes in technology and administration, the opinion of what students should learn in middle and high school is in a constant state of flux. In addition, continuing research shows the level of effectiveness for different methods of presenting material based on emerging knowledge and understanding of cognitive processes.

For these reasons, I think it is essential that I stay up to date with the literature that is in my field concerning both what to teach and how to teach it.