The Role of Teacher Beliefs and Actions

This assignment delves into the significant relationship between teacher beliefs and student engagement, particularly within the context of vocational education. It requires students to critically analyze research studies that examine how teachers' perspectives influence their actions and, consequently, student motivation and participation in learning. The analysis should highlight key findings and discuss practical implications for educators seeking to enhance student engagement in vocational settings.

Running head: SUMMARY OF SELF AWARENESS EXERCISE
Summary of self awareness exercise
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SUMMARY OF SELF AWARENESS EXERCISE
Summary of self awareness exercise
My life goals are getting a job of teaching Biology to high school students, travelling
around the world while offering education to students and children belonging to schools from
different countries and building a rehabilitation centre with the help of my family to serve the
community. My goal of imparting education while travelling would offer me an opportunity to
work in different environments and learn new aspects culture, ethnicity and backgrounds from
the students (Covay Minor et al. 2016). While working as a high school teacher I will share my
knowledge, motivate and inspire my students to learn about the living world (van Uden, Ritzen
and Pieters 2014). The teaching goal will also help me encourage students to utilize their full
potential and strive for greatness. A rehabilitation centre will assist disabled people to lead a
normal life and act as productive members of the society. Some of the past goals that I achieved
are raising money for people severely affected by a cyclone Marcia in Queensland in 2015 and
learning of a new language. The cyclone created a financial damage of more than 590.5 million
dollars and thousands of people had been severely affected. I intended to organize a fundraising
program and donate it to the government authorities at the place. With help from family
members and friends, we were able to create campaigns promoting support and collected 40000
dollars for the victims in a fortnight. The entire money was used to buy household items and
food for the victims. I worked as a volunteer in Ipswich Opportunity Groups and Ipswich
Citizens Advice Bureau Humanities Centre with the aim of helping people.
My aim of travelling around the world helped me realize the necessity of learning a
foreign language that would help me expand my horizon. I got enrolled in a Japanese language
course. Its successful completion helped me broaden my mind and I will use it to enrich my

2SUMMARY OF SELF AWARENESS EXERCISE
personal experiences. My immediate future goals are to to get enrolled for a provisional QCT
registration that will make me eligible to apply for a job position at Queensland schools. The
program will offer me a school based learning experience and will educate me on the effective
teaching methods (Ramos 2016). It will ensure that I am well equipped to meet the challenges of
a teaching career. It will allow me to utilize my expertise and knowledge to engage students in
learning process. I will be able to critically plan and implement relevant syllabi and curriculum
materials and will develop a personal theory of teaching (Hallman and Burdick 2014).
Teachers carry an incredible responsibility while shaping the future of their students.
Creativity, engaging lessons and innovative teaching methods will help my students to develop
their behavioral and mental faculties but also assist me in describing my ideas (Petersen and
Treagust 2014). Feedback from the students will assist in my personal understanding. A school
based learning degree will help me communicate my thoughts precisely and clearly. It will also
remove all probabilities of self deceit. My goals will provide scope for creating a passion for
academics in high school students. This profession will enable me to eagerly talk about my own
childhood school memories, which will reinforce my bonding with family members and peers
(Biesta, Priestley and Robinson 2015). Some of the external rewards that my career will offer are
performance based financial perks which encompass a competitive salary that matches my talent
and a wealth of benefits like holiday allowance and provision for pension. If I am passionate
about my subject area, I can even pursue my career as head of department. While providing me
the opportunity to educate students in the classroom, these career progressions will make me
enjoy additional responsibilities like training new teachers or working as leading authority on my
subject (Robertson-Kraft and Duckworth 2014).

3SUMMARY OF SELF AWARENESS EXERCISE
Internal rewards include using my passion and subject knowledge to help children in
unlocking their talents and capabilities they did not know they possessed. During organizing
engaging lessons, I will be able to indulge in my personal interests and hobbies as part of my
work in school club activities or trips or co-curricular activities. My role as a teacher will help
me continue to learn from multiple knowledge sources throughout my career. I will have the
opportunity to learn from my mistakes and practice, from other students and teachers. Some of
the things that I would like to avoid is lack of empathy. I would always like to put myself in the
student’s shoes and imagine their needs and demands. Less empathetic nature can work as a
hindrance in the process of imparting education and should be immediately avoided. It has
become a common habit of teachers and educators of putting their lectures in PowerPoint and
droning through slides. Such classes are a waste of time and lead to boredom. Such presentations
fail to teach students the skills of effective leadership, teamwork, and conflict management. I
would not promote the use on only electronic presentations but would rather promote the trait of
engaging students in independent learning through interactive sessions of storytelling, board-
work, multimedia, individual assignments and discussion. This would enhance the cognitive and
interpersonal skills of the students.
Teaching is not just my mission, it is my professional goal and like any other career it
requires some competencies, knowledge and skills. To sustain my enthusiasm and energy for the
job, I will need to maintain my personal commitment to the job. I will be facing higher work
demand in my professional career and family while carrying out my responsibilities as a teacher.
Therefore, I would need to strike a balance between family life and my work place. Participating
in both family and work roles will protect me from facing any distressed situation (Van den
Bergh and Beijaard 2014). Behavior, transfer of skills and knowledge from my family life will

4SUMMARY OF SELF AWARENESS EXERCISE
improve my work performance. Family goals will also generate rewards, which will weaken
struggles and hardships at work. Successful family life will reduce chances of job dissatisfaction.
Emotional support provided by supportive family or the prevalence of a positive relationship
with children and spouse will enable me to handle job pressure and work challenges in a better
way. Family commitment will also create a positive effect on my career by assisting me to
overcome the negative workplace experiences and will lead to higher job satisfaction. My goal of
building a rehabilitation centre for the disabled in the community will also get enhanced by my
career experience.
Extensive interaction with all students coming from diverse backgrounds, colleagues and
administrative authorities will provide me more knowledge on the needs of the disabled people
and will make me strive for a better outcome in my goal (Von Culin, Tsukayama and Duckworth
2014). The teaching experience will help me formulate a plethora of support services that can
play an effective part in rehabilitation programs. It will also help me in engaging the school and
the school’s community in service programs for the society. With this conceptualization, I will
be able to make my students reach out beyond the walls of their classroom and extend beyond
the boundary of their school. Another commitment that is of primary importance to me is the
investment of extra hours with students to facilitate their learning process and help in their
overall wellbeing. This would require my focus on the individual needs of each student. It would
help me provide necessary assistance to the academic and emotional needs of my students. Some
of my interests that will prove beneficial in my workplace are creating designs and graphic
illustrations, directing an orchestra or musician group, making arts and crafts creations, building
objects out of glass, clay or other materials and taking part in scout and sports activities (Jelavic
and Salter 2014). These personal interests will help me engage the students as well and will bring

5SUMMARY OF SELF AWARENESS EXERCISE
about a holistic development of the mental, artistic, physical and cognitive abilities of the child.
Life experiences do matter in creating an impact on the professional life. My academic
experiences have enabled me to understand that a teacher should have strong personal standards
and continue to learn throughout her life. She should always be respectful of her students and
their parents and should be highly conscientious.
I had learnt from my student life that induction is important for all teachers and students,
especially the international students to create a good environment for them in the school. There
was an incident my school years where a certain teacher disapproved the presence of an
immigrant student in her class on the pretext of racism. She always used to hurl abuses at the
student, make fun of him and bully him. This came as a culture shock to my classmate and his
parents and they were forced to make him change his school because the incident severely
affected him (Banks 2015). We could do little to help him as we were not aware of the
humiliation. Few years later, when another student belonging to a different race took admission
in our class, I wanted to help her in all possible ways to avoid such untoward incidents which
had occurred in the past. I gradually began to strike a rapport with her by discussing about our
cultures, the customs, the language and practices. This helped to prevent any form of language or
academic shock and she became accustomed to the school environment. I utilized my intellectual
capacity to adapt, think, reason and create an environment which was conducible for my
classmate to study.
Teachers need a variety of skills to become career proficient. I have excellent
communication skills that will help me explain the material in the student’s curriculum in
different ways to my students and get adapted to their learning styles. My students will also
require interpersonal skills. I am patient and have the ability to remain calm in stressful

6SUMMARY OF SELF AWARENESS EXERCISE
conditions. My collaborative skills will enable me to work productively with my colleagues.
When I will plan my lessons to motivate my students and create their interests in classroom
activities, my presentation and creativity skills will function accordingly. I am adept at preparing
audio-visual presentations. This technological skill will help me trigger technological
advancements in my students. I also have the habit of taking risks in any situation for a sense of
adventure and to create new learning opportunities (Divan and Mason 2016). I will engage
myself in formulating experimentations, create new curriculum for students that will make them
utilize their skills in a more proficient way, discuss the intended changes with my colleagues and
seek approval from the school authorities and the parents before implementing such risks in a
classroom setup. Some of my strengths which are most relevant to my career interests are a
sound understanding of the subject Biology, my friendliness and congeniality, my understanding
of classroom curriculum standards and my character of being a good listener.
My strength of being an active listener is demonstrated by the fact that I always maintain
eye contact with the speaker and face him during a conversation and keep an open mind during
such interactions. Not jumping to conclusions will help my students to represent their feelings
and thoughts (Weger Jr et al. 2014). My knowledge of the subject and education standards will
help me select from an effective and flexible repertoire of teaching strategies that will suit the
social, physical and intellectual characteristic and development of the students. My strength will
help me revise and evaluate teaching and learning programs, by utilizing my knowledge and
experience. It will assist me in meeting the needs of my students who hail from diverse cultural,
linguistic, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds. I will be able to use my friendliness and
congeniality to lead my colleagues to develop learning programs by using their comprehensive
curriculum knowledge, assessment and reporting requirements. I will also be able to lead and

7SUMMARY OF SELF AWARENESS EXERCISE
initiate review of the school policies to support the full participation and engagement of students
suffering from disability and to ensure their compliance with legislative policies (Cameron and
Cook 2013).

8SUMMARY OF SELF AWARENESS EXERCISE
References
Banks, J.A., 2015. Cultural diversity and education. Routledge.
Biesta, G., Priestley, M. and Robinson, S., 2015. The role of beliefs in teacher agency. Teachers
and Teaching, 21(6), pp.624-640.
Cameron, D.L. and Cook, B.G., 2013. General education teachers' goals and expectations for
their included students with mild and severe disabilities. Education and training in autism and
developmental disabilities, pp.18-30.
Covay Minor, E., Desimone, L., Caines Lee, J. and Hochberg, E.D., 2016. Insights on how to
shape teacher learning policy: The role of teacher content knowledge in explaining differential
effects of professional development. Education Policy Analysis Archives/Archivos Analíticos de
Políticas Educativas, 24.
Divan, A. and Mason, S., 2016. A programme-wide training framework to facilitate scientific
communication skills development amongst biological sciences Masters students. Journal of
Further and Higher Education, 40(4), pp.543-567.
Hallman, H. and Burdick, M., 2014. Service learning and the role of “teacher.”. Service-learning
in literacy education: Possibilities for teaching and learning, pp.117-130.
Jelavic, M. and Salter, D., 2014. Managing Facilitation in Cross-Cultural Contexts: The
Application of National Cultural Dimensions to Groups in Learning
Organisations. Transformative Dialogues: Teaching & Learning Journal, 7(1).

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Petersen, J.E. and Treagust, D.F., 2014. School and University Partnerships: The Role of
Teacher Education Institutions and Primary Schools in the Development of Preservice Teachers'
Science Teaching Efficacy. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(9), p.n9.
Ramos, R.C., 2016. Considerations on the role of teacher autonomy. Colombian Applied
Linguistics Journal, (8), pp.183-202.
Robertson-Kraft, C. and Duckworth, A.L., 2014. True grit: Trait-level perseverance and passion
for long-term goals predicts effectiveness and retention among novice teachers. Teachers
College record (1970), 116(3).
Van den Bergh, L., Ros, A. and Beijaard, D., 2014. Improving teacher feedback during active
learning: Effects of a professional development program. American educational research
journal, 51(4), pp.772-809.
van Uden, J.M., Ritzen, H. and Pieters, J.M., 2014. Engaging students: The role of teacher
beliefs and interpersonal teacher behavior in fostering student engagement in vocational
education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 37, pp.21-32.
Von Culin, K.R., Tsukayama, E. and Duckworth, A.L., 2014. Unpacking grit: Motivational
correlates of perseverance and passion for long-term goals. The Journal of Positive
Psychology, 9(4), pp.306-312.
Weger Jr, H., Castle Bell, G., Minei, E.M. and Robinson, M.C., 2014. The relative effectiveness
of active listening in initial interactions. International Journal of Listening, 28(1), pp.13-31.