Mary Kempen

9/26/14
Portfolio Essay: Viterbo Standards
My teaching will incorporate the Viterbo professional standards and Franciscan Values as I
always aim to do what is right for the students, their parents, and their communities. Promoting
fairness and justice means I must carefully consider what impact my decisions will have on students
lives. I will guard against allowing my own personal feelings such as exhaustion to interfere with serving
my students well. For example, although a situation such as a grade concern may seem like a minor
issue to me, I will keep in mind that to the student the problem is important, and I will strive to resolve
such matters fairly by listening to the students point of view and offering an explanation of my decision.
I will demonstrate professional and ethical behavior in always treating students, their families,
and my colleagues with respect. I will maintain confidentiality when working with student information
such as grades or behavior reports, and I will refrain from sharing such information with persons who do
not have a need for it. Reliability and responsibility mean that I will always be physically and mentally
present to perform my duties as a teacher. I will not allow my emotional states to determine my
responses to students; instead, I will keep in mind the students perspectives in our interactions and
how much greater impact an emotional reaction from me will have on them than vice versa. My
reactions can either devastate a student or inspire him/her, and I must strive to do the latter.
Responsibility also means I will start and end classes on time, and I will prepare for the lessons so as to
make the best use of our class time together. I will take care with student work submissions and
provide students feedback promptly. I will also be reliable and responsible to my colleagues. I will
complete administrative assignments as requested, and I will contribute to departmental or committee
projects by their deadlines.
Of the Franciscan values Viterbo espouses, exhibiting joy in teaching may be the most crucial for
success in the classroom. My joy in teaching will guide me to be attentive to and solicit responses from
my students in coursework. Spanish class, like other foreign language classes, is most successful when
students have the opportunity to explore their own interests and communicate about what matters in
their own lives. My classes will be a place to share information about students and my own likes and
dislikes, life events, and discoveries. Through our conversations, we will get to know and appreciate
each other as individuals, and I will be better enabled to tailor my instruction to each student so he or
she may enjoy learning as well as the others company. To that end, we will also explore different
aspects of Hispanic cultures, which I enjoy greatly, and encourage curiosity about others. The joy of
teaching is not only the joy of sharing my passion for Spanish culture and language study but also the joy
of celebrating each of my students successes as they increase their proficiency in the language.
To achieve that success, my students will require resources. It is my duty to identify the
resources which we can use and which we have available. Using resources wisely entails managing class
time such that all students are actively engaged at all times. In the language classroom, our goal is
communicative practice. For this reason, I must manage class time so students have the maximum
opportunity to participate in meaningful activities with one another rather than become distracted or
bored by a lecture. Using resources wisely also entails being a good steward of my schools financial
resources. I must choose carefully the technology resources such as equipment and subscription
services that will have the most benefit for my students and still be within economic feasibility for my
school. I will also incorporate a consideration of resource use into my lessons. As we examine Hispanic
cultures and compare and contrast them to our own, my students and I may study how different people
use natural resources such as agricultural land, petroleum, and forest products. We will consider how
our choices regarding consumption can affect other people and what might be responsible uses of these
resources from different perspectives.