The Personal Competencies: Through the Eyes of the Classroom Teacher

Students bring attitudes, aptitudes, and behaviors to the learning experience. Personal competencies--cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, social/emotional--help students coordinate and manage new learning. These competencies are enhanced by the teacher. However, the ability of a teacher to enhance these competencies cannot be assumed. The enhancement of student competencies depends on how well a teacher understands and uses his or her own competencies. These competencies are first developed through a teacher's personal learning of topics of interest to him or her. Curiosity drives a teacher to seek new knowledge (cognitive competency), and a growth mindset sustains the teacher through the process of learning with resilience and persistence (motivational competency). The teacher's high expectations for success (social/emotional competency) improve the teacher's self-appraisal of what he or she knows and his or her self-management of selecting the most appropriate strategies to ensure students' academic success (metacognitive competency). The interplay of competencies that improves personal learning also augments professional learning, increasing the teacher's ability to enhance the same competencies in students.