What is it? Domain 4 of the Danielson Framework focuses on the key aspects of a teachers professional responsibility. What this means is that this domain emphasizes to teachers the importance of reflecting on teaching, maintaining accurate records, communicating with families, participating in the professional community, growing and developing professionally, and showing professionalism. Educators need to ensure that these characteristics are featured in their classrooms and their lives in order to maximize their potential as educators. Access to Danielson Domain 4 makes it easy for teachers to reference and therefore know what expectations they should be holding themselves and their classrooms to.
Why do we need it? This domain is vital to the success of a classroom because what makes an effective teacher is a willingness and dedication to continue learning and growing throughout their career. If a teacher is not implementing and keeping up with the components in this domain then they are not fulfilling their responsibility as an educator. If teachers are aware of and follow the components of Domain 4 and strive to be the most impactful that they can be then education as a whole will improve and as a result the lives of students will improve too. Teachers need Domain 4 for many reasons but one of the more important ones is because it reminds us educators of our responsibilities and the best ways in which to make an impact.
The perspective of a working teacher: I recently had a conversation with an educator who shared some insight regarding Domain 4 in the classroom with a focus on component 4A. She spoke about how feedback does not always come in the form of a class survey after the lesson is finished. Often time it falls on the teacher to pay attention to students facial expressions, body language & interactions because those can tell you a lot. Even after 19 years, she said that she still thinks about every lesson/activity and tries to think about how she can improve it in the future. Her advice is to constantly make mental notes about how things are going throughout a lesson. She says she asks herself two main questions repeatedly: "What is working well? What will I modify for the next time around?" Reflection is the key to a masterful teacher. Her view is that no teacher is perfect and any lesson can always improve.
Sources: Danielson Group » The Framework. (2017). Danielsongroup.org. Retrieved 21 September 2017, from http://www.danielsongroup.org/framework/