Reflect

As I reflection from my work during Term 1, I want to point out a few key reflections from my action plan and two chosen competencies. My action plan was personalized to my personal, core values at the forefront when making challenging, educational decisions. First, group processes allows teachers to bring student-based concerns and data collection to the table to discuss next steps to build teacher instruction, instructional strategies, and classroom management techniques. It allows for weekly group collaboration, sharing valuable information about kids and various teaching practices. Various teaching strategies, such as think/pair/share, hands-on activities and discussion, and self-reflection are vital regarding group processes. Lastly, I would make sure that everyone is on the same playing field, meaning that they know the targeted expectations and are working toward the same goal for students.

Second, adult learning allows practical ideas for collaboration from special education teachers working alongside regular education teachers. Staff can utilize their specific strengths to encourage adult learning in their PLC teams. This in turn will empower my colleagues to learn, design, and present their lessons to their fellow colleagues. I will use research, data, and engaging modes of communication to relay the intended message with adults. I will need to use movement, discussion/sharing time, and hands-on learning to keep adult learners engaged. Lastly, the information presented must be meaningful and relevant to teachers, focusing on instructional strategies, assessment and feedback, and reflection.

Term 2 Reflection:

See Power point presentation for reflection: Reflection Slides

• This TLI experience has been challenging and rewarding for me as a teacher leader. As I progressed through the program, I have really understood the use of the teacher competencies. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with other teachers in the years to come, focusing on the knowledge and experience that I have gained with these competencies throughout my TLI journey.
• My four chosen competencies tie into what is expected of our PLC process and going into next school year. I plan to incorporate all components of what I have learned during my TLI journey into my continued collaboration with Reg. Ed. teachers. This will look like our resource staff going to whole group PLC once a month, going to our primary concern teachers (math, reading, english), for the following 2-3 weeks with a summary meeting with our resource staff during week 4 to wrap up the monthly activities.
• This PLC process is new to our district and PLC resource group per our new superintendent. We will continue to grow through this process as a staff and SPED department group. As a teacher leader, my four chosen competencies and many others will be applied and implemented throughout this process in the upcoming years.
• Per my conversations with my colleague and BEA school representative, Professional Development ideas and courses are a work in progress. Per her email response to me: "I have some feelers out for PD classes. I am committing to putting some on next fall and I am trying to get some others involved too." This will continue to be a collaborative process as we look for new and engaging PD opportunities.

Module 8 Pre-work Reflection: M8 Reflection

My developed competency goals that I created during the Design phase have been ongoing throughout my TLI journey. I will continue to work toward mastery of these goals over the course of this next few school years. Here are the evidence points that show my growth for my Overarching Competencies, Policy Pathway, and Foundational Competency throughout my TLI journey during Terms 1 and 2:

• See Artifacts 1-3 below:
  • Artifacts 1-3 show my growth in my competency areas via notes, highlighting, and underlining from the TLI competencies booklet. The circled bullets show where I ended with my growth throughout TLI with all 4 of my chosen competencies.
  • I took notes regarding my growth in the margins of the paper for each competency.
  • Artifacts 4-5 show reflection activities that I completed during our 3rd F2F session.

Group Processes:

• Actively engage in learning groups (Emerging) See PLC meeting agenda's artifacts 6-8 in the Do section.
• Value and respect contributions of all group members (Emerging) See PLC meeting notes for Math and English Artifacts 1, 3, and 5 in the Do Section
• Examine the role of the leader in group dynamics (Developing) This was discussed at the beginning of our SPED PLC meetings, developing norms. It was easy to observe that another SPED teacher and myself developed as the leaders of our group. Her and I would make sure to get our group back on our focused topic when we got off track.
• Manage group dynamics and mediate group conflict (Performing) This was done through redirection techniques and steering staff to the main point of discussion during meetings.
• Offer solutions to challenges by actively engaging a group of stakeholders with diverse experiences in solving problems (Transforming) See google forms results in Learn phase Artifact 1 and 2 and list of solutions.

Adult Learning:

• Investigate ways in which adults learn and grow (Emerging) I led and taught adults in learning activities through seeing (visually), followed by doing (kinesthetic).
• Research ways in which adult learning impacts student success (Emerging) Adult learning transfers directly over to student learning. Adults use learning strategies and appeared passionate and excited about using and teaching these to their classes.
• Lead professional development activities to enhance the practice of others (Performing) I led PLC meetings and stuck to the meeting Agenda notes (Do section Artifacts 6-8). I plan to teach PD activities/courses to colleagues in the next few years.

Instructional Leadership Competencies Growth Term 2:

• Strive to develop professionally beyond current practice to positively impact their students including collegial interaction, course and workshop participation (Emerging) Students see me in our hallways having collegial interaction daily. I have weekly discussions with my Red. Ed. colleagues via google forms, email, or face to face discussions. I take professional development courses to develop my skills professionally.
• Establish a trustworthy work environment with colleagues in which there is open exchange of ideas (Developing) My interactions with colleagues in my various sections of my capstone project and continued discussions via google forms, department meetings indicate a trustworthy work environment.
• Work with other teachers to provide information about their own practice to promote growth and development (Developing); I will continue to share PD activities and courses and mentor my colleagues in their practice.
• Collect evidence and provide colleagues with meaningful feedback about their practice (Performing) See google forms, meeting notes. (Learn phase Artifacts 1 and 2)

Foundational Competencies Growth: Diversity, Equity, and Cultural Competence Term 2:

• Conducted a cultural audit/survey and identified current demographics and needs (Emerging level) See audit/survey link in Design phase Artifact 4.
• Assess skill and practices of SPED team members and engage in ongoing self-education and reflection (Developing level) Via SPED PLC meetings involving curriculum and self-reflection
• Explain limitations of skills and practices when engaging in our PLC teams. (This was discussed via weekly PLC meetings in our SPED group. I led discussions regarding current SPED practices, curriculum needs and programs, IEP goal needs and data collection, and collaboration with Reg. Ed. teachers regarding our SPED students in their classrooms. (Developing level)
• Create involvement for stakeholders across cultures in lesson planning, data gathering/analyzing, and decision-making processes (Performing level) As a SPED team, we do this daily in our practice. We brought out lesson ideas and instructional data to our PLC meetings, then collaborated to make the best decisions possible for our students.
• Work collaboratively with Reg. Ed. teachers across cultures toward an improvement goal (Transforming level) Our SPED staff continues to work toward exiting our SPED students to Reg. Ed. classrooms. Our hope and district goal is called "Core Plus." This model is new per our new superintendent. It is an inclusion model that includes more of our SPED population into regular education classroom settings. The tricky part is gaining Reg. Ed. teacher buy-in and getting them on board with its relevance and importance.