Continuing Professional Growth...

I am energized and motivated by professional growth opportunities. With my individual professional areas of interest (technology, teaching as activism...), areas of growth that are required for program success (student teaching evaluation, EPP evaluation...), and growth opportunities that arise through institutional connections and collaborations (Online Faculty Co-hort, collaborative grant proposals...), there has been no shortage of professional growth since my last review.

Designing a new course in Social Studies Methods has demanded a significant effort in professional growth. Through Faculty Development Committee support (Kramer and Blank fund), I was able to participate in the state and National social studies conferences and a summer institute devoted to training in the Inquiry Design Model. Those varied experiences allowed for some very intentional professional connections with social studies educators in higher ed, in post-secondary education, and other experts in the field. Much of the activity reflected below is directly related to the development of that course. I do not have a background in the social studies discipline, but I have an intense interest in the history of social justice issues and the relationship to citizenship, civil discourse, marginalized peoples, and other social topics.

Below you will find evidence of the prep work for designing the new course in social studies methods, various grant proposals with direct course impact, and references to other work that are described in greater detail under "Service to the College" and "Service to the Community and World."

Identified Strengths

• ability to generalize expertise for the good of the program

• resiliency and collaborative mindset

• professional areas of interest directly impact areas of educator preparation

Identified Challenges

• misjudging workload and agreeing to take on additional tasks to my own detriment

• procrastination

• lack of funding and institutional priority

Future Goals

• strengthen professional relationship with TN DOE officials through greater leadership involvement

• use knowledge and skill gained during pandemic to create training tools for PK-12 teachers and candidates

• achieve Google Trainer and Google Innovator status...eventually

• continue to seek out educational trends and emerging technologies to support candidate success