Winter 2023 - 4th Year

Goal: My professional responsibilities goal for my final practicum is to engage in ongoing communication with students families. In doing so, I can  provide regular updates on student progress or concerns, learning focuses, and reminders. I hope to engage in daily updates as well as weekly newsletters. 

Growth: Throughout this practicum I was able to stay in contact with parents and provide frequent updates and reminder for our classroom through daily Google Classroom postings recapping our day and weekly Classroom Updates sent out to each parent as an email. 

Regular updates helped parents stay informed about what their child was learning in class, any homework assignments, and upcoming events. This helped parents feel more involved in their child's education and enables them to support their child's learning at home.

Regular updates also were an effort to increase parent engagement and involvement in their child's education. When parents have a better understanding of what their child is learning in class, they can provide more meaningful support at home.

 Winter 2021 - 2nd Year

This semester I took part in weekly virtual workshops on various concepts related to assessment and recorded my observations and understandings and reflect on ways in which I could apply these practices as a future educator. 

This assignment was fitting with the TQS 2c and 2d surrounding career-long learning. As a teacher, it is important to continuously be evaluating your own teaching and maintaining a growth mindset to be open to new learning opportunities. One of my biggest takeaways from this experience was that professional development does not always have to be organized and extensive; taking initiative to extend your learning and enhance your understandings independently is fundamental. 

Goal: My goal is to consistently participate in professional development workshops to demonstrate that I am a life-long learner. I am especially interested in PD regarding diverse learner needs. 

 Winter 2020 - 1st Year

This semester, something I found tremendous value in was journaling and reflecting. By engaging in reflective practice, one is able to work on their own practice and professional perspective which enhances their abilities and effectiveness as a teacher. 

Although I journaled after every field experience visit, I found this especially helpful the day I taught my first lesson. In preparing my lesson, I put in the effort to make it the best it could be, however, there is no way to foresee every possible "bump" in the road. Through my reflection, I was able to identify what didn't go as planned and had the chance to implement changes for the next time. 

This is important in growing as a professional and having the ability to accept certain defeats so that you can stay humble - reflective practice is an ongoing pattern of growth not failures.

Goal: My goal is to not only acknowledge what did go as planned but to create a detailed vision for how to take action in bettering my own practice.

Fall 2019 - 1st Year

As a teacher, your professionalism can have a direct impact on the effectiveness of your teaching. As the ATA states, a teacher should provide personal, caring service to their pupils. A big part of this is our how we incorporate inclusivity, appreciation, and understanding of others into the classroom.

I had the opportunity to take part in the "Full Circle: Understanding Social Implications of Indigenous Realities" workshop this semester. I was very unfamiliar and unaware of just how challenging it can be to be an aboriginal student in a classroom that knows nothing about your culture or background. I learned about how it is a responsibility of the teacher to educate themselves to know how to better address these challenges.

Goal: I hope to further my education through participating in more Professional Development workshops such as this, to better provide for my future students.