Professional Development Plan

Lacey McCarty

Professional Development Plan

I. Community, School, and Student Context

For my 3^rd semester of student teaching I am teaching at Park Avenue Elementary in Aztec, New Mexico. This school is the only 4^th-5^th grade school in town. There are eight 4th grade teachers and eight 5th grade teachers at Park Avenue. I am teaching in a 5^th grade classroom. Park Avenue offers free breakfast and lunch to all students. The school also has an afterschool program. Park Avenue Elementary is situated near the Aztec Boys and Girls Club, the Aztec Public Library, Hartman Park, The baseball fields, skatepark, and the Animas River.

Aztec is a rural town that is situated around the Animas River. Much of the community is involved in the oil and gas community. The class currently has 27 students but we are receiving another student soon. My cooperating teacher is well-known for her strong classroom management skills and occasionally she receives a student that is transitioning out of the Behavioral Disorder class or one who is having difficulty getting along in another classroom. My cooperating teacher is also bilingual in Spanish and English so she gets the 5^th grade ESL students who Spanish is their first language. I attended this same school and grew up in Aztec so the community is very familiar to me.

In December 2017 a school shooting happened at Aztec High School and the lives of two students were taken. This school is about a block away from Park Avenue. The 5th grade students were 4^th graders at the time of this traumatic event and they have all been affected by it. That event also changed how many operational procedures within the school district. Security precautions are stringent and drills are frequently practiced. The citizens of Aztec were also affected that day and there is a strong sense of community in Aztec. People are taking more safety precautions but are very supportive of one another. Personally I see more kindness and patience among the people of Aztec.

All of the students in class speak English but three students also speak Spanish and one student speaks Navajo. Our class has a diversified mix of Caucasian, Navajo, and Hispanic students. Many of the students are considered middle class, financially speaking, but several students are from very low-income families. Several of our students have very traumatic histories. At least four students are being raised by grandparents and seven students are being raised in single parent homes. Eight of our students are considered Special Education students and have IEPs in place. Most of the students in my class are athletic. They play and complete in YAFL football, soccer, baseball, wrestling, dance, and track.

The class I will be focusing on for the PDP is a 5^th grade class and I teach writing, grammar, and science. The class rotates to other classes for math and reading. There are 27 students in this class. Our school district encourages small group instruction and we usually do much of our learning in small group rotations. My students are a very social group. In general they are fairly engaged during learning but they are a talkative crowd. I feel that we have a moderate level of parental involvement and support. Generally, the students in my class are creative and work well with one another in group settings. There are numerous strong readers and several math Olympians in class. I believe our students need to develop their skills as writers in order to be able to communicate their thoughts and ideas in print. They also need to work on developing their reading comprehension skills.

I have come to realize the importance of knowing my students’ values, beliefs, families, cultures, and histories in order to better understand them and teach them. Getting to know my students has been imperative to meeting their learning, physical and emotional needs. For instance, knowing that one student has no access to computers or phones helps me to understand that using a computer for research will be a difficult task for her. Current research is showing that building rapport with one’s students leads to more successful implementation of a teacher’s classroom management plan. Recognizing that classroom management is pivotal to effective instruction, I hope to design a professional development plan that strengthens my skills regarding classroom management. Educators like Dave Burgess, author of the popular book Teach Like a Pirate, suggest methods that enable teachers to establish rapport with their students in order to build a more positive classroom environment. Based on some of the challenges I have witnessed in the classroom this year I was eager to learn more about these methods and how I can implement them in my future classroom.

II. Rationale and Focus for Professional Learning

I will focus on classroom management in my professional development plan. Specifically, I want to explore how gaining rapport with one’s students leads to better engagement and classroom management. Student behavior has been an issue for the entire 5th grade at this school. Unfortunately, it has been an overwhelming issue for almost all of the teachers this year and the 4^th grade teachers state that this was their main concern the previous year. From the moment I entered the classroom, and the even the 5^th grade building, behavior issues and classroom management have been areas that I feel I could improve in. Generally, I handle negative behaviors effectively, but I would like to discover more ways to curb unwanted behaviors in class and keep the focus on learning and teaching. I also felt that often when I was teaching, despite how creative my lesson was, I would often lose the students’ attention. Past feedback from my cooperating teacher, other teachers, and administrators indicated that classroom management was one area that I needed to strengthen in my teaching. Ultimately, I feel that getting to know my students’ needs, strengths, and challenges by developing rapport with them will enable to meet their learning needs and better manage my classroom.

The Aztec School District has adopted the PAX Good Behavior Game program this school year. It is designed to focus on the positive and deters unwanted negative behaviors in order to promote academic success. Students’ negative behaviors, or spleems as they are called, are ignored or counted as per the teacher’s choosing. If a student accrues too many spleems they will not be able to participate in a wacky prize. Wacky prizes are small rewards that are drawn from a bag and consist of short activities like getting to make animal noises for two minutes or walking backward in the halls. Additionally, teachers use a harmonica and play a few short notes in sequence to get students’ attention. I have questioned the efficacy of this program because I have not actually seen it work. There are also no consequences if a student acts out or takes away instructional time from the rest of the students. My students will be attending 6^th grade at the middle school the following year and that school does not use the PAX program. PAX also does not address the value of building rapport with students in order to achieve better classroom management and engagement.

The NM Teach Domain and Sub Domain to which my goal relates is Domain 6: The teacher manages the educational setting in a manner that promotes positive student behavior and a safe and healthy environment, and the Sub Domain is A: Integrates the teaching of constructive, pro-social behaviors into regular instruction. I did research, read books, and conferred with other teachers about ways to build the rapport I am seeking to really engage my students and build rapport. I believe my findings will significantly impact how I teach and how my students learn. Specifically, once a positive environment is established, hopefully my students will be more inclined to trust, share, and work well with others and myself within the classroom.

I believe this area of professional development is so important because it will enable me to really meet the needs of my students and keep the focus of my classroom on learning. I have seen so much education time lost to behavior management that I wanted to see what I could do to reduce that loss of time in my own class. Additionally, I hope that a subsequent benefit will be that there will be less anxiety and more enjoyment in my classroom environment. There are students I have personally seen suffer from the fighting, yelling, and discontent that occurs in unruly learning environments.

I believe I can achieve this goal in a variety of ways including building student rapport through care, establishing a connection to their home life through home visits, and developing an environment of mutual respect. My research has led me to some interesting insights that will aid me in reaching my goals. I have also used feedback from administrators and my cooperating teaching to develop a path in addition to gaining valuable insights about gaining student rapport for better classroom management from other teachers who have endeavored to meet these goals as well.

Spending small amounts of time conferencing with students, eating lunch, before and after school, recesses. Going to their events, attending family nights, communicated with family. Checking on their physical needs. Greeting them each morning in an authentic way and wishing away each day in the same way. Throughout the 2018-2019 school year I have observed classrooms with excellent classroom management and some that seem to have very little control over student behavior or learning in general. The classes with excellent classroom management have teachers that all have one thing in common: excellent student rapport. Recognizing that classroom management is pivotal to effective instruction, I hope to design a professional development plan to strengthen their skills regarding classroom management. The class

III. Evidence

My focus area that is grounded in specific evidence including a books, published articles, interviews, and blogs. Additionally, I gathered data from conversations and feedback I received from my CT, other teachers I worked with, and the principals of our school. I also gathered some feedback from the students in my class. I was fortunate to be part of a book study with fellow teachers at Park Avenue Elementary and we read Dave Burgess’ Teach Like a Pirate in which he writes about increasing student engagement by developing strong student-teacher relationships and gaining rapport with students (2012).

Evidence Collection Timeline

Evidence Source

Date(s)

Notes

Data

CT Observations

1/8/19-4/15/19

Feedback from various observations and conversations; Personal experiences discussed

Formal and Informal Observations

Instructor Observation

2/1/19-4/12/19

Behavior issues discussed as well as building rapport with studets

Formal Observation Feedback, Discussions

Student Feedback

Week of 4/1/19

Including students in the process

Student survey

Published Book

1/20/19-4/30/19

Participated in Book Study

Mainly used the chapter on building rapport.

Published Article

4/12/19

Elijah Carbajal article

The case for building rapport

I participated in a small group book study with other teachers at Park Avenue Elementary. The book we were assigned was Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess. I found his portion of the book called Rapport to be very enlightening. In this section Burgess uses his own experiences in the classroom to discuss the importance of building rapport for less behavior issues and more involvement within the classroom. He states that, “misbehavior usually indicates boredom, overwhelm, or lack of connection to the material being covered” (Burgess, 2012, 20). I did more research to discover how to address this idea in the classroom.

First, setting an atmosphere for success is the starting point when creating a positive classroom environment. Dave Burgess strives to not be uptight in the classroom and works to establish “a safe, supportive, and positive classroom environment” (2012, p.22). He welcomes each student and using music as they transition to his class (Burgess, 2012, p.23). He also sets the tone in his class by encouraging students to get to know one another. Burgess states that “it is critical for students to at least know each other’s names if we are trying to build an environment with a high level of rapport” (2012, p.27). Therefore, building rapport with as students is as important as the rapport they build among themselves. I have modeled these practices this last semester. I greet each student each day and design activities in which the students get to know me and one another.

Just as important as setting the right classroom atmosphere is the process of getting to know one’s students. Dave Burgess speaks of the importance of the informal time we spend with our students. I spend lunches with my students in addition to recess time, before class, and even outside of the classroom such as sporting events and Family Literacy Night. Burgess says that he believes “being available to kids says a lot to them about whether or not you are interested in them beyond your particular class” (2012, p. 21). I have personally seen these endeavors pay off in the classroom. I have went to track meets, football games, dance competitions, plays and more events just to see my students. Even the toughest kids want to be noticed and I have developed better relationships for going. I want my students to know I care about them and their personal lives.

These thoughts led me to rediscover the value of home visits. Although widely unused in recent years, home visits are another valuable resources in gaining student rapport and showing students that their teacher cares about them. My own personal experience of a home visit with me, my son, and his future teacher helped me to see his teacher differently. First it shows support because teachers are taking time out of their own schedules to spend time with the student outside of the classroom. Secondly, home visits allow teachers to connect with students on their own turf, in their personal environment. Also the home visit illuminates what strengths, supports, challenges, or needs the student may have outside of the classroom.

Research has shown that students often become more motivated to learn and be engaged following home visits which can result in higher achievement, less misbehavior, and more parental involvement (Delisio, 2008). Teachers who have participated in home visits often feel a stronger connection with and more empathy for students and their families as well as forming better professional relationships with other teachers (Stuht, 2009, p.24). Additionally, research has shown that when family, community members, and teachers are directly involved in students’ learning experiences, in and out of the classroom, children have higher achievement and are better behaved (Brough, 1997, p.265). Initiating and carrying out home visits is a topic unto itself and one I hope to explore further.

Creating a unique classroom experience can also go a long way in developing a positive classroom environment, building rapport with students, and lessening behavior battles. Burgess states that we teachers can make connections between teaching content and pop culture and that we “should encourage your students to draw these types of connections (2012, p.20). He goes on to suggest that we make it a habit to comb current events to create hooks for our students in order to facilitate learning (2012, p.20).

Fourth grade teacher Elijah Carbajal frequently practices reflection to gain better understand of his classroom and students. Carbajal states that through research and self-reflection he discovered that “the key to better behavior management (is having) positive relationships with students” (2018). He goes on to note that this was achieved by eating lunch with his students, playing with them at recess, and attending their performances and sporting events. He states that once he “began to respect students and show them that (he) cared about who they were outside of (his) four walls, they began to return that consideration in the classroom” (Carbajal, 2018). Like Elijah Carbajal, the rewards of creating relationships are pivotal for classroom success.

One of the most useful sources of evidence I obtained was from my students. I gave them a student survey that was anonymous in nature. Students were asked a variety of questions that helped me analyze what was important to students in the classroom, what helps them learn, and what they feel best keeps them on task during teaching. I submitted this survey to three separate fifth grade classes and the results overwhelmingly revealed that students participate best and are more engaged when they feel they are liked, respected, and cared for by the teacher. They also indicated that they felt behavior disruptions are likely to occur more often when the teacher is uptight, they can’t relate to the content, or they do not think their teacher cares about their opinions. An example of the survey is provided below.

Student Survey:

Hi! Please DO NOT put your name on this paper!

Please take the following short survey so teachers can learn what helps you learn!

Thank you for participating!

5 = Very much 4 = A little bit 3 = Neutral 2 = not a lot 1 = not at all

1. Do you feel your teacher cares about you? 5 4 3 2 1

How do you know?_____________________________________________________

2. What makes you want to participate in class? _________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

3. Do you think the PAX behavior game helps you learn? 5 4 3 2 1

4. Do you think the PAX behavior game helps students behave? 5 4 3 2 1

5. What do you like or dislike about PAX?__________________________________________

6. What helps you want to share in class?__________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________

7. Do you ever eat lunch with your teacher or see your teacher at after school sporting events and performances? _________________________________________________________________

8. Do you like your class?___________________________________________________________

9. Do you know all of your classmates first and last names?_______________________________

10. Does your teacher yell a lot? 5 4 3 2 1

11. Do you ever break the class rules? Why or why not? _____________________________________________________________________

12. Has your teacher ever met your parents/guardians? Yes No

13. Has your teacher ever been to your home? Yes No

14. What would you think if your teacher visited your home? ________________________________________________________________________

15. Would you like it if your teacher came to your game, performance, or spent time with you outside of the classroom?__________________________________________________

Why or why not?___________________________________________________________

Anything else you would like your teacher to know about you:

Anything else you think your teacher needs to know about getting students to pay attention in class:

Thank you!

IV. Collaboration

Ideally, I would like to work with a team of teachers who would be interested in conducted home visits with one another in order to build better student rapport and connect with our students’ families. This has been discussed with the teachers I currently work with and it is something they continue to study and consider for the next school year. I plan to continue learning from and collaborated with fellow teachers that I have observed having good teacher-student relationships and effective classroom management. I believe that my mentor teacher will be useful in this as well. I also come from a family of teachers who develop good rapport with students so I will use them as a resource in my area of focus as well. But most importantly, I will continue to build relationships with the students themselves, seek their feedback, and use this information to hopefully have a successful learning environment.

V. Impact of Personal and Professional Identity

Ultimately, I am becoming a teacher because I really love sharing knowledge and watching and helping students learn. I consider myself a life-long learner, always seeking out new opportunities to learn about a piece of history, culture, math, science, and more. My parents did not attend college, we did not have a phone, television, or internet in my home when I was growing up. Despite this, I always had a sense of the importance of education and learning. I am confident with the content I will teach. If I don’t know a piece of information, I will find a way to learn it.

I was not the kind of student that acted out in class, talked too often, was disrespectful, or shirked work that I didn’t want to do. So when I was faced with teaching students who do all of those things I met my first real stumbling block. It was easy to choose my focus for professional development as a result of this. I think that often as teachers we are so busy trying to control the environment in which we teach in that we forget to meet our students on their terms in order to build trust and respect. We do it with other adults in our daily lives, so why aren’t we doing it with our students?

I have already had a career as an office manager and I do not really want to control my class. Instead, I would have to prefer to have a partnership with my students. I know this work will be an ongoing learning experience. I do not believe that a boxed behavior program will reach all studnents, or all teachers for that matter. The real connection lies in the bonds we create with our students. Building rapport, and thus strong relationships, with my students will be a goal in my class from the first day. I may teach over 100 students a day in middle school but each day will afford me the opportunity to meet their needs, understand them more, and build rapport with the hopes of creating a positive learning environment with them.

References:

Brough, J. A. (1997). What current research says to the middle level practitioner. J.L. Irvin (Ed.).

Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association.

Burgess, Dave. (2012). Teach like a pirate. San Diego: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.

Carbajal, Elijah. (2018). Behavior management: Are relationships holding you back? Room to Discover.

Retrieved from https://roomtodiscover.com/behavior-management/ .

Delisio, E. (2008). Home visits forge school, family links. Education World. https://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/%20admin/admin342.shtml.

Stuht, A.C. (2009, November-December). Hitting the streets for home visits: Home visits can bridge the

Chasm between families and schools by increasing parent engagement, student achievement

And attendance. Leadership, 39(2), 24 .