Engage in ongoing professional growth and leadership
Engage in ongoing professional growth and leadership
In the Spring of 2021 I made the decision to leave the school district I had been working in for 3 years to make a transition. My career began with an internship in a 4th/5th grade Next Generation Learning classroom, at the end of the semester I was given an opportunity to work in a 2nd/3rd grade classroom at a different building in the same district. The following year, I moved up to 4th grade and continued teaching this grade for 3 years after this in another district. My third year at my second district, I was challenged with the task of providing Distance Learning for the duration of the school year to my class due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, I gained so much knowledge, independence, and confidence as an elementary educator.
Leaving the 2020-21 school year I recognized the need for a change, I felt I had accomplished what I wanted in the K-5 setting. I made the decision to change school districts again and set myself up to teach 8th grade literacy and social studies. My goal for this was to continue growing professionally and discover the challenges and triumphs that come along with working with adolescents. Making this grade level shift will also be a great opportunity to refine and even define my skills and craft as an educator.
In order to become a strong leader, it's important to develop a leadership pedagogy. The resource featured to the left outlines research and thinking completed related to various leadership styles that are effective in their own independent formats.
As I look ahead to my future, this work will support me in accomplishing my upcoming goals. I learned from this that it is important to enter a leadership role with a clear idea in mind on how I plan to lead a team. This will allow me to be clear in expectations while also having a clear pedagogy that is grounded in research that will benefit the ways in which I lead. This is an excellent tool to utilize in order to reflect on these concepts.
I was fortunate enough to work with my School Improvement Team as well as my 8th grade literacy and global studies team to engage in valuable curriculum review and design work. The artifact to the right overviews research and work I've completed to determine appropriate steps for curriculum development and review.
I intend to utilize this artifact with both teams to focus on heavy review of our current global studies curriculum. This can support ensuring we are taking appropriate steps to design, test, review, and revise our curriculum to meet new social studies standards.