PSED Portfolio Amanda C. Parrish

ISLLC Standard 2.0-Candidates who complete the program are educational leaders who have the knowledge and ability to promote the success of all students by promoting positive school culture, by providing an effective instructional program, by applying best practice to all learning, and by designing comprehensive professional growth plans for staff.

Planning and Placement Team Explanation and reflection:

Promoting a positive school culture and providing effective instructional programming for all students is one aspect of leadership that must be important and addressed. Throughout my teaching career and especially during my internship, I was privy to many aspects of programming and awareness of student growth. During my internship especially, I was asked to be on the Planning and Placement Team at Intermediate School 72. This team consisted of assistant principals, guidance counselors, deans, and our school based support team. Within this team, we analyzed specific student data that teachers would send us relating to their academic needs. Teachers would suggest that a student be placed in a more restrictive/non-restrictive program, and it was our job as a Planning Team (PPT) to observe, gather data, and assess the students progress in their current program to come to an agreeance that the student was either placed correctly, or needed further testing or placement.

I feel that the Planning and Placement Team was a great experience as far as providing effective instructional programing to all students because I was in fact a part of the entire process from acknowledgement of student issues, to planning assessments, observing and ultimately placement into a more effective program. This experience directly relates back to ISLLC Standard 2.0, due to the critical analysis that was taken in order to apply best practices to all learning and designing a program that best met individual student needs.

PPT meetings were held bi-monthly, and students were discussed. The plan for each meeting was to address what occurred at the previous meeting and see what progress and steps have been taken since then. I was in charge of charting all data and information down, and making sure "next steps" by certain individuals on the PPT team were being met. This team ultimately by February, was able to place at least 10 students properly, with testing done and parent consent and involvement. This was a great experience to ensure effective programming and it was great for me to see as a future administrator the process that is involved with student concerns, observation, testing, and placement.

PPT Meeting Notes 2019-2020 6th grade (2).docx

Unit and Strategic Plan Development explanation and reflection:

This unit plan below is an artifact from my course work in the East Stroudsburg University Graduate Program. I felt that this is an exemplary artifact for ISLLC Standard 2.0, because it was a project that was done based solely on curriculum development, student cultural data, and effective interdisciplinary programming to meet the needs of all students. Growing up and change is a curriculum framework that was designed for grade six.

The purpose of this was to develop an awareness of the changes that take place in adolescence that grow, shape and mold students into individuals that are aware of themselves, and their surroundings. This curriculum emphasized the need for working together and learning from one another as a catalyst for growth and change. Growing up and change was created to merge the understanding of language arts and mathematics to facilitate a complete understanding that allows students to grow from a place of knowledge to understanding. The beliefs behind this were grounded and guided by multiple pedagogical styles which were Culturally relevant pedagogy, multiculturalism, and constructivism. The goal of this unit was for students to learn from another and work together to achieve success in the best possible effective program.

A lot of research and time went into programming this unit. Many theorists such as Gloria Ladson-Billings and Christine Sleeter were used to encompass multicultural educational practices, because I believed in honoring and building on children's connections to their cultural and linguistic roots and their community based -identities the best base for academic learning. Constructivism is relevant to our curriculum because it is built on the premise that students gain knowledge by making connections from experiences based upon previously learned concepts. It is student centered and becomes personalized because it is based on a student’s individual experiences.

The curriculum was developed with the idea of teaching and aiding in the development of the whole child. Although the curriculum is based on well established, and researched theories, I did this with an understanding that the continually evolving world requires a different approach to education, in order to adequately prepare students for college, career, and citizenship. A lot of research and practice, confirmed that a whole child approach to education would develop and prepare students for the challenges and opportunities of today and tomorrow by addressing students' comprehensive needs through the shared responsibility of students, families, schools, and communities.

I also felt that this artifact was an effective example of programing and planning for ISLLC Standard 2.0 because Growing Up & Change is also an integrated curriculum that is based on the theory of interdisciplinary learning and multicultural experiences. Growing Up & Change makes a connection from one subject into another. As an interdisciplinary approach to teaching, this integrated curriculum was made for students to explore the connections and interrelations that exist between academic subject areas in order to create educational experiences that reflects what they truly do know about the learning process. The interdisciplinary approach in this curriculum shows the relationship of Mathematics and Language Arts to the theme of Growing Up & Change, and is a prime example of how effective planning can result in lifelong learning.

Copy of PSED554-complete curriculum

Comprehensive Educational Plan-goals and systems for future growth explanation and reflection:

I feel that adult learning and continued learning is an important aspect of the education profession. In order to keep up with the changes constantly occurring in the education field, teachers and administrators need to modify their practices to meet the needs of their ever growing and changing students and cultural/curriculum practices. For most of us, curiosity and questions continue as we grow, and our minds are constantly engaged in ideas, fact finding, assessment of experiences, and gathering different types of information. While child learners are usually the center of our learning environments, it is also important to create a professional plan for adults to continue their practices and learning as well. I feel that my work in the Professional and Secondary Graduate Program not only prepared me in theory with the importance of effective planning and programing, but it led me to create this plan, then implement it into my internship as an example and tool to guide my school leaders with important data. I was not only able to create this PD plan for my graduate level classes, but I was also able to utilize it as a data driven tool for discussion in our administrative meetings and SWOT analysis and school-wide comparisons. This is a great artifact to include in ISLLC Standard 2.0.

The professional development plan of the New York City School System for the 2019-2020 school year was designed to meet the needs of adult learning, and the standards that rank the district by embedding them into big ideas that generate cultural interest within the student body. In this way, not only would teachers learn to address the issue of test scores, but we would meet the interests and needs of the population in which our school encompassed. My goal of this plan was to help others understand that teaching a multicultural curriculum must start with student ideas that are developed by the teacher, after proper training and continued learning. With that in mind, continuing to learn and adapt to the changes in our schools is of the utmost importance and adult education is an on-going process.

The purpose of this plan was to improve student learning by providing meaningful, focused, professional development opportunities to adults that are aligned with the Learning Standards of New York State. Additionally, as I have learned throughout my internship and from my mentor that public school districts are required to have a professional development plan which describes how it will provide all of its teachers, teaching assistants and long-term substitute teachers with substantial professional development opportunities and how it will provide its professional certificate holders with opportunities to maintain such certificates in good standing based upon successfully completing 100 hours of professional development for teachers and 100 hours for teaching assistants every five years.

I felt that my work with this plan shows that as a future administrator, I understand the importance that professional development is ongoing. Adult learning gives learners the chance to increase their knowledge, develop new skills and gain helpful qualifications and credentials that can make them more advanced in their career fields. Professional development can play an important role in helping people develop new skills and improve their skills in their job field. That is why it was important to include this artifact to ISLLC Standard 2.0. Successful professional development occurs when philosophies and practices align and a team mentality takes place within the building. Effective professional development and adult learning in my mind leads to student success.

District PD Plan