Professional Growth Reflection and Growth Plan

1. Describe your overall growth as a teacher thus far.

I chose a career in education because of how motivated and energized my undergraduate program made me feel. Both the acquisition of knowledge and the sense of achievement offered by good grades were addicting, but the naïve novice who began the journey into teaching quickly realized that secondary education isn’t necessarily imbued with such a high quotient of positive momentum. At underachieving schools like ours, apathy and academic inertia is even more endemic. If I was going to succeed in this industry, I quickly learned I would have to redefine my notion of success.

The need to redefine this understanding was driven by my training in Special Education. Many SpEd students will never achieve grade level results, but that does not mean we as educators reduce our commitment to them; rather, we do the opposite, and redouble our attempts to help them succeed. They might not arrive at the same finishing line as their peers, but for SpEd students, growth and continuous improvement is no less of an achievement, requires no less effort and deserves no less praise than their 4.0 achieving peers receive. Arriving at this understanding was a major breakthrough in my journey as an educator, but understanding that this alternative perspective was equally as applicable across the entire student populace fundamentally changed my approach to teaching, and triggered the biggest growth spurt I believe I have enjoyed thus far in my development.

Whether my students have learning difficulties, lack motivation, have issues at home which complicates their school progress or complete every assignment on time and have not a worry in the world, I have learned to understand that my role is the same. I am not located at that aforementioned finishing line, guiding students towards me. No, I am with them at the start line, with each route to success different and unique. I am there to help them take one more step than they thought possible, and to give them the tools they require to keep making strides when I am not there to push them. Where they ultimately finish is somewhat irrelevant to me now; if my students have the wherewithal to strive for success and the tools to know how to achieve their goal then I have succeeded, no matter what that goal ultimately is.

a. Describe a specific professional development activity, and explain how the activity has helped deepen your knowledge of the subject matter content you teach.

I spent three years tutoring other undergrads on essay writing, and it took about three minutes for me to realize that almost none of that experience was relevant to teaching middle school English. When my host teacher began a unit on essay writing, I was excited to see where I could apply my knowledge, but I failed to appreciate that I had worked with students for whom the logic of informational writing was already firmly embedded. The object lesson for middle-schoolers is not to make the most succinct or impactful point possible, but to learn the process that will eventually enable that outcome. Arriving in education as an adult, and with no young relatives to observe or learn from, meant that I had completely discarded the notion that logical reasoning was not an automatic thought process. Although requiring evidence to justify a claim is as natural as putting one foot in front of the other for me, it would be impossible for students who have yet to learn the skill to appreciate that process in the same way. My co-teacher taught the students (and me) a simple but effective device to ensure their reasoning was logically sound. The acronym R.A.C.E.S tells students how to structure a response to a question:

R = Restate the question

A = Answer the question (make your claim).

C = Cite the evidence that supports your claim

E = Explain why the evidence supports your claim

S = Summarize your response.

Mnemonics such as this can be so powerful that they will stay with you for the rest of your life. It’s not the simplicity of the message they share, but the profundity of their impact relative to the (lack of) complexity that makes them such a memorable and essential learning device. They also give new educators such as myself the opportunity to remember that you can only learn to perfect a craft once you have assimilated the fundamentals of it, and that the teaching and learning of the former in no way resembles the teaching of the latter.

b. Describe a specific professional development activity, and explain how the activity has enhanced your use of content pedagogy in the classroom.

Among cohorts with below average literacy skills, reading aloud can be so terrifying that the threat is debilitating. Nonetheless, we still have novels to study and we as teachers should already be pretty good at public speaking, so we don’t need the practice. This mismatch between academic need and student preference means that navigating long form literature has the potential for disaster. A symptom of this fragility can be seen in the process I inherited for our 8^th graders; we would read each chapter from start to finish, each student reading a paragraph or so, but with the teachers still doing the bulk of the work. Once the chapter was finished (survived?) students would complete a worksheet to confirm their comprehension of the text. I recorded one such class for an observation and my supervisor made it clear just how inefficient and ineffective that method was. At first glance, her recommendation was a contradiction in terms; instead of reading straight through, stop and question the text as you read. Retain the worksheets, but answer the questions as you go along. Students take notes while they read, and when we pause to analyze the text, I should ask questions of them, guiding them towards the necessary answers rather than dictating them. I applied her suggestions – a pedagogy she called exegetical teaching - to the next class and recorded it for observation once more. Rather than creating inertia, the stop-start nature worked in tandem with the Q&A sections to increase focus across the whole classroom. One of my most challenging ne’er-do-wells responded to more of my questions than they had in the rest of the year combined. Completing the worksheet was a sprint finish exercise rather than a painful slog that lumbered into the next lesson. That following lesson also began with more vigor and energy and the effort required to activate their prior knowledge was reduced to almost zero. The payoff for implementing my supervisor’s suggestion was immediately and thrillingly obvious and I will surely retain this newly-gifted pedagogy as a go-to strategy for the rest of my career.

2. Describe a specific example of collaborating with grade-level, subject, or cross-curricular teams to analyze student data.

In order to better serve all our students, the Special Education team reviewed the performance and needs of all our students with disabilities to determine whether their current supports were appropriate. As an ELA SpEd teacher, I was present throughout this process. We compared our informal evaluations of each student with their assessment data, and if everything aligned we allocated them into groups requiring more, less or the same level of support as they currently receive. Where there was a disparity between observation and output, we sought extra data, by asking for other teacher’s input and comparing assessment scores across subjects. Over the course of several sessions we realigned over 100 students and there was a great degree of satisfaction at the conclusion, because we were all certain that our decisions were informed, fact-based and almost certain to create better outcomes for the entire student body.

a. Explain how the collaboration on student data from part D2 influenced the planning and modification of your future instruction.

This process included the whole SpEd Dept. I was able to compare notes with my colleagues from other content areas, most especially math. Having the opportunity to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of our students, and the successes or failures of our teaching methods, allowed us to fine tune our approach for each individual. Sometimes teachers try new strategies just because the last one wasn’t successful, but they would all prefer to do so because a colleague said how well a specific strategy works for them. Differentiating instruction for struggling or developmentally challenged students is much easier with an accurately written, well-informed IEP, but for a novice teacher, if the successful supports are not correctly documented, trying to identify the best way to help your students can have all the scientific integrity of cargo cult psychology. For some of my most at-risk students, I implemented my colleagues’ recommendations immediately and saw the results just as quickly, so I have requested that our team make these discussions a regular component of our meeting schedule.

b. Explain how the collaboration on student data from part D2 helped you grow as an educator.

On a selfish level, it is comforting to share your novice opinion and have a veteran colleague tell you they agree entirely. From my many years as a recruiting manager I know that I am a very astute judge of adults, but that skill isn’t automatically transferred to young people. When you are able to discuss your observations with a more experienced peer, and you complete the activity feeling like a genuine colleague, you can be confident that you are developing appropriate skills and ideas. Affirmation is an essential factor in anyone’s development; it’s a crucial indicator of how far you have progressed (or not). The two-way exchange of information was hugely beneficial for my growth; not only did I learn from my colleagues, but they also learned a little from me, and about who I am as a professional and a colleague. I know that when we next have these discussions, I don’t need to worry about whether my opinion is valid, only that I am doing enough with my students for my seasoned colleagues to keep seeking my opinion in the long-term. This kind of drive is a superb boost for a developing professional.

3. Identify a professional educational organization (e.g., NEA, ASCD, NSTA), and describe a specific example information or materials provided by the organization that contributed to your development as an educator.

Differentiating instruction sounds like a wonderful theory, but for already overworked teachers, it can sound more like a Sisyphean trap, with the threat of a never-ceasing, exponential increase in workload for every module, lesson and student. Thanks to the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) (About CAST), that prospect can easily be avoided by applying their Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework when designing instruction. The framework is built on three principles; engagement, representation, and action and expression. A UDL graphic organizer helps educators differentiate their instruction design by creating multiple opportunities in these three areas, with checkpoints within each principle to maximize the outcomes. For new teachers this framework can remove all the unknowns related to differentiation, and once the fundamentals of the UDL framework are understood, it quickly becomes apparent that the principles are applicable to all learning cycles and for all students. Reality dictates that this panacea is only possible in extremely fortunate circumstances, so for most teachers, being aware of the possibilities and having a readiness to proactively adopt the principles for those who need it most will still improve the outcome for the group as a whole.

4. Provide insight into your future professional growth by doing the following:

a. Describe a specific goal for how you want to grow as an educator.

I want to know that I am the best educator I can be. An element of this is personal satisfaction; the self-confidence related to achieving such a goal will be a great help in my professional development. I also want my students to see and benefit from an example of hard work being rewarded. I frequently tell students that success in higher education is 20% intellectual capacity and 80% perseverance, and that my best asset is not my ability to read or remember things, but knowing how to make a plan and executing it. To this end, achieving National Board Certification will be my next goal upon becoming licensed, because, as the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) say on their website: “It’s the highest certification a teacher may obtain in addition to being the most respected one” (Certification, 2021). The self-reflection required to achieve this mark, as well as the deep analysis of instruction and assessment, will compel me to keep improving, hopefully on a similar trajectory to what my journey towards licensing has provided. It also has to be renewed every five years, so there is an inbuilt incentive to not just stay sharp, but to continue to improve, which is an essential component of remaining a positive influence on students’ education.

b. Discuss professional growth activities in which you will participate in order to accomplish your goal from part D4a.

Our state has a local affiliate (Hawaii NBCTS) of the NBPTS and they offer two activities for teachers who are planning to seek board certification. The first is a 3-credit Professional Development course entitled “National Board Pre-Candidacy” which they say “is designed for candidates exploring engagement in National Board Certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) for the coming year” (New Section). The second resource is a workshop (Summer 2022) which is non-credit and must be paid for by the candidate (the former has a stipend available). Both activities will be worth attending; the first option is designed to introduce candidates to the kinds of reflection and analysis that the certification process requires, while the latter is focused on the specific requirements of that process. Although my path towards licensing has given me in-depth experience of the same processes, the two activities are also intended to be networking opportunities in anticipation of forming a cohort who work together towards achieving certification. At time of writing my participation may not be possible this calendar year; candidates must be licensed and have three years of teaching experience, and I am several weeks away from achieving both criteria, by which time both activities will already have begun.