Professional Growth Plan

Carmen Bento

Through completing my teacher preparation program at Western Governors University I have grown and developed my skills as an educator. Through my coursework I have had an opportunity to research and learn more about the various theories that relate to how human beings learn which has informed my planning and teaching practices. For example I have studied Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, both of which have given me insights into how better to reach students during instruction by presenting information using different modalities as well as making sure that student’s feel safe and their basic needs are met. As I go forward as a teacher I should remember to use research to continue to develop professionally and keep up with new educational theories.

While participating in demonstration teaching my host school had a weekly staff meeting called cluster. These meetings offered many different ways for the staff to collaborate and share challenges, ideas and solutions. I have found these meetings to be a wealth of useful information from experienced and dedicated teachers who want the best for each other. At times we have collaborated within our grade level teams and the staff also had an opportunity to collaborate across grade levels and as a staff strived to identify curriculum gaps. This was extremely useful as it allowed me to see the continuum of how one skill or standard builds on the next and why it is so important that foundational skills are addressed. I have soaked up so much knowledge from these interactions and I hope that whatever school I am employed at in the future has something similar to this program for their staff.

As part of my membership in the National Education Association I receive a copy of Scholastic Teacher magazine every month. These magazines are bursting with great ideas and innovations in education. One specific way that I have taken an idea from this resource and used it to improve my teaching is with a classroom management strategy for managing pencils. My class was losing quite a bit of time in the afternoon because when we came back from lunch pencils would be missing or dull and the students were not quickly and quietly taking care of getting a new pencil. After reading an article in the Holiday 2015 issue of Scholastic Teacher magazine where teachers offered suggestions on how to manage pencils and encourage students to hang on to their pencils and make them last, I implemented a new strategy (na, 2015). I put out two buckets, one where students could take a pencil and the other where they could leave one. Then I let the students know that they would have three minutes when we got back into the room after lunch to trade pencils. After a few days with the new routine, problem solved!

As much as I have learned throughout this process and my teaching experiences, I know that I still have many areas where I can improve and grow as an educator. One area where I need to improve is in offering multiple methods of assessment to my students. I tend to think of a traditional paper and pencil test when I think of assessing student growth even though I know there are many other ways that students can show what they know. To improve in this area first I will continue to research alternative methods of assessment and when they are appropriate to use in my classroom. I will also collaborate with teachers in the school where I am employed and those I have worked with in the past to find out what alternative assessment methods were effective in their classrooms. Also when I am planning I will reflect on my assessment methods before implementing my plans. I will ask myself whether an alternative assessment method like a project based or other assessment format would be appropriate for the lesson. Finally after using alternative methods of assessment I will reflect on the outcome and implementation to see if I can make any changes to improve on it the next time.

Works Cited

na. (2015, December). How do you Handle the "Pencil Problem"? Scholastic Teacher, p. 46.