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Answering this question makes me smile because I am asked to reflect on the importance of reflecting. That is what I feel an important part of continuous improvement is. Reflect on what you thought, what you planned, what you did, what happened, what you learned, etc. Being aware, open-minded, and flexible are all integral characteristics in growing into a successful teacher. I feel it is important to be confident in yourself as a professional educator, but allowing room for yourself to learn and grow is essential. I spend a lot of time writing lesson plans and thinking of ways I can better myself for my students, but every single time I am in the classroom, something happens that makes me realize that I don’t have everything all figured out, there are always new ways to do things that I have never thought of, and that every student is completely different and you have to be flexible enough to deal with that. Because of this, it is crucial to create a Professional Development Plan for yourself so you know exactly where you want to be heading, what you want to strive for, and you have the ability to document your successes and growth as you work towards becoming a professional educator. Based on my evidence, my plan will include my knowledge of my specific students I am working with at the moment, and also what I have learned about children in general. In order to develop, you must be very aware of every aspect of every student in your classroom. You need to know what will, and what might not, work for your class. Cater to their needs, do everything you can to tailor each lesson to every student. This is not something that just comes naturally. Resources I can use to help do this are talking to my cooperating teachers and USF professors. Gaining insight from those who are more experienced than you is a great resource to helping you develop your knowledge and skills. I also would look at past lesson plans and reflections I have used with the class. I will see what necessary precautions and modifications I used, and most importantly I will look at my reflections. What techniques I explained went well about the lesson, I will continue to use and develop in my teaching. If I reflect upon something that didn’t go so well, I can use that to analyze and see maybe why it didn’t go over so well. I will then think of new ways to present information to my students so that I can improve in my teaching and my lessons will become better. Thinking of new ways and ideas to teach is something difficult as well. This is also something I can discuss with peers and experienced professional educators. Another aspect I will think about in my professional development plan is focusing on myself. How I teach, what I can do to better every aspect of my teaching. One great resource is to video tape yourself, then go back and watch it and critique your performance. It is so much easier to analyze your teaching when you tape it then watch it again. Every little aspect from the tone of your voice to how long you wait after asking a question until you let a student answer. This is another great resource that I have learned to help yourself improve as an educator. Continuous Improvement is one of the most important Accomplished Practices, in my opinion. It helps you develop and show confidence, awareness, humility, and perpetual progress.
Creating my Professional Development Plan was truly a great learning experience for me. It is also a process I still use to better myself as a teacher. Two steps on my PDP are still in progress to being accomplished. I am okay with this. I know I can still improve in those areas, which are using proximity and ‘with-it-ness’ and having extra activities planned in case a lesson takes less time than expected. I am okay with knowing that Mrs. Heres still said I had room for improvement. I am still an intern. I should not be expected (or expect myself) to be perfect. I love knowing that I still have so much room for growth that I can get even better. I love working hard to reach my goals because I am doing it for my students. Every single day that I become a better teacher, is a day that I do a better job for them. And let’s face it, that’s what this is all about. I know there are many resources out there for me to improve. Even collaborating with Mrs. Heres to create my PDP gave me insight to teaching that I would not have realized by myself. I believe PDPs are a great tool to create or update every semester or year, because that way you can really focus on bettering yourself and growing as a professional educator.
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