Teacher Professional Growth Plan Tasha Tams Professional Semester 3 September 2013-December 2013 Goal #1: I would like

to create an online presence for myself. I would like to create a professional profile for myself. As someone who is traditionally challenged by computers and technology, learning the skills necessary for blogging and website upkeep would be very useful tool for the future. As part of this, I am going to start by creating my official portfolio online instead of a physical binder. I would like to divide each section by KSAs in order to demonstrate my ability or learning growth in each section. I would like to also start a twitter feed and a linked-in in order to be a part of the greater teaching profession. Timeline: September 19, 2013- October 31, 2013 (6 weeks) Week 1 & 2: Form and structure will be completed on Weebly.com Week 3: Will have scanned all paperwork that I have saved such as certificates, evaluations, student exemplars and have them posted in the appropriate areas Week 4 & 5: Will have completed postings that provide evidence that EVERY single KSA has been considered in my teaching practice Week 6: Polish it and seek feedback from both TA, Principal and Consultant After week 6, I will continue to blog-post to the website to keep it current and up to date. Strategies: -I will spend 1 hour per weekday working on my portfolio. This time will be from 12:30-1:30 after lunch is over at school. This is a total of 30 full hours of work time. -If after two weeks I have not made sufficient headway (I should have all the formal structure completed by this point), I will increase the work time to 1.5 hours.

Resources needed: -weebly -kurtis heiwson (sp?) has some exemplars of teacher profiles available to look at to help focus future online profiles -google KSA: I have chosen these KSAs because I think they represent what I am trying to improve upon. Learning how to use a website myself will help in when I am trying to facilitate website use with my students. I think that educating myself on how to effectively use resources and then blogging about them will help me learn, but it will also communicate these skills. In the future, having a website will be very helpful to parents because they will be able to see what their children are doing in my class, as well as what kinds of skills I can offer their children. Of course, nothing will beat the face to face interaction, or phone conversations, but it will open up a door. j) the functions of traditional and electronic teaching/learning technologies. They know how to use and how to engage students in using these technologies to present and deliver content, communicate effectively with others, find and secure information, research, word process, manage information, and keep records; l) The importance of engaging parents, purposefully and meaningfully, in all aspects of teaching and learning. They know how to develop and implement strategies that create and enhance partnerships among teachers, parents and students;

Goal #2: I would like to raise awareness of FNMI issues in regards to Residential Schools. As part of my long range plan, I am doing an novel study on the book Fatty Legs, by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton. It is a true story about a young girl and her experience at residential schools. I would like to create a comprehensive unit that can be utilized for many different age groups

in order to educate students on the atrocities that have happened in our Canadian past. Timeline: September 19, 2013-December 6, 2013 (10 weeks total) Week 1-3 - I will start to take notes on the book and find relatable sources like videos, other stories and articles. This will be a compounding of resources that I can use in the unit. I would like to find at least 30 different resources that I can use and pass on to further teachers. I will also have an easily useable list of SLOs that are covered in the unit (which will be revised at the end) that will focus my development. I will also have a rough draft of the rationale used in this unit. Week 3-6 I will compile a list of activities in a functional and accessible way. This does not mean I will be creating lesson plans, it merely means that I will be finding interactive activities that will be useful in the unit. I will get a total of 15 very useful and interactive activities. Week 7-9 I will put together all of the activities in a functional and progressive method as a suggestion for usage to teachers. I will also be teaching this unit at this time and will be trying out different activities where I will revise them, ad variations and give reflections to aid future educators. Week 10- I will polish the unit. This means I will have the rationale, SLO/GLO coverage completely revised and accurate, have all activities put together and have a natural progression/suggestive schedule available for the teacher. Strategies: I will work 4X a week on this unit for a total of 6 hours. This means some days I might work 1 hour a day each week day and 1 on the weekend, or I will do 2 hours straight 3 times a week, or whatever. I want to leave this flexible so that I dont try to stop my creativity if its working, or push myself when its not working. I will be checking in with my TA weekly with ideas and will dedicate 20 minutes a week at minimum to discuss ideas and perspectives I will utilize the U of L curriculum lab to find additional perspectives and resources needed to provide a positive unit

Resources: U of L curriculum lab Fatty Legs novel

Background info on the authors, possible interaction Lethbridge public library Internet

KSA: The reason I chose these KSAs to represent what I am doing with this goal is because I feel like the inclusion of FNMI culture is imperative to the peoples of Canada. The land we live on has an important history, and the majority of Canadians are unaware of it. I can honestly tell you that in 4 years of university I still did not understand the importance of FNMI inclusion until visiting a sacred site on the land. It connected what I knew about residential schools, FNMI culture and the people. h) The importance of respecting students human dignity. They know how to establish, with different students, professional relationships that are characterized by mutual respect, trust and harmony; m) Student learning is enhanced through the use of home and community resources. They know how to identify resources relevant to teaching and learning objectives, and how to incorporate these resources into their teaching and students learning; The importance of (h) is because I think restoring the dignity to FN peoples in Canada is imperative to the growth of our country into something that it truly respectful and multicultural. Mutual respect, trust and harmony come from learning about our past. The importance of keeping it local is what will help students see the value. I am doing this unit to educate people on the history of the culture and residential schools by bringing it to a place where students can see that this is their friends parents and grandparents who faced these issues, and not someone far off and unidentifiable.