Professional Growth Plan

Na
me

CourtneyDvorkin

Establish
ed Date
Review
Date
Review
Date

mdkl

September8th,2015
October30th,2015
ft

December,7th,2015

Goal#1

Goal Use technology more often and more effectively in the teaching/learning process
Related KSA(s)

5:Allstudentscanlearn,albeitatdifferentratesindifferentways.
10:Thefunctionsoftraditionalandelectronicteaching/learningtechnologies.

Indicator(s) of Success

Planningfor,andusingtechnologyonadaytodaybasisinsomeformat

BeingabletoseethevariouswaysinwhichIhaveusedorimplementedtechnologyintotheclassroomthrough
maintainingaworkinglistthatIregularlyaddtoandcanreflecton

Action
Talktomultipleteachersaboutthe
variouswaysinwhichtheyuse
technologyintheirclassroom.
Maintainaworkinglistonthe
differentwaysIhaveused
technologyintheclassroomand
brieflyreflectontheoutcomes.

Resource(s)

Otherteachersintheschool

Timeline
Talkto3teachers(separatefrommypartner
teachers)byOctober8th,2015.
Continuetotalktoteachersasthesemester
progresses.

GoogleDocoflist

EnsurethatIamactivelydocumenting
differenttechnologytechniquesasIuse
themintheclassroom.

Reflection:
This internship has been an incredible learning experience for me. Being immersed in a school that so highly
focuses on technology has really been a good learning adventure, as I have not had such an experience before. I
have been keeping track of the various ways in which I have used technology in the classroom. Having someone to
bounce ideas off of and get their feedback has been fantastic. Although many of the ways in which I have used
technology has been due to my mentor teacher and the practices that the students were already accustomed to by
having her as a teacher the year before. Maintaining consistency was ideal, as it was also new to me, but I have also
been trying to look beyond this and find new and creative ways to implement technology. I think what I have done
so far would be new and exciting for some students in schools who do not have this kind of access to technology,
but here I need to step outside the box. I have not done as much in house research as I would have liked to, and
this is because the semester has completely flown by! Not that this is a viable excuse it is just the reality. I only

have a few weeks left, and would still like to have those conversations with other teachers in various grades to get a
glimpse at their implementation of different technological strategies.

Goal#2

Goal Focus on providing students with more meaningful and higher level questions
Related KSA(s)

4:Thesubjectdisciplinestheyteach.
9:Therearemanyapproachestoteachingandlearning.
11:Thepurposesofstudentassessment.

Indicator(s) of Success

Bypreplanningkeyquestionsforlessons,Iwillbesuretoprovidestudentswithmoremeaningfulandhigherlevel
questions
Studentsrespond(whetherverballyorthroughtheirwriting)withanswersthatarebeyondasurfacelevelreasoning
throughexpansion,depth,criticalthinkingandreasoning

Action

Researchvariousquestioning
strategiesandfindwhatworksfor
me.

Preplancriticalquestionsfor
lessonstoensurethattheywillbe
meaningfulandeffective.

Resource(s)

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/new
classroomquestioningtechniquestoddfinley

http://teachertools.londongt.org/?
page=questioningTechniques

http://cet.usc.edu/resources/teaching_learning
/docs/Asking_Better_Questions.pdf

http://citl.illinois.edu/teaching
resources/teachingstrategies/questioning
strategies

Usewebsitesabovefor
techniques/strategies,andensurethatI
buildkeyquestionsrightintomylesson
plans

Timeline

Tryaminimumof3different
questioningstrategies(ortweak
usedonestofitformyself)by
midOctober.

Thisisongoing.

Reflection:
The steps that I took and the research that I did in order to have a more sound understanding of the best ways to
provide students with meaningful questions has definitely aided in my questioning abilities. I continuously preplanned major questions that I wanted the students to answer and reflect on in order to ensure that they were
truly meaningful and allowed for the students to explore their thoughts on a deeper level. I created a doc with
some strategies that I found while researching, but the component that I primarily relied on was Blooms
Taxonomy. Remembering the various ranks and the levels of questioning that these represented helped me to
focus on those higher ordering questioning techniques.

Goal #3
Goal To establish and maintain a working relationship and an open line of communication with
parents
Related KSA(s)

12:Theimportanceofengagingparents,purposefullyandmeaningfully,inallaspectsofteachingandlearning.

Indicator(s) of Success

Ifeelcomfortablecontactingparentsabouttheirchild(ren)andviceversa

Whencontactingandinformingparentsisaprimarythoughtandactionthatcomestomindwhensomethingarises
Havingamutuallyrespectfulrelationshipwithparents

Action
Takeanactiverolein
emailing/phoningparentsat
thefirstsignofissues
arisinginordertoconfront
theissuebeforeitbecomes
aproblem,ortoprovide
themwithextrainformation
onwhatisgoingonatthe
schoolandintheclassroom.
Talkingtopreviousteachers
ofstudentsinordertogeta
feelfortheparents,their
involvement,andbuildinga

Resource(s)

Timeline
Bythestartoffallbreak:havecontactedall
parentsinordertointroducemyselfeitherby
phonecalloremail.

ConnectCharterwebsitepagefor
teachers(forparentinfo)

ConnectStaff

October/November:Followupwithparentsif
concernsariseorcontinue.
Willalsohaveconferencestotouchbasewith
parents.
Willhavedevelopedalistofthemost
successfulparentcontact/involvement
strategiesusedbyteachersatthisschool.

relationshipwiththem.

Makealistofthemost
effectiveparentcontact
methods.

Reflection:
I did make a conscious effort to contact all of the parents of my students. To do this I sent an email reaching out to
all of them and introducing myself, what my purpose was for teaching their son or daughter, and a bit more
information on my educational background and the experience that I have had. This also included what I like
about teaching grade nine students. I had done my previous practicum at this grade level so I had some previous
experience here, as well, I had been teaching these students for a few weeks so I had gotten to know then quite a
bit. I think most of the parents really appreciated this gesture, and this helped them have a better understanding
of who I was when it came time for our first parent teacher conferences. Although I have not had to send out any
emails home regarding missing or late assignments, it has not left my mind that this is a necessary option and I
have voiced this to the students. I do believe that a phone call is still a viable way to contact parents, but I think it
is easier for both parties to email. I can see the great relationship that my mentor teacher has with parents and I
will strive to work towards this in my professional career, as it is an important component to student success in
the classroom.

Other areas of growth I wish to work on:

Continue to develop best assessment practices
o I did my professional inquiry project on the topic of best assessment practices
and what this might look like in numerous classrooms. In order to create this
picture, I sent out surveys to teachers here at this school, parents of my
students, and the students to find out what assessment strategies help to
develop strong learners and how each of these parties knows how they are
doing in terms of meeting expectations. Throughout my internship I have
focused on assessment and contemplated the best way to implement this
throughout the various tasks I had the students complete. This was difficult for
me as I wanted the assessment to be meaningful to the students and parents
in a way that did not focus on giving a grade. This has been the challenge and
I am continuing to work towards finding the most appropriate assessment
strategy for students.