Professional Development Plan: Initial Educator Statement

Erin Ennis
The two Standards that I feel are my strengths are Standard 3 and Standard 6.
Standard 3: Teacher understands that children learn differently.
I have had the privilege of working in culturally diverse classrooms for my student
teaching and both of my practicums. I have worked with students who are reading at
second grade through college levels. The key to successfully engage students and
promote learning is to develop different ways of reaching students at all levels. This
starts with discovering where each students baseline of knowledge is. Part of
understanding how children grow is knowing how they learn. A big part of this is
realizing that, not only does each student walk into the classroom with an existing body
of knowledge, but that individuals learn differently. My oldest son is a visual learner. He
is not engaged during textbook based instruction. Before entering into the field of
education, I would help him make content connections by producing graphic organizers,
especially in social studies classes. The facts and dates were just random pieces of
information that seemed pointless to him. The key to his understanding was finding a
way to create relevance. I practice this every day in my classroom. I gage what my
students are interested in and how they like to learn. I adapt my lessons and strategies
accordingly. I offer choices, as often as possible, so that all of my students are able to
reach the same level of learning. The goals remain the same: to understand, engage in
the material and think critically. These goals can be reached, though, by a variety of
ways.
Standard 6: Teacher communicates well.
I worked as a mortgage lender for many years and I have found that the communication
skills I used then have become invaluable as a teacher. The key to effective
communication is being able to read your audience. My students come from a variety of
backgrounds and enter my classroom with their own styles of communication. I have to
be able to adapt my communication methods in order to reach them. This can be as
simple as adjusting my register, volume, or body language. I use a variety of strategies
in my classroom to engage students. Lectures are always accompanied by a power
point because I have found that I can keep both my auditory and visual learners
focused. I use photographs, graphs, maps, music and videos in my presentations.
Rather than just telling students about something like the Cuban Missile Crisis, I had
them read actual memos to President Kennedy written by his advisors. I felt that this
gave students a more authentic experience with the content. I listen to my students. I
ask them point blank how they feel about particular activities or material. I believe in
developing an open, respectful classroom where student opinions are valued. I
appreciate knowing who prefers working in groups and who would rather read.
Communication also means being sensitive to how a message may be coming across,
intended or not. How I say something may mean one thing in my head, but may be
interpreted differently by a student. I make a point of considering my word choice as
well as body language with my students. I have students in my class who tend to be
quite defensive. I have to make sure I am not sounding accusatory or confrontational.
If they get that impression from me, they will shut down. I have learned to read body
language and subtle behaviors. I have students with behavioral issues who ramp up if
provoked. I have learned how to defuse these situations by being calm and redirecting
these students in a positive way. Without the ability to communicate, my class would be
chaotic a majority of the time.

The two Standards I need the most improvement in are Standard 8 and Standard 10.
Standard 8: Teacher knows how to test for student progress.
As a new teacher, this is an area that I feel I could use more experience with. I think
this is something that teachers in general struggle with. I find that it can be difficult to
develop formal assessments that incorporate content together with the opportunity to
demonstrate deeper understanding. I want my students to understand the big ideas
such as how history is relevant today, but my broad based essay questions do not
always require specific content. I feel that date and fact based tests do not authentically
measure for understanding. I am trying to develop assessment methods that will give
students the opportunity to show that they have learned the material while
demonstrating that they understand its relevance in the big picture.
The better I am able to assess student progress, the better I will be at growing student
understanding. I cannot teach new material without knowing what they already know.
This does not mean just content, but study skills, too. I am learning how to gage what
student knowledge baselines are, but know that this is something that a teacher has to
be constantly developing new and better ways of accomplishing. It is not always
obvious that a student has reading struggles. It is up to me to discover their abilities
and determine what each students strengths and weaknesses are.
Standard 10: Teachers are connected with other teachers and the community.
I have not had a good opportunity to really connect with the school house community
and neighborhood at large as a student teacher. I regularly attend the professional
development meetings and consult with teachers in the social studies department about
lessons, strategies and classroom management techniques. I feel that the community
is one of the most important, and often times overlooked, pieces in the education
puzzle. If the community supports the school, and education in general, the push
becomes strong for students to attend and realize its importance. If teachers reach out
and make connections with families, a mutual sense of accountability is created that
centers around student success. I intend on reaching out to families and the
community. I want to involve them in the educational process. I want parents and
guardians to see the school, and specifically my classroom, as a safe place for their
child to learn and grow. In my current school there is a serious truancy problem. I feel
that if members of the school community worked with the neighborhood, a sense of
obligation could be created where students are urged to go and stay in school rather
than wandering around the streets.
As a teacher, I need to understand what my students lives are like outside of my
classroom. In order to do that successfully, I will make a dedicated effort at getting to
know the surrounding community. This means understanding ethnic and cultural
traditions of a particular area. If I am going to make content relevant, I need to know
where my students are coming from. In order to make my lessons genuine, I need to
become an active member in that community, learning as much as I can about it.