TED690 - Week 2 - Professional Development Quest Portfolio Artifact Development
The sixth domain of my Professional Development Quest Portfolio, also known as Domain F, is developing as a professional educator. I made the following plan to continue educating myself on the most efficient, effective ways to teach my students. I chose 5 workshops I will complete over the first 5 years of my teaching career, with each one focusing on a different skills I want to improve as an educator.
I'm in my second year of teaching, so the first two professional developments are one I’ve already completed, and the last three are ones I plan to complete. So without further ado, here they are:
Year 1: Marcia Tate’s Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites
http://developingmindsinc.com/workshops/
The first professional development workshop on my list is Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites by Marcia Tate. I attended this workshop last year and it was great. The main principles are:
How to create entertaining graphic organizers instead of boring worksheets
How to enhance lessons with interactive activities such as games, humor, and music
How to facilitate innovative learning methods of project based learning
This seminar was awesome. It greatly enhanced my lesson planning skills. I now incorporate several things I learned there, including making entertaining activities within graphic organizers, playing happy music as a timer while the class completes small group activities, and creating three different ways for students to review the same topic within a lesson to help them commit it to long term memory.
Year 2: Tina Bryson’s Power of Regulation and Relationship: How Attachment Changes Lives
https://www.tinabryson.com/speaking-1
Just two weeks ago I attended the second workshop on my list. I went to an “All Network Day” through my employer Options For Youth. OFY is a public charter school with locations across California. They had all the OFY teachers meet in Los Angeles to listen to Tina Bryson’s presentation on how attachment changes the way we communicate and interact with one another. The main principles were how to help students feel:
Safe, protected and sheltered from harm
Seen, so that they know you care about them and pay attention to them by focusing on their inner experience of feelings, thoughts, and meaning in their lives
Soothed, so they know you’ll be there for them when they’re hurting; and
Secure, so they trust you to predictably help them feel “at home” in the world, then learn to help themselves feel safe, seen, and soothed.
My favorite part of this professional development was about the special influence a teacher can have if they truly are emotionally there for their students. She illustrated how to first address a student's emotions, and then try to solve the problem at hand with them once they were emotionally ready. As humans we first want our emotions validated, and then, once we feel that validation, we’re prepared to try to fix what caused the emotion in the first place.
Year 3: The Interactive Constitution Educator Workshop at The National Constitution Center
https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/professional-development-category/one-day-workshops-national-constitution-center
This is a professional development I’ve eyed since before becoming a teacher. It’s a class on how to incorporate an interactive version of the Constitution into your social studies classes. I teach government, and I currently get pocket copies of the Constitution for all my students so that they can highlight, take notes, and keep it after they complete the class. When my students read the Constitution in their textbook, it came off dry to them. Once they got their own copies it felt more personal. I hope if I include an interactive digital guide through the Constitution it will become even more fun, and help them more fully understand how it applies to their lives.
I have this slated for next year since I’ve wanted to do it for a while, but my workload at work and at National University has kept me busy in the evenings and on weekends the last several years. I have a list of things like this that I will do once I’m done with my masters program.
Year 4: Standards-Based Learning in Action Workshop by Solution Tree
https://www.solutiontree.com/events/standards-based-learning-in-action-san-francisco.html?campaign={campaign}&creative=413968253454&keyword=%2Bteaching%20%2Bworkshop&matchtype=b&network=g&device=c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0b6YjPrW5wIVgvhkCh0iAAU5EAAYASAAEgKFifD_BwE
The Standards Based Learning in Action Workshop is run by Solution Tree in San Francisco every March. This PD focuses on:
Developing standard based learning environments and
Developing balanced assessment plans
Prioritizing standards to maximize efficiency
Understanding the foundational principles of effective feedback
Learning to effectively apply student self assessment
Exploring standards based re-assessment, gradebook set up, and report card formats
It looks like a well rounded, balanced program that will help me continue to improve my skills implementing the Common Core State Standards in all the different aspects we need to keep in mind to be the best educators we can be.
Year 5: UC Davis Argument Writing and Critical Reading for Grades 6-12
https://cpe.ucdavis.edu/course/area-3-writing-projects-writing-readers-students-can-analyze-and-create-complex-texts
This professional development focuses on how to help students understand and build the skills they need to write a good argumentative essay. The PD will focus on:
Reading and analyzing multiple perspectives on important issues
Creating text sets with high-interest topics and sources
Developing strong claims
Effectively using nonfiction texts as evidence
Scaffolding lessons to meet all students' needs
Creating models that teachers can adapt and integrate into any curriculum
Designing and sharing mini-units
Assessing student writing formatively throughout the year
So far, most of my students start the first day of class without a sound understanding of what makes a valid argument. I dedicate a lot of time in my class to understanding the logic and rationality of a well made academic argument. This PD looks like a great way to become better at teaching those skills in an easily accessible manner.
