PSI Professional Growth Plan/Goals

Name: Greg Passey

School: Hays

Practicum Dates: Nov. 3 Dec. 9

Teacher Associate(s): Crystal Boese

School Administrator: Lindsey Hagen
University Consultant: Sue Bengry
A. Professional Goals
Goal #1: to develop three effective classroom management strategies that can be
used in my classroom
Rationale: classroom management is something I have little experience in. It is
important to develop skills in this area so I can create stronger bonds with my
students by making them feel safe and cared for in their classroom. I belief
students learn better when the teacher is in control and the classroom is in order.
Goal #2: to develop and practice using efficient classroom assessment methods,
including questioning and checklists.
Rationale: according to some of my peers feedback in microteach I did not
check for student understanding often enough. I feel that questioning students is
important because it actively engages them in the lesson. Questioning is also
effective to formatively evaluate students before, during, and after an activity.
B. Strategies (How I will go about achieving my goals?)
Strategies for addressing Goal #1: prior to practicum I will research
common/effective management strategies. I will observe and discuss effective
management strategies with my TA prior to and during practicum.
Strategies for addressing Goal #2: for each lesson I create I will include key
questions to check for student understanding. When appropriate, I will create a
checklist or rubric to go with my activities and ask my TA for feedback on my
assessment methods.
C. Indicators of Progress Towards Goals (How will I know when and if I have
achieved my goals?)
Indicators of Progress for Goal #1: TA and UC feedback; self-monitoring;
increased level of comfort using management techniques.
Indicators of Progress for Goal #2: actually asking questions Ive created;
feedback from TA and UC.
D. Timeline for Completion I hope to complete both goals by end of practicum.
E. Reflections on Professional Growth

Goal #1: I feel that I made some great strides in classroom management. Going in to my
practicum placement, I felt that I would not be able to deal with students in a fashion that
would allow me to curtail behaviour without sounding angry or possibly even scaring the
students (especially at with the age group I was placed with K, 1, 2). By using different
strategies; such as moving around the classroom to monitor different students, using
proximity to control behaviour while watching video clips, utilizing different body
positions that we learned from John Paulsons seminar, speaking in different tones and
different volumes. I also learned that it is better to be stricter than you think is necessary
at the start of the year (or when ever it is that you start teaching) and ease up if warranted,
than it is to be too easy and try to regain control when they class behaviour is not what
you want it to be. Because of the small class sizes that I was dealing with, and the
excellent behaviour of my students, I did not have to practice classroom management in a
difficult or stressful situation, but I did learn some valuable tools from my TA. I was also
able to learn some techniques dealing with a student with special needs as there was a
student with Downs Syndrome that would have occasional outbursts in the class. I think
that this experience taught me to deal with a situation firmly, but not angrily, as this is
what was instructed to me. This was difficult for me to do initially, but by the end of
practicum, I was able to step in with this student as needed and re-direct her into a more
class appropriate behaviour.
Goal #2: Assessment was a bit more difficult for me to really get a firm grasp on. While
each lesson I planned to do a variety of assessment methods, my execution of these
assessment methods could have been better. I was good at asking questions of the
students during activities to gauge their understanding of the material, and I was able to
find different tools or tasks to get concrete evidence for assessing the students
performance, and I was able to use checklists and anecdotal notes to watch for areas that
students were preforming well or not performing well during the lesson. Where I fell
short was on using Assessment to help guide my lesson plans. I found that I was planning
my lesson and then figuring out what assessment methods could work with what I wanted
to do rather than letting Assessment guide me. This lead to a bit of a disconnect with what
I was trying to accomplish in the lesson and the assessment tool I had chosen to use for
that particular method. Making sure that I have a good connection between the lesson
activities and tasks will take some more work, but I do think that by the end of practicum
I was starting to get a better understanding of what needs to be done in this area.