Career and Professional Development Plan

I have learned so much through the distance learning course work requirements for
the M.Ed. Learning and Teaching with a specialization in Instructional Technology. This
degree has afforded my tremendous growth in new areas as well as old, sharpened my
expertise of many familiar skills, and led me to reinvent my entire pedagogy for some of
the classes I teach.
In reflecting on my journey, I have tried to correlate my experiences to the NET-S
standards in terms of my strengths and weaknesses. The NET-S standards are a set of
standards developed for the good of all people which outline best practices for teachers
and students in how technology should be designed, implemented and utilized in this
21st Century digital age. Please see in detail my strengths and weaknesses as outlined
below.
Strengths
In reflecting on my strengths of implementing instructional technology concepts into
my curriculum, I will outline below five exemplars and the NET-S that is associated with
the strength.
Strength 1 - NET-T 1a

NET-T 1: Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity

Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and
technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and
innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.

a. Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness
Reflection - Through hard work and determination I have collected technology tools that
I can use to inspire students to think differently. I have purchased through funds and
grants a drone, several GoPro cameras, selfie-sticks, and two cinematic lenses. These
devices in concert with my instruction have given students new and novel ways to think
about routine tasks such as digital video making. Its not just playing with new toys,
however, that make the experience important, rather it is the new ideas that come from
students when given the chance to look at a task from an unusual of novel angle.
Several classes in this program empowered me to focus on planning for such
opportunities as well as enabled me to have the vocabulary to create practical
applications for the introduction of new technology.
Strength 2 - NET-T 1c

NET-T 1: Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity

 Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and
technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and
innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.

c. Promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students
conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes
Reflection - One of my favorite decisions this past year came from a collaborative
assignment I experience in the Summer of 2015. My team of four created an
instructional website based on teaching the best features in Evernote. This past school
year I continued with my love of Evernote by having my Journalism 1 students use the
tool to take notes on their modules from the course website, write quick articles and
responses, as well as evolve their knowledge of journalistic writing. Complementary to
the course Weebly, Evernote was the space where I communicated with students during
guided or independent practice whether it be in class or not. In the end, students could
literally trace their steps from beginner to novice.
Strength 3 - NET-T 3a

NET-T 2: Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments
Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and
assessments incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content
learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the
StandardsS.

a. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and
resources to promote student learning and creativity
Reflection - This Fall I started the first Flipped Classroom at my school as well as the
first in my career. I succeeded by starting small in a way that naturally fit my course. I
created a course website in Weebly that was modeled after the distance learning
courses that I took in my Masters program at Coastal Carolina University. I created eight
modules that represented eight of the first nine weeks of the course, the first week being
introductions, rules, policies, etc. Each module included no less than three learning
segments full of videos, links, information and other authentic content, a To do page, a
Blog page, and an assignments page. Each day, students would come in and we would
review or clear up any questions about the weeks assignment, independently research
aspects of the lesson, debate, discuss concepts, practice academic discourse, or write
articles relating to the theme. At home, the students would have one week to complete
the module, much like college. For high school students, this was a unique experience
far ahead of their expectations. Their experience utilizing an online site, downloading
content that they needed to manipulate, and blogging was a paradigm shift that forced
many of them to engage far more than they had planned or expected.

Strength 4 - NET-T 4c

NET-T 4: Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility

Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an
evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional
practices.

c. Promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to
the use of technology and information
Reflection - This fall when I introduced blogging for the first time as a tool as well as a
class expectation, I knew that it carried with it certain pitfalls familiar in the social media
realm. I brainstormed what best practices I might employ in this endeavor with respect
to netiquette, researched what others had done, made a list, and consolidated it down
to the three most important tenets: first, no bullying; second, no text talk (lol, lmao, etc);
and third, no totally agreeing without acknowledging the persons ideas as well as your
own. These three rules eliminated emotions, improper forms of communication, and lack
of effort. Not only did this serve us well for blogging, but it translated to debates and
discussions in the classroom as well.
Strength 5 - NET-T 5b

NET-T 5: Engage in professional growth and leadership

Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an
evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional
practices.

b. Exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in

shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and
technology skills of others
Reflection - As this year comes to a close, I am looking forward to a collaborative
opportunity that I have initiated. Not only will I be working with my district and other
Journalism teachers to establish common standards, but I am working with Art teachers,
Drama teachers, and IBA teachers in order to determine paths of discovery in which
these other three course options can overlap, bolster, and support my Journalism
program which incorporates the three classes I teach: Broadcast Journalism,
Journalism 1, 2, 3, and Yearbook. The hope is to help our guidance counselors to better
direct students down a path based on their skill set or preferences rather than
availability.

Weaknesses
Upon reflection on the journey of the masters degree, there are areas in which I have
not explored enough of could improve in the scope of implementing instructional
technology concepts into my curriculum, I will outline below two exemplars and the
NET-S that is associated with the weakness. 1a, 1c, 3a, 4c, 5b
Weakness 1 - NET-T 2b

NET-T 2: b. Develop technology-enriched learning

Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and
assessments incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content
learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the
StandardsS.

b. Develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to

pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own
educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress
Reflection - I do not asses very much in Journalism 2 and 3. We are a production class
where we crank out newspapers three times a semester. One of the issues with this is
that my class in its third semester has not worked out the kinks of scheduling students
who are writers or want to be in the class. Sometimes it feels like getting a paper out by
the deadline is enough of a goal. There might be some merit to that statement, but I feel
that once guidance does a better job at selling my class and the word gets out through
various media that it is a great class, I will be able to flip the class and give more
independent work for them to do when not in class. These assessments could be more
purpose driven and perhaps involve social injustice or letters to the editor.
Weakness 2 - NET-T 5a

NET-T 5: Engage in professional growth and leadership

Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an
evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional
practices.

a. Participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications

of technology to improve student learning
Reflection - One thing I wish I knew more about is collaborating with another school in
news media summit, some type of gathering of Journalism students where views are
shared, topics are tossed around, and issues are discussed. Teachers could even do
mini lectures and students compete for prizes (what would be a good headline for . . . or
who can come up with the best lead sentence for . . .). Journalism is essential to
citizenship but like many things in our culture it is marginalized.

Strategic Improvement
I plan to overhaul my Journalism department as well as connect with other elective
teachers and help create course paths for students to travel that mix and match the best
of what we offer in IBA, Journalism, Art, and Drama so that kids can get what they want.
I feel this will help me get the kids who want my class more often than not. I also plan to
flip my other classes over the next two years. Flipping Journalism 1 was the best
decision I have ever made.
Short Term Goals
I want to work with guidance counselors and teachers on the idea above. I also want
to work on Journalism curriculum with a few other teachers from the district and work
out a solid, general, and flexible set of standards.
Long Term Goals
I want to spend some time working on me. I want to live a healthier lifestyle, sleep
better, eat better, and just all around enjoy my life even more. I wish to continue to find
new tools to master so I can teach them to kids. I would also like to find a way to give up
Yearbook and transition to Media Arts where I can teach screenwriting and amateur
production for videos.
Like many teachers, I love what I do, and as long as that is the case, then I want to
make the most of it for myself and the students. I feel lucky to be in my position, so I
plan to push it to the limit.