Teacher Professional Growth Plan

Nam
e

Rachel Newson

Established
Date
Review
Date

Fall 2016
December 2nd

Goal #1
To improve my ability and practice of providing students with timely,
constructive, and supportive feedback, in both formative and summative
situations.

Related KSA(s)
As situations warrant, teachers who hold an Interim Professional Certificate are
expected to demonstrate consistently that they understand:
e) all students can learn, albeit at different rates and in different ways. They know
how (including when and how to engage others) to identify students different
learning styles and ways students learn. They understand the need to respond to
differences by creating multiple paths to learning for individuals and groups of
students, including students with special learning needs;
h) the importance of respecting students human dignity. They know how to
establish, with different students, professional relationships that are
characterized by mutual respect, trust and harmony;
i) there are many approaches to teaching and learning. They know a broad range
of instructional strategies appropriate to their area of specialization and the
subject discipline they teach, and know which strategies are appropriate to help
different students achieve different outcomes;
j) the functions of traditional and electronic teaching/learning technologies. They
know how to use and how to engage students in using these technologies to
present and deliver content, communicate effectively with others, find and secure
information, research, word process, manage information, and keep records;
k) the purposes of student assessment. They know how to assess the range of
learning objectives by selecting and developing a variety of classroom and large
scale assessment techniques and instruments. They know how to analyze the
results of classroom and large scale assessment instruments including provincial
assessment instruments, and
how to use the results for the ultimate benefit of students;

Indicator(s) of Success
-Students using and applying feedback to assignments
-Better communication between students, parents, and other staff members to
contribute to learning

Action
-providing comments with clear
objective ties
-Time management to allow

Resource(s)
- planning charts/tables/lists/calendars
- mentor teacher/fellow staff
- Program of Studies for feedback focus

efficient feedback and planning

for future feedback
(scheduling/planning effectively)
-Seeking help from mentors/fellow
staff/intern teachers if/when
struggling to maintain practice
-Be clear and confident in what I
am assessing

Reflection (To be Completed at the end of PSIII)

Throughout the last four months of my internship at John Ware, I have been working on
improving the feedback I give to students in both formative and summative situations and
communicating this feedback with parents. I feel that I have achieved some growth in this
area in various ways. One such way was by making an effort to stay organized myself.
Simple organizational strategies, such as penciling in when to do marking based on when
students hand in work, has helped me stay on track and make the time to get feedback to
students. Another method that has helped is utilizing D2L in order to keep both parents
and students up to date. By allowing parents and students to see whether formative and
summative assignments are submitted, and having access to feedback on assignments
submitted to the dropbox on D2L increases communication in all directions. Keeping
marks up to date proved especially valuable during parent-teacher conferencing. Having
the most recent summative grades available to pull up on TeacherLogic, along with both
formative and summative assignments being tracked on D2L, allowed for more
meaningful conversations between students, their families, and Eli and I.
While this is certainly an area in which I will need to continually work on and grow in, I
feel I have made progress and developed strategies that are effective for me that I will
continue to implement in my future as an educator.

Goal #2
To improve lesson closure, specifically formative assessment to check for
understanding, and being transparent with my lessons so that objectives
and purpose are extremely clear and visible.
Related KSA(s)
As situations warrant, teachers who hold an Interim Professional Certificate are
expected to demonstrate consistently that they understand:
c) the purposes of the Guide to Education and programs of study germane to the
specialization or subject disciplines they are prepared to teach. They know how to
use these documents to inform and direct their planning, instruction and
assessment of student progress;
d) the subject disciplines they teach. They have completed a structured program
of studies through which they acquired the knowledge, concepts, methodologies
and assumptions in one or more areas of specialization or subject disciplines
taught in Alberta schools.
f) the purposes of short, medium and long term range planning. They know how
to translate curriculum and desired outcomes into reasoned, meaningful and
incrementally progressive learning opportunities for students. They also
understand the need to vary their plans to accommodate individuals and groups
of students;
i) there are many approaches to teaching and learning. They know a broad range
of instructional strategies appropriate to their area of specialization and the
subject discipline they teach, and know which strategies are appropriate to help

different students achieve different outcomes;

k) the purposes of student assessment. They know how to assess the range of
learning objectives by selecting and developing a variety of classroom and large
scale assessment techniques and instruments. They know how to analyse the
results of classroom and large scale assessment instruments including provincial
assessment instruments, and how to use the results for the ultimate benefit of
students;
p) the importance of guiding their actions with a personal, overall vision of the
purpose of teaching. They are able to communicate their vision, including how it
has changed as a result of new knowledge, understanding and experience

Indicator(s) of Success
-

I will have a better understanding of where my students are at based on

formative assessment on a daily basis
Students will be able to clearly understand the purpose of the lesson,
which will be indicated through formative assessment

Action
- Be clear in my
lesson/weekly/unit plans
on daily objectives and
overall purpose
- Use sticky
notes/whiteboard/plans
to outline expectations
and purpose for both
myself and students
- Use formative
assessment to check for
this understanding

Resource(s)

Assessment toolkit
Plans (lesson, week, unit, etc.)
Program of Studies

Reflection (To be Completed at the end of PSIII)

Lesson closure and checking for understanding are areas I feel confident I have improved
in over the last few months. By reviewing my unit plan to connect specific curricular
outcomes to each task, it is easier to make clear connections both in my mind on a dayto-day basis, and to clearly outline these connections for students too. Utilizing tools such
as my day and week planner allows me to pencil in curricular goals for the week &
formative assessment to be used daily, and adjust as needed. By having this focus broken
down into manageable integrals, lesson closures naturally become easier as there is a
more concrete focus and purpose to each lesson. By making sure I know the purpose of
each lesson, I communicate this to my students. Some ways I have done this that have
proved effective are having students explain to me what they are doing in class that day
and WHY they are doing it. This is repeated at the end of the class to bring the students
full-circle each day. Checking for understanding on instructions or progress throughout
each class through methods such as thumbs up/down to indicate understanding, show
fingers out of 5 to show me how you feel about this task, and circulating constantly
throughout work periods allows me to keep tabs on how students are doing formatively
on a day-to-day basis. Using D2L to track formative assessment and review student work

helps inform me in my planning and goals of achieving outcomes from the program of
study. Formative assessment, such as through scaffolding writing assignments, helps me
adjust my teaching to address the needs of my individual students.