Educators engage in continuous professional learning and development. Throughout their career, educators use evidence to continually evaluate their methods and then adapt lessons accordingly, learning and growing their plans with the growth of learners and pedagogy as a whole. Additionally, the teacher practices teachingin an ethical way, working to respect the learner, school, and community as a whole and to comply with any rules or laws of the school and community to create a safe and nurturing learning environment.
Professional Development Days
Through the attendance of district wide professional development days held both collaboratively across schools and online. I utilize district resources and other educators to embark on lifelong learning journeys. One example of these district trainings was Handle with Care, a district wide session that teaches behavioral management through educating teachers how to de-escalate student behaviors and how to deal with their own emotions in the classroom.
Professional Learning Societies and Subscriptions
In order to maintain continuous learning I have joined a number of professional teaching groups including the National Science Teaching Association that correlate to teaching science. Additionally, I follow a number of sources such as EducationWeek to remain knowledgeable about issues in education. Each of these resources shares new developments in education and lesson ideas that help teachers to keep up to date with current pedagogical practices and helps increase teacher resources.
Assessment of Plans & Plan Flexibility
A portion of this standard is using evidence to evaluate practices and then adapt to meet the needs of learners. Through the usage of daily checks such as exit tickets and frequent checks for understanding I evaluate myself and my lessons both after their completion and during the lesson to assess the effectiveness and in turn adapt activities to better meet the individual learner. This thoroughness of assessment occurring at various points in the instruction demonstrates professional learning by using evidence based planning, implementing student data to evaluate teaching methods and adjusting accordingly.