A Future of Growth
Consistent learning and professional growth...
Teaching is a profession that requires continuous learning. To continue this growing and working toward being the best educator I can be, there are three goals I am planning on completing following my completion of graduate school. These goals are to continue my learning of early childhood literacy education, to create an even more cooperative and interactive learning environment, and to gain skills and strategies for supporting students with special needs and considerations within my classroom. These three goals stem from my own recognized areas of a lack of experience and future goals for my career. Despite my degree being in Literacy Education, the world of children’s literacy learning is ever-changing with new data and best practices being discovered. This is an area I would like to continue to explore not only for my own teaching, but for my eventual goal of becoming a literacy coach or trainer. Choosing the goal of learning how to create an even more interactive learning environment stems from my goal to have a classroom which runs on cooperative learning. I already have a foundation in these practices, but would like to explore this topic even further to better my students. The goal of gaining skills and strategies for students with special needs and considerations stems from a lack of experience with students with a high level of need and support.
Early Literacy Skill-Building
Educating early childhood-aged students grants me the opportunity of introducing the various layers that make up literacy education. This content area has always been a love of mine and I strive to learn as much as I can to help my students grow in their own skills. By continuing to learn about early literacy skills, I am able to incorporate the best data-driven practices into my teaching in all areas of literacy education. Additionally, this learning will assist me in a long-term goal of becoming a literacy coach toward the later portion of my teaching career. I plan to continue working towards this goal by completing the Lexia Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) training. This training will help to strengthen my knowledge and practice of literacy education.
Fostering Cooperative Learning
Creating a more interactive learning environment is something I have been trying to implement in my classroom. Classroom management and student engagement was a struggle for me beginning my teaching career. Through small workshop-like training my struggle lessened and I created an environment which promoted strategies which included interactive group learning throughout the school day. Because this topic is something that connects with each component of learning, I would feel even more confident with formal training. My plan to achieve this goal is to complete the Kagan Cooperative Learning training. This training has been recommended to be by multiple educators of all grade levels and teaching styles as “the best” training there is to have as a classroom teacher.
...leads to an abundance of knowledge.
Supporting Students with Special Needs
Entering this school year, I had limited experience with young students with a high level of special needs and considerations within the classroom. This school year, my classroom contains a student with extremely high needs. My lack of prior experience and my wish to support this student (and all future students) the best I can within the classroom is the root of this goal. In my educational and professional experience, I have completed very few courses and trainings which focus on supporting students with high needs within the general education classroom. I am planning to begin this journey by completing a local training specialized in the areas of need for my student and an additional training providing by Michigan Virtual. Upon the completion of this training, I plan to complete more workshops and professional development courses for differing areas of special needs so I am prepared to support all students that enter my classroom. These training sessions also provide me with skills and strategies I may share with my administration and fellow educators so we may collaboratively work together to support our student population.
Creating a plan for my professional future based on my career goals and areas of support gives me a direction and path to start once I graduate with my master’s degree. These goals have been chosen based on my most valued areas of professional need. By gaining further knowledge in early childhood literacy education, engaging students with interactive and cooperative learning opportunities throughout the school day, and gaining new strategies and skills for supporting students with a range of special needs within my classroom, I will be addressing areas that will have the highest impact for myself professionally.
Mitchell, C. (2021, September 24). Most classroom teachers feel unprepared to support students with disabilities. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/most-classroom-teachers-feel-unprepared-to-support-students-with-disabilities/2019/05