mentoring and professional development
Ready, Set, Go Write Your PDP Jill Prushiek, Guest Writer
O
Our guest author is Dr. Jill Prushiek, director of field experiences and certifi- cation at UW-Eau Claire. Dr. Prushiek leads our goal approval workshops during conference and is a mentor and PDP team trainer for DPI. This article is the first of a series that describes each step of the PI 34 licensure process.
~Vanissa Murphy, Co-Chair, Mentoring and Professional Development Project
New music educators are truly excited about their first year of teaching. You want to utilize all the knowledge and skills you have gained from your music education program and be the best teacher you can be. As you begin the school year you hear about working with parents, preparing report cards, getting students ready for concerts, joining committees, fundraising opportunities and so much more. You soon become overwhelmed with all the business of teaching that you may not realize you have forgotten about beginning your professional development plan (PDP). Teachers are learners as well. Taking control of your own professional development while having an impact on student learning empowers you! With a professional development plan process, you can assume responsibility and ac- countability for your own learning as well as have a positive impact on student learning (Peine, 2008). To help you begin writing a PDP and submitting your goal for approval, here are some tips to assist you with the process.
Step 1: Reflection
Begin the professional development plan process during your first year of teaching. The process begins by carefully reflecting on what is going well, how your students are responding to you or what skills you need to enhance to be more effective. Set aside some time each week to journal your thoughts. Examining student work collected over time, listening to feedback about your teaching from students, peers, administrators and parents, or analyzing
50
classroom observations from administra- tors and mentors are all ways to help in the reflection stage. Toward the end of the school year, look at your journal or other items you have saved as part of the reflection process and consider student or professional needs, patterns of your performance or areas of interest you may have. At this point you are ready for the next step of creating your vision for the PDP.
Step 2: Goal Setting
Ask yourself this question: “What do I de- sire to learn that would be so compelling to inspire my growth professionally and have a positive effect on student learning?” The answer to this question becomes the focus of your professional development plan. Think of professional growth as a change in professional practice and acquiring new knowledge and skills. With this defini- tion in mind as well as reflecting on your first year of teaching, you are now ready to write your goal. Writing a goal that is broad in scope will help you in case your teaching situation changes or you move to another district.
A stem that works well for writing a goal that encompasses professional growth and student learning is “I will… (research, study, learn, analyze, apply, etc.) so that … (describe the potential effect on student learning.) An example of a goal using this stem is: I will research and implement “Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance” (CMP) so that my students will demonstrate a deeper understanding of the repertoire they are performing. This example demonstrates that you will be learning and implementing CMP and with your growth in this area your students will be gaining a deeper understanding of the music they perform. Another example of a music goal using the same stem is: I will learn and implement new rehearsal techniques so that my students learn to play with correct expression and interpre- tation, which will increase their overall
musicianship. In this second example, you will be growing professionally as you learn and implement a variety of rehearsal techniques and you will have an impact on student learning because students will be learning to play with correct expression and interpretation. The Wisconsin PDP requires that in your goal you connect your professional growth to student learning while addressing two or more teaching standards.
The next part of the Wisconsin PDP re- quires you to describe the reason for your goal and how your goal is linked to your teaching situation. Skip writing this part for now and move to the section where you focus on assessing and documenting your goal since it is fresh in your mind. In the Wisconsin PDP, your goal and the assessment and documentation of your goal should be congruent.
Step 3: Plan for Assessing and Documenting the Goal As with all good teaching and learning, you should think about how you will as- sess your professional growth and student learning. Ask yourself, “How will I know that I have grown professionally?” “How will I know that my professional growth had an effect on student learning?” Con- sider what evidence you can collect over the next several years that documents your professional growth. Examples of evidence can be administrative evalua- tions with a reflection of how you have changed your professional practice over time, curriculum changes with reflections of effectiveness, an analysis of lesson plan changes, an analysis of concert programs, video recordings of rehearsal techniques and an analysis of changes you have made over time. Evidence of student learning can be adjudication sheets that demonstrate students have improved performances, video and/or audio recordings of rehearsal and an analysis of changes in students, an
Continued on page 52 April 2011
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76