Template 3.

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Retrieved from The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Teacher Professional Growth Plan Framework

Name: Mme. Dana Farrell

Year: 2018 (January 2018 - April 2018)

Purpose: To prepare for first year teaching, through the course of the Professional Semester III
internship through the University of Lethbridge. The area of growth identified should generally
be one that arose out of the previous internship experiences (PSI and PSIII).

Goal #1: To develop, create, and administer assessments of student learning that are in support
of students’ independent and collective needs to promote mastery, skill development, and critical
thinking. These assessments could and should cater to student interest, social context, and be
applicable to real-life so as to promote meaningful connections between the content and the
student.

Reflection/Reasoning: Assessment of student learning is an area that I have identified an area

where I lack confidence as an educator, and intend to remedy through experience, various
strategies and forms, and guidance and support from my teacher mentor and students.

Teaching Quality Standard or School Leader Competency Reference:

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.

Plan:
 I will plan through the mindset of beginning with the end in mind, where I will scaffold and
build my lessons and learning activities from and around summative projects that will offer
choice, and be multi-modally responsive to my students’ unique needs and areas of skill. In
doing so, students will be provided with the means and mode with which to truly demonstrate
their comprehension and skill of a concept within and among disciplines. On this note, I will
also plan to incorporate multi-disciplinary connections to be made within learning
opportunities and assessments to encourage mastery where students are able to apply their
learning through critical thinking and meaningful projects.
 I also plan to document and compile feedback for students that is understandable, productive,
and meaningful so as to promote student growth and development in ways that will see real
results and improvement.

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 I will work with my teacher mentor throughout the report card process (Mid-January) as well
to gain experience and to assist with documentation and translation of student learning to
gain more experience with assessment, but also to better understand my students, to fuel and
inspire my future planning throughout the rest of the practicum.

Timeline:
 I intend to accomplish this goal by the end of March, after having taught several units of
study, so as to allow for time for me to develop and communicate my findings in an efficient
and meaningful way with my teacher mentor to be used for the final report cards set to come
out at the end of the year.
 I also intend to develop my own “report cards” with my students, in a less formal way, to
allow them to have feedback from me as a student-teacher, so that they can have very
specific and very personal feedback on our studies over the course of my PSIII practicum to
help them identify areas of strength and of growth for the final months leading to the end of
the year, in other words, the final report card.

Resources:
 I will be referring to my teacher mentor, daily, to assist with the accomplishment of this goal.
 I will also be conferring with my administrator, weekly, to inform my progress and to answer
my questions with regards to official assessment in preparation for first-year teaching.

Expected Results:
 I can expect that I will gain more confidence in my competencies as an educator, so that I
will be encouraged to actively and reflectively think outside the box as a teacher when it
comes to assessment and student learning, in response to the new wave of teaching which
abandons traditional forms of assessment that are not in response to inclusive, multi-modal,
and multi-disciplinary education strategies.

Data to be collected:
 Documentation of student progress in the form of grades, comments, and evidence or reason-
being.
 Samples of assessment strategies from my teacher mentor or other colleagues to inspire my
personal philosophy on assessment and help build my repertoire of assessment strategies.
 Observations and notes from classroom observations both in and outside my PSIII classroom
to continue to build experience as an assessor and teacher.

Goal #2: To actively and reflectively edit my personal teaching philosophy that remains
unchanged since my first teaching practicum in PSI (Fall 2016). I wish to enter first year
teaching with a refined philosophy that is skillfully reflective of my personal and professional
development throughout my practicum experiences, so as to promote future and further growth
as an educator and learner.

Teaching Quality Standard or School Leader Competency Reference:

p) the importance of guiding their actions with a personal, overall vision of the
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purpose of teaching. They are able to communicate their vision, including how it has changed
as a result of new knowledge, understanding and experience.

Plan:
 I plan to revise my current teaching philosophy in my first months of practicum that is
reflective of my previous practicum experience, in order to identify new areas for growth and
help guide my planning as an educator.
 I also plan to be actively and reflectively referring back to my philosophy every day in PSIII,
to track my thinking and see how it shapes my practice, or to document how the practice has
shaped me.
 I plan to edit my philosophy at least once every month throughout practicum, with reference
to specific situations, experiences or lessons to help prompt my memory on the growth in the
future, and to make a more meaningful connection with my professional philosophy,
allowing it to become more personal to me.
 I plan to also communicate my philosophy with my teacher mentor, with the purpose of
receiving comments or feedback on their interpretation of my presence as an educator. This
would help me interpret my practice from a different perspective, allowing for more depth
and a higher possibility for growth.

Timeline:
 January-April : Finalized before first-year teaching
 On-going: My philosophy will be ever-changing and shaped by new experiences
throughout my teaching career.

Resources:
 I will refer to the Faculty of Education resources page to find samples, templates, and
guidelines for a teacher’s philosophy to assist in editing my current philosophy.
 I will also refer to the Alberta Teacher’s Association page for support and assistance in
developing my finalized philosophy.
 I will also refer to my teacher mentor, university consultants, and past teacher associate’s
for suggestions of areas of strength and for growth.

Expected Results:
 I expect to complete this goal meaningfully, specifically, and with profound specificity to
assist in refining my vision as an educator and as a learner, for, after my various
experiences I am bursting at the seams with ideas, yet I need to refine a philosophy that is
uniquely mine and meaningful for me to be effective and efficient as possible.
 This goal will help define and outline me as an applicant for teaching positions, as an
educator, as a life-long learner and as a person to help me put my best self forward and
refine my purpose as a teacher for the benefit of my students, my colleagues, and parents
at my future schools.

Data to be collected:
 First draft (Fall 2016) – to be documented for growth purposes.

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  Middle draft edited (evidence of PSI and PSII practicums) - February
 Final draft developed : evidence of PSIII practicum – April

Reflections: TO BE ACTIVELY RECORDED THROUGHOUT PRACTICUM

 Achievement of goal…
 Professional learning (what I learned)…
 Student learning (how it changes student learning)…

Next steps: TO BE ACTIVELY RECORDED THROUGHOUT PRACTICUM

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