Professional Goals and Growth Plan 

Name: ​Keira Nelson 
School​: Charles Spencer High School 
Practicum Dates: ​August 27th - December 18th 
Teacher Mentor​: Teri Spracklin 
School Administrator: ​Jason Wall 
Faculty Mentor: ​Lorraine Beaudin 

Goal 1​: ​to develop a belief and practice of assessment within the English classroom 
standards. 

Rationale​:  

English has a funny sense of assessment compared to other core classes. I find that 
English teachers end up with the most marking because of the sheer amount of essays and 
writing that students need to complete before an exam or diploma. English is less 
quantitative knowledge and more qualitative knowledge, where students need to develop 
skills rather than obtain knowledge. I, so far, have found that I am not a “test” teacher 
because I do not think it is practical for students in the world outside of the classroom; 
when in real life has someone been tested on knowledge without the ability to have their 
resources or “google” the solution? Instead, I have to determine what formative and 
summative assessments are needed to prepare my students for their end goal: the final 
exam, moving on to the next class, and eventually for the diploma and the rest of their 
lives. The hardest part so far has been determining what students need to know in order 
to succeed on larger assignments, as well as determining what should “be for marks” and 
what shouldn’t be. These, I have been assured, are things that even seasoned English 
teachers struggle with during their entire careers, let alone their formative teaching years.  

Strategies: ​How will I go about achieving this goal? 

- Asking other teachers to see their course outlines/assessment plans 

- Breaking down big mandatory assessments into smaller skills (in order to 
determine what to teach) 
- Determining a marking plan- what do I mark, when do I need it marked by, what am 
I looking for in this assignment 
- Working with T.M. to level assessment- what does a “satisfactory” essay look like 
vs. a “proficient” 
 - This can be done at a department level as well 
- Complete some research re: formative and summative assessments in the English 
classroom- what should the proportion be, what are examples of each, etc. 
- Get marking done in a timely manner in order to help students understand where 
to grow 
- Weekly feedback to students- perhaps a weekly check-in on Google Forms for me 
to respond to?  

Indicators of Progress:​ How will I know if and when I have achieved this goal?  

- When I develop my own confidence in my plan, and determined what works for me, 
I will know that I have achieved my goal. My issue with assessment currently is that 
I feel like I am not doing enough, and that I am not giving enough feedback to 
students. I worry that I will end up failing students on assignments because my 
standards are too high or because I didn’t teach them what they needed to 
complete the assignment, but I think another indicator of goal achievement will be 
students passing assignments and all passing the class- if a student doesn’t 
complete an assignment because they were on their phone or they wasted their 
time, that is not an instructional issues (but rather a classroom management issue).  

Goal 2: To develop a sense of confidence in my classroom style and content knowledge. 

Rationale​: 

As an English teacher, the amount of knowledge required to adequately instruct students 

can be daunting. Building up a repertoire of content that I can share with students can 
take years- finding the stories and texts that “work” with what I want to teach is a process 
that I will begin to take part in. Becoming more familiar with the curriculum is also 
included with this goal, since I found myself wanting to teach things that I learned in 
school, but are maybe not necessary for what students are working towards. Tailoring this 
instructional knowledge to the stream and class level that I am working with will also take 
time to memorize and develop. I also want to become stronger in classroom routines and 
policies, because I find that every day I am repeating the same things to students instead 
of ensuring that they just know the routine of what I am expecting. 

Strategies: ​How will I go about achieving this goal? 

- Create key goals based on curriculum for classes 

 - Determine what students really need to know for diploma/exam 
- Establish a classroom routine and complete the same routine AT LEAST 4/5 days a 
week 
- Ask students for feedback and input on what they would like to learn or study- 
some things are non-negotiable, but I can tailor texts to study based on student 
interest or sensitivities 

Indicators of Progress:​ How will I know if and when I have achieved this goal? 

The biggest indicator for knowing I have achieved this goal is student knowledge obtained 
by the end of the semester. If students can complete the final exams with high marks, it 
means that they have learned what they need to know and I have satisfied my legal 
obligation to the students. I also will be looking for student participation in classroom 
routine- if they can complete it without being prompted to do so, I will know that I have 
achieved my goal.  

Timeline for Completion: 

October-December- ongoing conferences with TM and admin regarding progress, with 

information also coming from T.M.’s observations. Final exams take place after I have left, 
so I will gather information from TM at that time to know more about student success 
(and therefore effectiveness of my teaching). The final conference will take place early to 
mid-December. 

Summary of Growth and Goals Achieved: 

My time at Charles Spencer High School has been nothing short of enlightening, and I 
believe that I grew exponentially during this time. Due to absences from my Teacher 
Mentor during the early stages of my practicum, I took risks and reflected on my own 
practices more intensively than I would have if my Teacher Mentor was present. I found 
that assessment still is, and probably will forever be, my biggest area for growth; 
determining what students need to know and how I can creatively and enjoyably find 
ways for them to demonstrate their learning is an eternal struggle for English teachers 
who work with such a nebulous curriculum. Finding new and inspiring ways of executing 
assessments is a big task, but my biggest support came from other teachers in my 
department. They really aren’t kidding when they talk about begging, borrowing, and 
stealing everything you can!  
As far as my classroom and curriculum confidence is concerned, I found that I did achieve 
this goal to the best of my ability. I built relationships with my students in ways that I 
didn’t think I could in four months, and I found confidence in my teaching style and 
methods that worked for my students and myself. I enjoyed learning alongside my 
students, and I rolled with the punches during this tumultuous time of learning amidst a 
pandemic.  

Reflections on Professional Growth:  

Goal 1: ​To develop a belief and practice of assessment within the English classroom standards. 

Assessment will forever be a changing and moving piece of the English classroom puzzle, 
but I feel more confident in my ability to appropriately assess student learning and 
determine the next steps in the student’s learning journey. I built assessments for critical, 
personal, and creative outcomes of assessment, and I dealt with challenges as they came 
up. I had to deal with plagiarism several times throughout the practicum, and I found ways 
of doing so that abided by my personal assessment beliefs as well as by the school’s code 
of conduct. I learned the steps that need to be taken before giving an assessment, and I 
feel more confident now in my own development of assessments than I did coming into 
this classroom. I did not have the diploma results to look back upon to reflect, since only 
two of my students wrote a diploma exam. Students in my other section did not write a 
final exam for the school, so we got to tailor our teaching and assessments to cover other 
topics that we may not have otherwise explored.  

Moving forward, more exploration into the test-taking process (for example, with classes 
other than English) would be beneficial for my growth and understanding of current 
student experiences. Becoming more comfortable with the teaching and administering of 
the Diploma or other final exams would also be beneficial for my own learning, in order to 
fully give my students the best support possible when writing those tests. I hope to sign up 
to become eligible to mark Diploma exams as soon as that option is available to me.  

Goal 2: ​To develop a sense of confidence in my classroom style and content knowledge. 

I found that my confidence in my classroom style started to develop more and more as the 
semester progressed. I found new ways to integrate myself and my personal beliefs on 
what a classroom environment should feel like into my daily routine, even when my 
classes were moved online during December of 2020. I used graphics and clear schedules 
and routines to help my students understand exactly what was going on and what to 
expect during a day’s class, and the virtual space also allowed me more flexibility to share 
myself with my students. I was able to find little images to add to my “virtual classroom” to 
have something waiting for students each day, whether it was a picture relevant to the 
lesson or a video to play on loop while students entered the “classroom”.  

As far as the content knowledge was concerned, I should have split these into two 
separate goals, but in my mind, they worked hand in hand. Content knowledge of the 
curriculum and what kinds of questions my students would be asking me about said 
curriculum would inform my “scripts” and defined answers to these common questions, 
which would then help to inform my classroom teaching style and my response to their 
needs. My content knowledge in my subject area will forever be growing, as it should be 
for all teachers, but beginning to place texts in certain levels based on their language and 
content, figuring out what a student’s writing should sound like in Grade 9 versus Grade 
12, and finding new and exciting ways to introduce content are some things I’ve become 
better at over the course of my practicum.