PSIII Professional Growth Plan

Name: Maddie Kaczur

School: Coopers Crossing
Practicum Dates: August 31st – December 17th
Teacher Associate: Jillian Pahl
University Consultant: Sandy Mann

Goal 1:
Inquiry Question: To what extent do purposeful learning activities create excitement towards
learning?

Goal: To provide meaningful learning opportunities to students through hands-on experiences

and creating relevant connections. (TQS 3)

Strategies: Indicators of Success:

• Collaborate with Teacher Mentor and • Students are enjoying learning and are
the Grade 5 team to share lessons and engaged in lessons
activities • Students are intrinsically motivated to
• Utilize a variety of resources to find extended their learning
creative ideas to introduce and • Lessons incorporate a variety of
reinforce concepts learning activities
• Feedback from my TM, UC and/or
admin
Resources:
• Grade 5 team – Observations and Coopers Crossing shared folder
• Meetings (Grade 5 team meetings and meetings with my Teacher Mentor)
• Online resources (teacher blogs, games/manipulatives online, Uleth curriculum
laboratory)

Reflection:
• I have found that connecting learning to prior knowledge has been extremely
beneficial in helping students develop a greater understanding of content. It allows
them to tie their learning to what they already know.
• Hooking students into lessons through an engaging activity or video has helped
students to build excitement towards their learning.
• I have recognized how tying learning to life beyond school is very important in building
motivation, especially for those students who do not love school. I want to improve
further on this by creating more connections to how these concepts can be used later
in life.
Goal 2:
Inquiry Question: In what ways does differentiation set all students up for success?

Goal: To apply UDL and differentiation techniques to set all students up for success and build
their confidence and motivation to learn. (TQS 3,4)

Strategies: Indicators of Success:

• I will have variety in the math
handouts and questions that are done
to ensure all learners can find success
• I will provide additional
writing/reading supports
• There will be a wide variety in which
information will be presented
including auditory, visual, written and
hands-on experiments.
• When possible, students will be given
autonomy on how they demonstrate
their learning.
Resources:
• Learning Support and Literacy Teacher
• Educational Assistants to help with leveled groups and target specific needs
• Discussion of strategies with my Teacher Mentor
• My lesson plans will incorporate
differentiation for the learners in my
classroom
o Students with exceptional
needs will have all the support
they need to find success.
o Gifted students will have
opportunities to extend their
thinking.
• Lesson plans will include a variety of
different methods for students to
intake material
• Written Feedback from my TM, UC
and/or admin

Reflection:
• After noticing some off-task behaviours, I began to apply a variety of universal supports
that I found beneficial. For universal support, I often use a written checklist on the
board, brain and body breaks, sharing content in a variety of ways and frequent
feedback. As I started to apply these more frequently in practice I have found students
have a greater understanding of what they are supposed to be doing and are more
engaged in work.
• In science, I have provided accommodated work for students whenever appropriate,
often this means reducing the literary demands of tasks. For mathematics, I have been
providing students with a variety of leveled worksheets and tasks to best meet their
individual goals.
• Moving forward, I believe that providing students with “learning targets” would be
beneficial in making their learning visible. I think this may help give students a clear
picture of the purpose of their learning and a goal to reach for.
Goal 3:
Inquiry Question: What are the best practices to fairly and accurately assess all students?

Goal: I will apply a variety of formative and summative assessment practices to gain a clear
picture of student knowledge and help students progress their learning further. (TQS 3)

Strategies: Indicators of Success:

• Use different formative assessments
and adapt teaching to support the
results of these assessments
• Collaborate with Teacher Mentor to
ensure assessments are fair and valid
• 3 assessments per month per subject
recorded for Real time reporting
• Multiple forms of summative
assessments collected to create a
clear and accurate picture of student
learning
• Feedback from Teacher Mentor

Resources:
• I will seek suggestions from my Teacher Mentor and University Consultant on ways to
improve

Reflection:
• I believe that my formative assessments have been both beneficial for the students
and myself. Performing frequent checks for understanding has helped me gain a
snapshot of where the students are at, and therefore I can adapt my lessons
accordingly.
• I soon realized that I need to check all student work very shortly after it is completed,
regardless if I mark it or not. I found students have told me that they understand, when
their work paints a different picture. This has allowed me to help correct
misconceptions/mistakes early in the learning process.
• A challenge that I did not originally anticipate has been summatively assessing a
student who often refuses to do work, even with modifications and 1-on-1 support.
Through consultation with my TM and Learning support, I have adapted my practices
to assess the student based on the limited knowledge I do have of their learning,
including conversations.