Teacher Professional Growth Plan

Name: Sara Kohandel PS III 2020/21

Goal 1: My goal is to become a more adaptable teacher when it comes to

accommodating the varied academic and personal needs of my students. I want
to build the confidence and repertoire of knowledge to differentiate lessons,
assignments, and assessments for students with different skills and abilities—
especially students with IPPs, coding, and ELL status. This goal is especially
important because I am teaching similar content between two classes—social
studies 10-2 and 10-4—which requires me to differentiate all aspects of my
teaching to fit the needs of two very diverse groups of learners.

Related
TQS The TQS goals that relate to this goal are as follows…

Fostering Effective Relationships  having meaningful and effective

relationships with my students and their families will allow me to understand
each of my learner’s needs, thus allowing me to accommodate their needs
accordingly. Understanding my students as individuals rather than mere
academics will allow me to provide them with a more effective and meaningful
education.

Engaging in Career-Long Learning  As with any goal, there must be

continuous effort in order to ensure progress. Every aspect of teaching requires
career-long learning: technology, strategies, and content are constantly
changing; therefor, so must we. To keep up with the varied and ever-changing
needs of my students, I must consistently seek feedback, collaborate with other
teachers to learn from their body of knowledge, and I must maintain an
awareness of emerging technology and knowledge in my field.

Demonstrating a Professional Body of Knowledge  Building up my

professional repertoire of knowledge is vital in meeting my goal. Ensuring that
my planning, instruction, and assessment practices are curricular-based, varied,
and effective will mean that I have enough resources and confidence to ensure
the best education for my students.

Strategies Indicators and Measures of Achievement

My strategies for meeting my goal are as
follows:
- Be reflective: think back on every
lesson and see what worked and
what did not. Ask questions such
How will I know that I have achieved my
goal?
My Teacher mentor (TM) as well as my
UC are aware of my goal and I plan to
confer with them on their perception of my
 as, “did all of my students connect
with the lesson?” “is every student
able to accurately demonstrate their
knowledge?” “does this
lesson/assignment/assessment
appeal to the understanding and
academic ability of each student?”
- Ask for guidance/collaborate:
Veteran teachers, co-workers,
learning leaders, and administrators
are a fantastic resource for support
and collaboration. I plan on
learning as much as I can from
those around me
- Stay up to date: I have begun
reading history books as a
recreational practice that I hope will
seep into my every-day teaching.
Have more content knowledge will
allow me to more confidently
translate ideas and concepts to my
students.
- Include the students: students are
the ones that benefit the most from
their own education; therefor, they
should be consulted. Next week I
will be checking in with my
students to see how they feel about
my teaching. I want to get their
feedback and understand if my style
is working for them or if there are
things that could be
improved/amended to better meet
their needs. Students are the best
resource we have for information
on personal growth—so why not
include them?
- Try new things: trying different
lecture techniques, assignments,
activities, and assessments will
inevitably allow me to find
strategies that work for different
students.
growth. My TM is able to observe me on a
daily basis and his feedback will allow me
to be reflective in my classroom practices.
Being reflective and analyzing my own
work will allow me to see the areas of my
teaching that have allowed me to progress
towards my goal—as well as the areas of
my teaching that require improvement to
better meet the needs of my students.
Paying close attention to my assessments
will allow me to keep up with how my
students are doing. Formative assessments
—check-ins, binder checks, classroom
participation—will be observed to ensure
that students are actively participating in
their own learning. Summative assignments
will be a great way to understand whether
students are meeting the curricular
outcomes, or if they need further teaching
and assistance to realize their full potential.
As mentioned in my strategies, including
the students in this process will be a
fantastic advantage. Who better than my
own class to reflect on their learning
process? By checking in with my students
once a month or every 3 weeks (this will be
done as an exit slip that asks students how
they feel about my teaching style and how
it correlates to their learning), I will be able
to get the best perspective on the
effectiveness of my teaching: the
perspective of my students.
Time Line Resources

This goal is something that I plan to work
on throughout the entirety of my career;
however, I plan on making continuous
progress in this area throughout the course
of my PSIII practicum. My aim is that—by
December 18th—I will have confidence,
skills, and experiences from developing
lessons, assignments, and assessments that
are varied enough to accommodate the
different needs of my students.
This will take a conscious effort, planning,
and reflection to achieve.
I will be utilizing my teacher mentor, other
teachers in the school, learning leaders,
administrators, my university consultant,
and my peers in PSIII as resources for
improving my ability to accommodate the
different academic and emotional needs of
my students. I will also depend on
professional development opportunities
such as PD days, reading materials (The
First Days of School, Wong and Wong),
EUS and ATA sessions to develop my
professional body of knowledge. I am
building a personal database of information
(website, articles, assignments etc.) that
addresses the different areas of the TQS in
the hopes that I can depend on that
resources as one way of developing my
skills as a teacher.

Evidence of Achievement

The goal of becoming a more flexible and adaptable teacher to meet the varied
needs of students is one that must be developed throughout my entire teaching career.
This is a goal that requires consistent professional development; however, there have
been many indicators to prove that I have had success in beginning my achievement of
this goal:
1. I have gained confidence in my accommodation and adaptability skills. I
can offer students alternatives and modifications for assignments to ensure that
curricular content is covered while giving students autonomy and independence
when it comes to their expression of understanding. I feel that I know my students
quite well—both personally and in terms of their academic strengths—and I am
now able to offer them differentiations and accommodations at the start of a new
unit or assignment. These accommodations and different modalities give students
the confidence to express their understanding in a way that works best for their
strengths.

2. I have worked closely with my Teacher Mentor and the Resource

Department to ensure that I am up to date on accommodation and
differentiation practices. Consistent conferences with these two parties have
given me the confidence and validation required to move forward with my
teaching practices—especially when it comes to meeting the needs of IPP learners
and ELL students. My students have seen success through the use of chunking
assignments, graphic organizers, and assistive technology. My collaboration with
my Teacher Mentor and the Resource Department has contributed massively to
my repertoire of professional knowledge.

3. Student feedback has been one of the biggest indicators for meeting my
goal of adaptability in the classroom. Compared to the start of the year, my
students have gained a lot of confidence in their knowledge and skills. Many of
my IPP students have discovered the power of assistive technology (e.g. Read,
Write, Gold) which has given them the independence necessary to succeed. My
students are my most important stakeholders—they feel comfortable enough to
suggest ways in which our class can improve and they are vocal when certain
strategies are not beneficial for them. This confidence and assertiveness in my
students is an incredible thing to see—this shows me that they can make positive
choices for their learning.