Melton 1
Professional Growth Plan
1. Goals for the first year of teaching:
Goals
I will prepare my lessons at
least a week in advance.
(Planning & Preparation)
I will get to know my
students so that I can develop
professional relationships
with them. (Know at least 3
unique things about each
student)
(Classroom Environment)
I will use materials from my
previous internships and from
my college courses to guide
instructional outcomes,
instructional design, and
Hope Melton, SED 322
What will I use to measure How will I improve my
progress toward this goal? practice and meet this goal,
including timeframe?
I will set deadlines for myself Preparing my lessons a week
for the completion of my in advance will give me
lesson plans. I may also set ample time to review the
flexible checkpoints material and ensure that I
throughout the week to demonstrate proficiency in
ensure that I am making my content knowledge. It will
progress so that I do not have also give me time to think
to prepare the entire week’s about pedagogical best
lesson plans over the practices and lesson
weekend. improvements to follow
research-based practices. The
weekly deadlines will help
me to meet this goal.
I will start the year with a get- Getting to know my students
to-know-you survey where will help me to know how to
they answer questions and best meet their
have the opportunity to tell academic/behavioral needs. If
me anything that they feel I am meeting the needs of
that I should know. As I students where they are at, I
continue learning more about can improve my practice. In
them, I will internally update this first week of school, I
my knowledge about them. will do activities that allow
The more new things I learn me to learn more about them.
about students, the more I I will have conversations with
will consider myself to have them to learn more about
made progress in this goal. them as people and as
students throughout the entire
school year. Building rapport
with them will help to
cultivate a positive classroom
culture.
Before I teach each lesson, Each week as I am preparing
activity, or assessment, I will lesson plans, I will compare
compare it against criteria them to activities from my
that I have developed in my college experiences. I will
educational experiences. By compare my designed

student assessment.
(Planning & Preparation)
I will carefully consider
student feedback.
(Instruction)
I will integrate a variety of
instructional methods into
different lessons.
(Instruction)
I will use cooperative
grouping in my classroom to
facilitate student learning.
Melton 2
creating a checklist of things lessons/activities/assessments
to look for (differentiation forto those used by my previous
diverse learners, generation mentor teachers and my
of data for formative & methods instructor to ensure
summative assessments, that I am including all
alignment to standards, value necessary content for students
of concepts for student to learn. I will revisit
learning, etc.) I can quantify concepts from my education
my progress of using these courses (differentiation,
materials for my students’ Marzano strategies, backward
benefit. design, etc.) and ensure that I
am applying them to each
lesson/activity/assessment to
continue improving my
practice to best meet
students’ needs.
I will use formative I will use the submissions of
assessments throughout each formative assessments as data
lesson to take in student to improve instruction.
feedback. These are a direct Formative assessments will
measure of my progress be integrated in most days of
toward this goal. instruction, so it will be a
daily task to consider student
feedback and reflect on how I
can improve my practice. I
will also try to create a
positive environment where
students feel comfortable
talking with me and giving
me feedback.
Each week as I am planning This process will be weekly
lessons, I will compare the as I am designing lessons.
strategies that I am using on Keeping myself accountable
each day and ensure that there about using different
are variations in structure instructional approaches will
throughout the week. I can help improve my practice.
also compare my lesson plans Using checklists weekly will
to a checklist to ensure that I help me to integrate direct
have used multiple methods instruction, inquiry-based
within each week. instruction, active learning,
and other approaches
throughout the week to meet
diverse student needs.
To measure progress toward I will let students work in
this goal, I will examine the their groups at least twice
success of the groupings before I consider

(Instruction)
I will use a daily journal to
mark my progress and notate
students’ responses. The
feedback that I receive from
students will drive how I
approach the same
lessons/activities/assessments
in future years.
(Instruction)
I will send out a weekly
newsletter to interested
parents so that they can keep
up with what their student is
learning.
(Professional Responsibility)
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through different criteria, interventions. The nature of
including how well the the chemistry classroom is
students work together that they will likely complete
(socially: do they get along 1 lab/week, so after 2 weeks,
without conflicts, I will have a general idea of
functionally: do they perform how well the lab groups are
well together). As necessary, working together. If the
I will rearrange groups to groups are effective, it will
ensure that the groupings are improve my practice by
helpful to students. allowing students to work
within their zones of
proximal development and
learn alongside their peers.
I will measure progress I plan to use the journal
through the frequency of my method at least for my first 3
entries. I should be writing years of teaching. After this
about each individual day, but period, I will assess whether I
if I am in a particularly busy need to continue journaling as
week, I may also write for the often. I may decrease the
week instead. In subsequent amount of entries to: once at
years, I will measure progress the end of a unit + whenever I
by rereading my entries from receive novel feedback.
the same time/activity and Writing and reading these
adjust as necessary. journal entries will allow me
to improve my practice by
learning from my mistakes
and from students’ responses
to continue improving my
instruction.
I will measure progress My previous mentor teacher
toward this goal by setting a used this strategy and she
deadline for myself that I found it helpful for
must have the newsletter facilitating communication
prepared by. I may also create with families. Keeping
the newsletter as I am consistent communication
planning the lessons for the each week may allow parents
week so that it gives me a to help their students because
structured guide to stay on- of increased awareness of
task and accountable. class content. Therefore,
when I have to talk with
parents about individual
students, they are already
aware of the class
expectations and they are
engaged with the instructional
goals.

2. Long-term goals:
Goals
I will use data from current
and previous years to design
effective instruction.
(Planning & Preparation)
I will implement more
“creative” and fun projects
into my classroom.
(Classroom Environment +
Instruction)
I will continue to use student
feedback to learn from my
students.
(Instruction)
Melton 4
What will I use to measure How will I improve my
progress toward this goal? practice and meet this goal,
including timeframe?
After my first few years of I will do this every summer
teaching, I will revisit all my before I start a new school
old notes/journals and use year. Every batch of students
that information to fine-tune will bring different challenges
my instruction. By this time, I and I will learn something
will know which activities new from each year.
did not work well with Therefore, every year, I will
students and I can use that revisit data from previous
data to measure my progress years to make decisions about
toward designing more altering my lesson plans to
effective instruction. increase their efficacy with
students.
For each quarter when I am Within my first few years of
reviewing the schedule of teaching, I anticipate that I
activities, I will see if there is will still being trying to
a time to include project- perfect my day-to-day
based learning or an instruction and I may not
interdisciplinary lesson. After have time to implement some
my first three-five years of of the more creative projects
teaching, I anticipate that I that I have created in college,
will have honed my schedule such as project-based learning
and will be able to find a time and interdisciplinary lesson
where I can incorporate a plans. While I would like to
project that extends student incorporate these unique
learning. I will measure learning modalities earlier, it
progress toward this goal by may not be feasible until I am
my ability to incorporate about five years into teaching.
these lessons/activities. I may Using these projects with
start with one students will improve my
interdisciplinary lesson and practice by giving the
go from there based on what I students more fun learning
find is practical with the contexts, which may increase
students. their engagement with the
material and their pride in
their own work.
To measure my progress By this point in my teaching,
toward this goal, I will notate I will have a generally good
the amount of times that I idea for what works with the
change my instruction or a students and what does not.
specific activity based on However, I can improve my
student feedback. I will practice by continuing to be

collect student feedback and flexible and listening to
data from formative
assessments such as exit
tickets and participatory
quizzes.
I will participate in I will measure my progress
professional organizations to toward this goal by assessing research different
improve my practice and my how many professional
connections to the organizations I am a part of and join those that interest
community. by the end of five years of
teaching.
(Professional Responsibility)
I will refer back to these I will measure my progress
goals and continue reflecting toward this goal by asking
on my progress and growth as myself whether I have met (or school year, I will revisit this
an educator. at least made progress
toward) meeting the goals
(Professional Responsibility) that I have listed here.
Melton 5
students’ feedback. I want to
teach the students who I have,
not who I expect them to be.
Accordingly, in order to meet
this goal, I must take in their
feedback in formative
assessments and alter my
instruction as necessary to
meet the needs of my students
in their respective classes.
To achieve this goal, I will
professional organizations
me, such as the National
Association of Gifted
Children. I will also ask my
colleagues if they have joined
any professional
organizations to look for
more options. Joining
professional organizations
will help me to make
connections with other
educators, which will enable
me to learn from them and
have more people to bounce
ideas off so that I can
continue improving my
pedagogy and content
knowledge.
At several key checkpoints
(likely quarters) of each
list of goals and will mark my
progress toward meeting each
one. I have created these
goals with the intention of
helping myself to grow as an
educator, so examining my
progress will help me to
reflect on how much growth I
have achieved and have yet to
achieve. This process of
reflecting will push me to
 Melton 6

continue to improve my
pedagogy and content
knowledge to best meet the
needs of my students.

3. List of professional organizations in which you plan to participate:

 American Modeling Teachers Association

o My chemistry methods professor required us to join this organization for his

course, but I would like to continue being a member as I continue in my career.

Being a member of AMTA enables me to have access to instructional materials

and connections to other science teachers across the country. Additionally, I could

upload my own resources to AMTA if I see fit. Therefore, maintaining my

membership with AMTA will help me to improve my content knowledge and

effective instructional design because I will have direct access to other chemistry

teachers’ resources. I can use these resources, as well as compare my resources to

those to see how mine measure up and adjust accordingly. I have learned deeper

content knowledge from my methods class, so being in contact with other science

teachers could allow me to continue developing my content knowledge

throughout my career.

 National Association of Gifted Children

o I am interested in pursuing gifted education, so I think that it would be valuable

for me to be a part of a professional organization centralized on supporting

teachers of gifted children. This organization offers learning conferences,

advocacy opportunities, and research access. Being a member of this organization

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will help me to increase my involvement in my community as well as improve my

practice by sharing resources and learning from others.

 Arizona Education Association

o I do not currently know much about this organization, but they are a local

professional organization for teachers, which may be a valuable place to find

connections with other local Arizona educators. They offer information about

educators’ rights, professional learning opportunities, and advocacy outreach.

This organization could be a great way to foster ties in my community of Arizona

educators while also improving my teaching practice.