● Select three participants with different levels of experience to determine the effect of the

professional development. Provide a rationale for the selection of each participant.

○ Amanda-2nd Grade: I selected Amanda because she is a 2nd year teacher,

and this is her first year teaching 2nd grade. She felt very overwhelmed

with family engagement but has an incredible job being willing to learn

and try new things.

○ Tammie-3rd Grade: I selected Tammie because she has been teaching for 7

years and all 7 of them have been in 3rd grade. She has worked hard to

engage families by providing materials for them to use but feels

intimidated by physical interactions with them. She wanted to learn more

about how she could use her skills for activities that engage and apply that

to interacting with them more.

○ Shonya-4th Grade: Shonya has been teaching for 26 years. She has done

many grade levels but this is her first year teaching 4th grade. She feels

very apprehensive about interacting with families to engage them but she

wants their help with student achievement so she was receptive to the

professional development.

● In what ways did the goal of professional development influence the instructional practice of

each participant? Provide specific examples, including those from the walk-through

observation form, of the influence.

The goal of the professional development plan was to give teachers tools and resources to

feel more confident in executing the subcategory of the Hierarchy they identified to be
 their biggest need on the prioritized list. It was to promote parent communication and

engagement in a way that will allow them to actively support and be engaged in their

student’s learning.

In the observations, it was clear that teachers were trying to implement the biggest

strategy that we tried to focus on with professional development, which is the idea that

we need connections between home and school. Families should be taught and exposed to

the strategies that we are using in the classroom so that they can feel empowered and

support the education we are trying to provide. I saw this as I saw the same charts used as

visuals, and the same types of things being said in the classroom as I saw and heard

conveyed to the parents during the first family event.

● What follow-up did you provide for each participant? Provide a rationale.

I met with each of the three participants that I observed individually following the walk

through observation that I did. I was able to praise them on the connections they were

making between home and school, and I was also able to discuss ideas and follow up

strategies that they could plan and prepare for the next family event. I then took this

information and shared it with the staff as a whole to provide follow up from the

professional development so that they would be able to have it as a valuable resource.

● What was the impact of each participant’s professional development on student learning?

Each participant had a different impact on their student learning from what they took

from the professional development. Two of the three teachers felt that the resources and

communication they provided allowed them to develop a stronger relationship with the

families of the students in their classrooms. The attached artifact below shows the

progress that a student in Amanda’s class made following the Big 3 family event where
the teachers instructed parents on strategies and provided the resources to practice at

home. There was huge improvement for her students. Moving from 38 words per minute

to 56 may not seem like a lot, but it really is and I believe that it is because of the parent's

involvement with some targeted strategies. A similar outcome happened in Tammie’s

class. In Shonya’s classroom though, she found that many of her students were still

struggling with the concepts. In our discussion we went back to the strategies that we

discussed during our professional development and she set a plan for what she was going

to change at our next family event to help the families feel more empowered. The

ultimate goal is obviously that her student learning will increase as well!