Reflective Essay: Individual Learning Plan, Part 2

Master of Science in Education, Walden University

EDUC 6733: Action Research for Educators

July 1, 2021

Reflective Essay: Individual Learning Plan, Part 2

Part One: Accomplishments

Finishing my last class for my master’s degree is a feeling like no other. I have grown in numerous ways during my journey at Walden University. I have learned new ways to enhance my professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Now, I will reflect on my growth by completing the disposition survey for my Individual Learning Plan Part two and review my Individual Leaning Plan Part one while assessing my progress. This will allow me to describe what I have accomplished here at Walden University and discuss plans for continual improvement to continue my path as a life-long learner.

When comparing my Professional Dispositions surveys, I mentioned that I would like to engage more often with my team and participate in our weekly meetings. To improve in this area, I have collaborated with my co-teachers and colleagues. Collaboration has many benefits, like apparent growth in teacher ability to differentiate for students (Mofield, 2020). By communicating daily about our students, I have built relationships with my colleagues that now I feel safe to share my thoughts. Before this school year, I was the new teacher on the team and felt intimidated by my colleagues. Now, I am feeling much more confident around them, and that is a great feeling. I have shown them that I am an active member by sharing new strategies and activities that I have implemented with my students. We often share ideas that benefit our student’s diverse needs. Another form of collaborating that I have learned from Walden is the importance of frequently communicating with my school peers. Weekly discussion posts with my peers have helped me improve in many areas. It was very beneficial to discuss common scenarios with fellow teachers regarding teaching and students' success within our classrooms. I will continue to collaborate often, ask questions and not be afraid to give my suggestions during team meetings. I understand the importance of communicating with my colleagues for our student’s needs.

When comparing my National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) five core propositions surveys, a couple of areas needed improvement. One area that I wanted to improve in was in “Core Proposition Two: Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students.” I wanted to be more fluent in mathematics and problem solving by understanding how students learn. By completing this course, I feel that I have mastered this. In addition, I completed my action research project on problem-solving in students with disabilities to become more confident. Over time, I will still show improvement in this area as I will enhance my mathematical understanding by being active in yearly workshops and professional learning opportunities. Another area that I wanted to improve in was in “Core

Proposition Four: Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience.” By completing my classes here at Walden University, I have learned the importance of staying up to date with instructional strategies and learning new ways to implement them within my classroom.

When comparing my Technology Proficiencies surveys, I have grown tremendously. Everhart et al. (2021) state, “The recent pandemic is putting technology directly in the very capable hands of students and educators” (p. 39). This last school year was extremely challenging for teachers to implement technology to keep students engaged from a screen. We had students both in-person and virtual at one point and had to make our lessons accommodating to both. We needed to learn new ways to incorporate technology within our lessons for our students to be successful. Technology plays a significant role in classrooms now for both teachers and students, so we must be fluent in using and implementing it. I will continue to use technology moving forward and find new ways to make it fun and engaging for students.

By evaluating my Individual Learning Plans, I am taking time to reflect on what I have completed growing in my career. It is essential to review and reflect on areas of improvement to become more proactive with my goals. Therefore, I will continue to take time within my practice to reflect often to show improvement continuously.

Part Two: Plan for Continual Improvement

Regarding my Individual Learning Plan Part one, there are still activities that I would like to strengthen. When looking at my dispositions, I believe that I am vital in creating a positive classroom environment for all students, though I am still creating social change. When thinking about social change within the community, it takes us to make something like that happen. I now understand the importance of having positive social change and involving families within our classrooms. My SMART goal for this activity is that “By August 30, 2021, I will create a Social Change committee to meet biweekly with our student’s parents to discuss ways to improve our school community (Zoom link for parents).” I believe that parents would love to be involved and a part of their child’s learning. I also realized that Zoom meetings were much more effective for parents' verse in person.

Regarding my NBPTS, I have yet to reinforce “Core Proposition Five fully: Teachers are members of learning communities: I am a leader and actively know how to seek and build partnerships with community groups and businesses.” This year was only my second year of teaching, and I had not voluntarily signed up to be a leader for any committees that our school offers. From my understanding, they take up a lot of extra time, and I was currently in my master’s program along with working in special education. As teachers, we have many weekly meetings that are mandatory to attend and weekly IEP meetings. Now that I will be completed my master’s degree next school year, I plan to get more involved within the school community. My SMART goal for this activity is “By August 2, 2021, I will join a teacher committee that will enhance my knowledge on building partnerships with the community.” According to Mapotse (2018) , “Community engagement is a regular site-based support interaction process comprised of ill-equipped teachers as a community of co-researchers during a community of practice involvement led by an action research practitioner for facilitation purposes in pursuit of new teaching skills, methods and approaches within their cultural context to enhance learners' performance and teachers' achievement” (p. 690). This goal will be an excellent way for me to know more about our community while also building my knowledge of how partnerships work.

Regarding my technology, I have completed all activities after this school year. First, teachers were obligated to design lessons that were engaging and effective for all students. Second, we had to use digital tools that we had never used before, like Zoom, to communicate with our students while meeting their needs. Third, we had to teach students and parents how to navigate our schoolwide portal. Lastly, we attended professional learning courses to help us improve our technology backgrounds. Teaching during a global pandemic is something I will never forget. My SMART goal for this activity is “Next school year, I will continue to use technology within my classrooms to enhance my student’s learning.”

When comparing my survey results, there were similarities and differences. I believe that I grew in many areas while completing my master’s degree at Walden University. Looking at the survey I completed time around, I am feeling much more confident with my answers. I can tell that I have grown in my overall writing as my comments are much more in detail and clearer. Through all the papers I was required to complete at Walden, I have completed research, learning new ways to collaborate, and understand the importance of differentiation within our classrooms. I have learned ways to reflect on my teaching to enhance the learning in my classroom. I will continue to build my knowledge of elementary reading and mathematics and often reflect on being a life-long learner for my students.

References

Everhart, D., Hammelman, K., Hummel, B. A., Sparozic, R., & Zalewski, C. (2021). Enhancing learning in K-12 schools: Students and teachers benefit from many engineering technologies in K-12 schools. Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 58(2), 38–40.

Mapotse, T. A. (2018). Development of a technology education cascading theory through community engagement site-based support. International journal of technology and design education, 28(3), 685–699.

Mofield, E. L. (2020). Benefits and barriers to collaboration and co-teaching: Examining

perspectives of gifted education teachers and general education teachers. Gifted child today, 43(1), 20 –33. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ 10.1177/1076217519880588

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