Professional Development
Professional Development Paper
Near the end of the course, you will analyze your present teaching practices (if currently teaching) and/or philosophies. Use the following steps to complete this assignment and set up your paper.
Part 1: Checklist for an Effective Literacy Program
Complete the Checklist for an Effective Literacy Program as found in Figure 13.2 on pages 528-529 of the Gunning text. If you are not teaching now, base your responses on how you believe you will conduct yourself when you are a teacher. Make a list of 5 items that you responded “Never” to and 5 items that you responded “Usually” to that you think are highly important/relevant to your current (or future) position. You do not need to submit your checklist with your paper; use it as a tool to guide you in writing the paper.
Part 2: Goals
Complete the questions in the Setting Professional Goals section of 13.2, focusing on literacy instruction. Type each question and your response in the document.
Use this format for writing your paper:
I recommend that you copy/paste all of the parts (Parts 1 and 2) below into a new document. Use this as the framework for your paper and then simply replace the directions in each section with your information. In general, the completed papers are 2-4 pages in length.
Part 1: This will be a simple list format. You don’t need to elaborate on these here, because you will probably be discussing some of these in later sections of this paper.
Part 1: Checklist for an Effective Literacy Program
I responded “Usually” to the following 5 statements and consider these to be highly relevant/important to my current/future position:
1. (copy these from the checklist)
2.
3.
4.
5.
I responded “Never” to the following 5 statements and consider these to be highly relevant/important to my current/future position:
1. (copy these from the checklist)
2.
3.
4.
5.
Part 2: Each question should have approximately 2 well-written paragraphs. PLEASE REMEMBER – THESE MUST RELATE TO LITERACY!
Part 2: Goals (relate all of these to teaching literacy)
1. Where do I want to be professionally 5 years from now?
(Write your response here in narrative form and in at least one paragraph.)
2. What steps do I have to take to get there?
(Write your response here in narrative form. Be specific about the steps you will need to take.)
3. What are my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher of reading and writing?
(Write your response here. Write one paragraph for strengths and one paragraph for weaknesses.)
4. How can I build on my strengths and remediate my weaknesses?
(Write your response here. Write one paragraph about building on strengths and one paragraph for remediating weaknesses.)
5. Teachers of all students have a responsibility to conduct their practices with special attention to developing awareness and sensitivity for diverse student populations with a particular goal to advocate for equity, equality, and social justice, not only in their classrooms, but in all aspects of their professional lives. In what ways do you meet this goal at this point in your educational career? What can you do in the future to further advocate for equity, equality, and social justice in education?
(Write your response here. Write one paragraph about how you currently meet this goal and one paragraph for what you can do in the future.)
The rubric for this paper can be found below
Professional Development Reflection Rubric
Basic
1 point Average
2 points Exceptional
3 points
Part 1: Checklist for an Effective Literacy Program
“Usually” / “Never” statements 1 2 3
Part 2: Goals
5 years from now 1 2 3
Steps 1 2 3
Strengths 1 2 3
Weaknesses 1 2 3
How to build on strengths 1 2 3
How to remediate weaknesses 1 2 3
Advocate for equity, equality, and social justice 1 2 3
Other criteria
Format was adhered to 1 2 3
Spelling & mechanics 1 2 3
TOTAL POINTS /30
