Importance and Summary for Professional Learning and Ethical Practices
InTASC Standard nine, Professional learning and ethical practice, focuses on continuous learning. This helps teachers to stay up to date on the material and technology available at the time. I can demonstrate my ability to grow and develop as a teacher by including handouts from professional development workshops, staff meeting notes, certificates, and memberships.
Artifact #1: Professional Development Workshops
By going to professional development workshops, I demonstrate my ability and willingness to continue to grow as a learner. This is good because I am allowing myself to learn about different ideas, methods, or activities to do with my students. Virginia Association of Science Teachers (VAST) is a conference that talks about various science activities and projects teachers can do with their students. I attended this conference in 2019. I went to about seven different workshops. Here is a picture of my VAST confirmation email.
Artifact #2: Staff Meeting Notes/Handouts
By including my notes from our last data meeting, I demonstrate my ability to learn and do what is best for the students. We have only had one staff meeting this year and two data meetings. During the first data meeting, our principal informed us about which schools performed on the lower end of the county (including us) based on the reading formative. She said that we needed to restart groups and pull out activities to keep the student’s knowledge fresh in their minds. Our second data meeting was on April 12th, and we discussed summer school; we also had a pre-meeting before our IEP meeting. This meeting was K-2, and we discussed who we recommended for summer school, who was going to be teaching summer school, and the layout of summer school for 2021. During the meeting before the actual IEP meeting, we discussed one of our students and his strengths and weaknesses to consult with his parents during the IEP meeting. Here is the link to my notes from the second data meeting and the IEP meeting.
Artifact #3: Certifications and Memberships
Certifications and memberships are beneficial for any teacher because it shows that the teacher is continuing to learn so that they can do their best for their students. There are many opportunities for teachers to get certificates, for example, CPR/First Aid certification or by completing online classes on various topics (Dyslexia, behavior management, etc.). When a teacher is a part of an organization like Kappa Delta Pi (KDP) or the National Education Association (NEA), they have the opportunity to collaborate with other educators, share ideas, and grow as educators. Here is my Dyslexia certificate!