This is one of five standards of practice in the Ontario teaching profession that references the recognition of commitment to professional learning that is ongoing and continuous. Further to that, professional learning is vital to effective teaching practices and ultimately to the learner. Educator professional practice is guided by experience, collaboration, research and knowledge that comes from learning that is self-initiated.
This is the area where professional learning expands as the growth plan evolves and the fruits of those endeavors are highlighted in this space. See growth plan in tabular format and artifact denoting initial achievement in the latter part of this page.
November 2018
It has been a long-standing practice of mine, to keep abreast of changes to policy and practice as it relates to education even before pursuing certification in the teaching profession. In November 2018, I had an opportunity to register for training with the Ontario Human Rights Commission dealing with the latest policy on accessible education for students with disabilities. I completed this training in Toronto, Ontario and became versed in protections for students with exceptionalities under Ontario’s Human Rights Code. The training included delving into the role of policy and decision makers, parents and educators, in order to make sure every learner receives equality of education, as well as accommodations, modifications, etc. which are needed to succeed. I have taken that knowledge and applied it in many of the classrooms that I had been called for supply duties, as well as parental avocation for my own children with exceptionalities and informing my role as a co-chairperson of the Special Education sub-committee of the GECDSB (Parent Involvement Committee). This speaks to personal and professional practice that is guided by self-directed learning in the above noted standard of practice.
February 2020
University of Windsor, Faculty of Education hosted a conference where the topic of marginalization and vulnerability were thoroughly explored. Teacher candidates had opportunity to not only hear a well-versed keynote speaker who shared their first hand marginalization experiences, but also were able to share and reflect on social justice and equity issues relevant to education in a variety of plenary sessions. In the local area, there continue to be pockets of poverty which is something that United Way has take considerable strategic action in working with the public board to assist with basic needs of students. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs clearly takes precedent, as little learning can take place with food insecurity. Although lunchtime supervision is usually contracted out to temporary staff agencies, teachers have opportunity to conference with staff after nutrition breaks to alleviate some of these barriers as they surface.
December 2020
Ontario Teachers’ Federation hosted a webinar that was held on a Zoom virtual meeting platform. It was informative as well as inspirational with resources presented and highlighting the importance of checking in with the various FNMI partners here in Windsor/Essex County or whatever locale you may be in, before presenting information and activities on Indigenous traditions in the classroom. What may have been used in the past, may not longer be applicable. Resources are always being evaluated and rightfully so, to ensure that information portrayed is accurate and representative of Indigenous peoples. It was noted that request for materials by educators may not have a short turn-around time, so resource requests need ample and generous time frames. Being mindful to respect time value differences. This was a wonderful presentation and I look forward to taking part in more as they are offered by the OTF.
January 2021
There have been many courses, webinars and workshops that I’ve had a chance to take part in and rather than narrate the details of each, it is much more efficient to record them in tabular format. That way it affords a quick glance and snapshot of my ongoing professional learning. Many workshops and professional development have gone to a digital format making it much more accessible and cost efficient to put on. Although 2020 has been a precarious time, as an educator who is always in pursuit of finding better and more innovate ways to serve, it’s been filled with productivity and this table shows just that. As 2021 progresses, the learning continues as more professional development is delivered straight to your own computer screen.
2021 Professional Growth Plan — Continued Professional Development
This has the potential to be a lengthy list and there is often more goals than what is realistically accomplishable. In an effort to keep this plan sustainable, I am planning to keep a prioritized focus on what is most meaningful and beneficial for student success.
For the next while I am planning on tackling an ambitious project that has been a seedling idea with a few details in a very rough draft format. The project idea came about from a deep connection that I have to indigenous challenges with access to clean and safe water. Having been part of some large scale events with the local public board, I was inspired to create a proposal involving a community event around this very important indigenous issue. I would like to initially see the project utilized in a summer camp environment with hopes to branch into a larger scale as the ideas are refined in the smaller beta setting. Next steps would be to see about the viability by making connections to consult.
The other larger goal is to create and write a children’s fictional mentor text that allows students to connect with their mixed indigenous heritage. Fear around self-identification is a challenge for some Métis families which contributes to cultural erosion. Efforts towards this goal include a draft of several stanzas written that would be the first few pages of the book. This is a work in progress but I do see this book being self-published in digital format in 2021.
Additional Qualification course work is also on the immediate horizon post B.ED where the intent is to take Special Education as well as Math to start. I continue to develop digital educational resources in both Microsoft and Google formats that can be easily delivered in a virtual setting as well as exported in a pdf format allowing use in the physical classroom environment.