Professional Development Plan - Research Paper Example

Professional Development Plan of 0 Background Professional Development Plan relates to a conscious effort to attain a given end in the development of skills and competencies in the education industry (Furman, 2012 p3). In other words, professional development plans are meant to provide a structure and system through which an educator can acquire important competencies and skills that are relevant to his profession. The nature of professional development plans enables a tutor or educator to set objectives and a defined method or system of attaining those ends. “It is attained through eclectic use of goal setting and techniques of implementation and monitoring to ensure that defined ends are attained” (Reid and Null, 2006 p49). In the academic setting, every good and realistic professional development plan must enable the person making it to meet the core goals of education. This involves the creation of important pointers and requirements that will be linked to the direct development of students (Porter, 2004). In other words, the professional development plan should aim at helping students to become responsible adults who can effectively apply the skills and topics that were taught to them by a good professional tutor. Additionally, a good professional development plan must contain the following five core objectives (Lorriman, 1997 p28): 1. Specific: It must be clearly spelt out and core areas must be identified to ensure that it works to attain a given end. 2. Measurable: There should be a consistent method of tracking progress and matching implementation results with criteria set for the individual making the plan. 3. Attainable: The individual making the plan should be in a position to meet the objectives that are identified. 4. Realistic: There should be a reliable and credible method of matching it with a defined end of the individual who makes the plan. 5. Timely: It should be completed in a defined timeframe. 2.0 Project at Hand This paper is meant to design a Professional Development Plan for an educator who seeks to promote the personal and professional growth of a culturally diverse and academically diverse classroom. The paper will provide a step-by-step approach to the attainment of goals in important elements of the classroom environment. The areas of interest in this plan include: 1. Mindset, learning environment and differentiation 2. Curriculum and differentiation 3. Assessment and differentiation 4. Student readiness and differentiation 5. Student interest and differentiation 6. Student learning profile and differentiation 7. Managing a differentiated classroom 3.0 Project Goal This project is designed to encourage personal growth and professional growth in an imaginary classroom. In this classroom, the main elements that are important and relevant to the design of the project goals and objectives are the academic diversity and the cultural diversity. Academic diversity is examined from two angles. First of all, the students studied from varied academic institutions and are now in a class where they are to be taught and developed according to a standardized set of principles. Secondly, the students are from a culturally diverse background. This means that they have different ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious affiliations. As such, there is a tendency for majority and minority issues that need to be resolved to ensure that teaching and study goes on in a very positive and effective manner. Due to the variations and differences in the backgrounds of the students that the plan is being devised for, there is the need for the goals to relate to integration of students into the systems and methodology in spite of their differences. Also, the goal is to ensure that the most effective techniques and systems are employed to provide the individual and collective needs of the class. As such, the following goals will pertain to each of the components of the Professional Development Plan. Objective 1: Mindset, Learning Environment and Differentiation The main goal is to include systems that will ensure that individuals prepare themselves duly for the studies and remain appreciative of the learning environment that exists in the classroom. The main goals for this in the plan are: 1. Individual Integration: This involves the proper involvement of the individual student by helping the student to connect his or her personal knowledge and skills in the past to appreciate the teaching objectives set by the teacher. 2. Conflict Minimization: This is an effort to ensure harmony and minimize the differences between all the different students in the class. This needs to cover the relationship amongst the students and the relationship between teacher and students. Objective 2: Curriculum and Differentiation This will involve the development of a curriculum that each different student will be able to identify with and more importantly follow consistently. As such, the goals for this section of the plan would be: 1. Simplification: This will involve the use of basic terminologies and teaching methods that all students can connect with and follow throughout the course. 2. Responsibility, Realism and Practical Awareness: This will involve an effort to promote practical awareness amongst the students in their study of the course. As such, there should be a conscious effort to include practicalities that will enable the students to connect what they learn with their immediate environment in their own way. Objective 3: Assessment and Differentiation Assessment forms an important element of identifying how well teaching methods have worked. It also provides an opportunity to tilt students towards a particular end. In this light, the following objectives will be sought: 1. Practicality: There would be practical elements of the course that will be tested. In other words, there would be elements of application that will be required of the students to enable them get an awareness of the relevance of the course with real life situations. 2. Consistency: The questions and evaluation systems must be consistent so that they can be effectively used to measure individual-to-individual progress of all the different students in the class as well as a year-by-year basis. Objective 4: Student Readiness and Differentiation Preparation for the the class should be done in a way that all the students will be settled and willing to take part in the course at the normal pace set by the instructor. In doing this, the following goals would be sought: 1. Structure: The course must be such that each and every student will be included from the onset and consistently reviewed and made to take part in the course at all time. 2. Communication: There must be a plan to communicate with students who are not very successful in following the course to identify their problem and enable them to catch up with the rest of the class. Objective 5: Student Interest and Differentiation From Objective 4 above, students need to be motivated at all times to remain ready and committed to the course. To this end, the following goals will be sought: 1. Familiarity: Students will be allowed to participate in the course through examples and real life issues that they have a prior knowledge with. 2. Participation: The participation of students will be encouraged through projects and activities that will require them to make some significant contribution to the program. Objective 6: Student Learning Profile and Differentiation. There is the need for all the different learning systems to be integrated into the course so that all individuals can be catered for by the program. These objectives will be sought: 1. Institution of a Student Learning Profiling Methodology 2. Integration of specific learning needs to cover all the kinds of students found in the class. Objective 7: Managing a Differentiated Classroom The differences between the students must be controlled to ensure that all the students live and work together as a single unit. To attain this, there should be the following goals: 1. Global and multicultural standards: There should be rules that will enable all students of all origins to respect each other and live together in harmony. 2. Liberalization and Integration: There should be room for partnerships and collaborations that will help the students to carve out a unique identity that will define them as a single group. 4.0 Measuring Standards For these goals to be attained, there is the need to set the criteria for the attainment of each and every one of them. They are as follows: Objective 1: Mindset, Learning Environment and Differentiation 1. Individual Integration: The extent to which students work together successfully per group event. This is measured in the number of successes. 2. Conflict Minimization: A conscious effort to reduce the number of conflicts to the barest minimum. Objective 2: Curriculum and Differentiation 1. Simplification: The number of times students will question what is being taught and the extent of complication of their needs. 2. Responsibility, Realism and Practical Awareness: How well students connect the theories to real-life issues. Objective 3: Assessment and Differentiation 1. Practicality: The number of practical examples that are given per lesson on the average. 2. Consistency: The ease with which assessment can lead to comparison across years and between individuals. And the number of issues that come up in terms of comparison. Objective 4: Student Readiness and Differentiation 1. Structure: The measurement yardstick will be the number of potential issues that can arise in preparing students within the curriculum judged by an educator 2. Communication: The number of successful coaching and communication with challenged students. Objective 5: Student Interest and Differentiation 1. Familiarity: The yardstick will be the number of challenges that students report in trying to grasp concepts based on their own channel of understanding. 2. Participation: The measurement yardstick will be the number of successful activities that students could participate in. Objective 6: Student Learning Profile and Differentiation. 1. Institution of a Student Learning Profiling Methodology: The potential success and issues with the learning profiling method eg. Kolbs method of learning in the classroom setting. 2. Integration of specific learning needs to cover all the kinds of students found in the class: Assessment of how many successful cases have been handled. Objective 7: Managing a Differentiated Classroom 1. Global and multicultural standards: The appropriateness of the rules and the efficiency in communicating them 2. Liberalization and Integration: This will be measured through the number of integration challenges that will be reported in the class. 5.0 Time Table The main timetable that will be set will include three phases: 1. Structural Phase: Three weeks before lessons begin. 2. Application Phase: During the weeks that lessons proceed 3. Post-Application Phase: Three weeks after the term ends Phase Structural Phase Application Phase Post-Application Phase Week 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 O1.1: Individual Integration Plan and Review O1.2: Conflict Minimization Plan Implementation and Evaluation. O2.1: Evaluation for Simplification of Curriculum to the Specific Class O2.2: Practical Awareness Integration and Review O3.1: Review for the Integration of Practicality in Lessons O3.2: Review of Consistency in Assessment O4.1: Structure for Preparation of Students O4.2: Review of Communication with Students with Special Needs O5.1: Integration of Familiarity: Plan and Review O5.2: Participation Activities and Events: Plan, Review and Evaluation. O6.1: Student Learning Profiling Methdology: Plan and Review O6.2: Integration of Specific Student Needs O7.1: Global and Multicultural Standards: Plan and Review O7.2: Liberalization and Integration: Review and Evaluation Legend Preliminary Activity Review Session During Course Evaluation After Course Limitations Although this plan seeks to provide an ideal model for the integration of special needs of a diversified class, there could be some specific challenges that will demand a fire fighting approach. This is because it is possible to work with a class that has major diversity elements that need to be addressed through a more critical approach. In such a case, it might be appropriate to include some external elements like counselors and other senior educationists. Secondly, the measurement of some of the objectives are quite difficult. Objectives like liberalization and integration as well as integration of familiarity is a highly subjective concept. As such, it is meant to vary from person to person. Due to to this, the plan is meant to be as universal as possible. However, there is a chance that this might not be sufficient. References Furman, L. R. (2012) Instructional Technology Tools: A Professional Development Plan Indianapolis: iUniverse. Lorriman J. (1997) Continuing Professional Development: A Practical Approach. New York: IET Publishing. Porter, L. R. (2004) Developing an Online Curriculum Technologies and Techniques Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons Publishing. Reid, W. A. and Null, R. J. W. (2006) The Pursuit of Curriculum: Schooling and the Public Interest New York: Information Age Publishing Inc. Read More