Self-Appraisal of Current Performance - Essay Example

Teaching Staff Appraisal Section Summary of Responsibilities The main duties and responsibilities of the appraisee, Patience, are the following:Implementation of the daily routines of the class Helping out children with special educational needs Planning of a developmentally-appropriate curriculum for the target age group Working in partnership with the teaching team and the parents of the students Updating and sharing of the children’s profiles and documentation to the parents on a regular basis Updating own knowledge and skills for personal and professional development Patience’s achievements and changes in role since the last appraisal are as follows: Has attended PECS training in relation to students with special needs Has attended a ‘working in partnership with parents’ in-house training Has attended the ‘Reggio Emilia’ conference Implementation of ICT use in the classroom on a regular basis From a volunteer, Patience has progressed to being employed as a special education needs support worker as well as an early years educator on a part time basis. Some operational difficulties that have affected Patience’s performance: Unexpected absences of main teacher, prompting Patience to take over unprepared. Planning and implementation of the curriculum is greatly affected as she is unfamiliar with the class routines, so some planned activities of the teacher are not carried out. Nature of the job makes teachers and staff prone to sicknesses contracted from the children or through the innate stress of the job. Section 2: Self-appraisal of current performance Patience has outlined her points of strengths and weaknesses as follows: Strong communication skills Active listener Excellent time keeping Ability to relate well with children Good team player Excellent ICT skills Able to relate well with parents Good interpersonal skills From the above self-evaluation, it is clear that Patience deems that she is equipped with the right characteristics and skills necessary for someone working with very young children. Being able to establish good rapport with children is obviously essential in this line of work as well as possessing good communication skills and interpersonal skills, as she would have to deal with children of all kinds of abilities & personalities, not to mention their parents and of course, co-workers. Her good time-keeping skills are also necessary requirements of the job since children need to learn routines and follow them to develop a sense of order. However, when children are engaged in an activity that develops their cognitive, motor and socio-emotional skills, she must be flexible enough to extend time limits. She should learn to discern value priorities that children need to learn. Her skills in ICT may come in handy in terms of orienting the children about the computer and new technology, as they are part of the technological era. However, she needs to choose appropriate software for them. Needless to say, computer use should only be a supplement to a curriculum filled with concrete, hands-on, relevant and meaningful activities that engage the children’s senses. Section 3: Career development (optional) Based on the Patience’s appraisal, the following Professional Development Plan is thus recommended: Mentorship: Patience should be provided with more in-house/ on-the job training. An early childhood educator or special education teacher can be assigned to Patience as her mentor who can assist her in the following ways: Inform the staff about school policies and procedures or help her find out. Share knowledge about new materials, unit planning, curriculum development and teaching methods. Orient her on the children’s personalities, abilities or disabilities especially those with special needs. Handling individual differences and needs of the students Assist with classroom management and discipline. Provide opportunities to observe other teachers using different teaching models. Encourage reflection on own teaching practices and help her adapt new strategies for her class. Provide moral support and encouragement to go on especially when the school day did not go so well. Team Teaching: The main teacher may partner with Patience to be her assistant. This way, she shares with Patience her curriculum plans and specific activities for each day. Patience will also be given opportunities to interact with the children as a teacher assistant like handing out materials, supporting the less active children, and even storytelling. She will also be trained in designing curriculum and preparing the materials needed for the class each day. Guided on what is to be done, she will not be at a loss when unexpected absences of the teachers happen. She will remain confident that she can handle the children on her own. Observation of other more experienced teachers. Patience will gain a lot in observing professional teachers in action. This way, she can emulate their good example, and eliminate or avoid in her own practice what she deems as inappropriate teaching practices. Feedbacking of Professional Development Team. Comprised of mentors and colleagues, the professional development team gets to evaluate performance of each staff member. Feedback from this team (such as this current appraisal) is valuable in the Patience’s objective self-evaluation. Own Reflective Assessment. Journaling, and assessing own performance based on her observations of more experienced teachers or based from her own research on professionalism, Patience should be able to reflect on her own teaching practice and improve on her weaknesses. Attendance in Professional Development Seminars/ Workshops. Patience will be asked to attend training seminars and conferences outside the school setting to sharpen her professional skills. Training on leadership, special needs education, curriculum planning, etc. will be beneficial to Patience. These provide not only the latest and more thorough knowledge on professional practices given by the experts, but also opportunities to network with other teachers or professionals in the field and exposure to educational materials and new teaching technology. Research Work. “Certainly one way to gain new knowledge about teaching is to produce some of that new knowledge yourself – as a researcher in you classroom or some other.” (Shalaway, 1997) Patience may be assigned a special topic to research on such as “Importance of Children’s Play” of “Social Development of Four Year olds” and present her paper to the teachers and staff or to the parents. Her knowledge and skill in ICT may be put to use as she sets up a dynamic PowerPoint presentation in her report. Physical Fitness Program. Patience’ physical fitness for the job will require that she take in a balanced nutritious diet with enough vitamin supplements and physical exercise to help her cope with the demands of the job. A weekly physical fitness program for the entire staff may also be implemented such as a dance class or engaging in a session of some sport. More than keeping the staff healthy and fit, this can help ease stress, provide opportunities for fellowship and form bonds between the staff. It may likewise lessen the likelihood of absences due to sicknesses. References Beaty, J., (1984) Skills for Preschool Teachers, Columbus, Ohio: Bell & Howell Co. Brewer, J., (2002) Early Childhood Education. Allyn & Bacon Brophy, J., Good, T., & Nedler, S., (1976) Teaching in the Preschool. Harper & Row, Click, P. & Click, D. (n.d.), Administration of Schools for Young Children. Delmar Publishers, Hendrick, J. (1992) The Whole Child, 5th Ed. Macmillian Publishing Co. Mayesky, M., Neuman, D. & Wlodkowski, R., (1980) Creative Activities for Young Children. Canada: Delmar Publishers, Inc.,. Mitchell, G., Bailey, N. & Dewsnap, L. (1981) I Am! I Can! Keys to Quality Child Care. Teachers College Press. Shalaway, L. (1998) Learning to Teach. New York: Scholastic Professional Books Siefeldt, C., Barbour, N., (1990) Early Childhood Education, An Introduction. Merril Publishing, Co. Whitebread, D. Teaching and Learning in the Early Years. London: Routledge, 1996. Read More