Semester 1 Professional Growth

1.  Think back (or revisit) the “Principles of Children’s Learning” or “Belief Statements” that you wrote at the beginning of this journey.

 a. What specific principle or belief do you most rely on as you interact with students each day?

I feel that the belief that I rely on the most is building positive relationships with students. I have worked hard this semester to get to know my students better. When I have a good relationship with my students, we work better together and they learn more. The classroom environment is more productive.

 b. In what ways has this helped you reframe anxiety-producing problems into productive, solvable problems (maybe even opportunities)?

Getting to know my students better helps with behavioral issues in the classroom. Classroom management can be anxiety-producing for me at times, and have good relationships with my students alleviates some of that anxiety. I can talk to them about what's going on that day or I can tell if they are struggling or need to take a break from what they are doing.

2.  In what ways has your Semester 1 learning impacted your interactions with colleagues?

I am willing to ask for help and discuss ideas with my colleagues. They provide support and strength for me to try new things. I am also more open with my colleagues on a personal level trying to build relationships with them as well. Just like the relationships I am building with my students, the more I work on relationships with my colleagues, the better we will work together.

3.  What new nugget of learning (or insight) has impacted your practice most?  What are you doing differently as a result of this learning?

I have been really thinking about and working on formative assessment and differentiation. I want to make sure that my students understand what I am teaching and can apply the concepts to problems. I have also been focusing on those students who are struggling with understanding concepts and completing assignments by working with them in smaller groups during class time.

4.  What are you still wondering about?

The action research project still worries me. What happens if I pick something that doesn't work or is too complicated to analyze the data. Specifically, the data collection piece of the action research project intimidates me. I struggle with wanting concrete data, numbers, and answers, but feel like I won't necessarily get that with my data collection.

AR - Data Collection Tools