A Professional Growth Plan

Annual Professional Growth Plan for: Jordyn Garinger

School Year 2015 - 2016
Goal
To create a classroom
environment of respect and
rapport.

Plan:
Introduce procedures and a
classroom policy to the students
that focuses on respecting each
other.
Use a positive behaviour
mechanism to encourage the
students to work as a class
towards a common goal
(Garinger Gold). Students will
receive gold as a reward to
positive behaviour.
Use a procedure for negative
behaviour to ensure the
classroom environment remains
respectful and on task (1,2,3
strike cards).
Work on encouraging positive
interaction between students by
modeling good behaviour and
conversation.

Timeline and Resources:

September 2015 - June 2016
January: Introduce
procedures and the
classroom philosophy to
the class.

Expected Outcomes:
Increase student-student
positive interaction.
Increase student self

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 February: Evaluate how the

procedures are working,
decide whether to
continue using these or
switch to another. February
8th: students should have
met their Garinger Gold
goal for positive behaviour.
March: Students should be
having a much more
respectful classroom
environment.
April: Student interactions
should be respectful. There
should be less tattling
going on between students
and more individual
ownership.

appreciation.
Connections and collaboration
with other classrooms, and
teachers.
Create an environment that
focuses on positivity and
respect.

Resources:
Virtual Learning Portal
Educational Leadership by Carol
Gerber Allred
Faculty Focus: Creating a
Respectful Classroom
Environment
Strategies
January: Introduced classroom policy and motto to the class.
Hung poster as a reminder in the classroom and referred back to
the motto when students needed a reminder; both individually
and as a class.
January-February: Introduced a classroom positive incentive
called Garinger Gold. When I saw positive things in the classroom
either by individual students, groups of students or the class as a
whole, I put gold into the Garinger Gold pot and acknowledged
the good deed. We set a goal to get a certain amount of gold into
the pot by February 28th and if we reached that goal we got a
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reward. I chose three different options and the class voted on

their favourite. The class did reach their goal, and I saw a change
in the amount of positive acts of kindness happening in the room.
The incentive program was a success.
March: March was filled with peer interaction as we were testing
materials/designs in science and conducting daily science
experiments. While sometimes I let students choose their own
groups, for the most part I put them into groups myself and was
pleasantly surprised at how well the students did working in
groups that they did not choose. Many groups worked very well
together and during these classes I had little tattling or
disagreements happening among students as they were hard at
work on their task.
April: Students participated in the DEHR Art Gala by creating
peace beads to be donated to Syrian family refugees. As a class
we started a new policy at the end of the day where we take turns
sharing one positive thing that happened in the day or said one
thank you to someone.
Reflection:
Walking into the classroom in January I quickly found that the
atmosphere in the classroom was not always one of respect and
rapport among the students. Students would often get in small
disagreements and call on me to settle them, they were turning
down certain people to work in groups and were letting out sighs
and complaining when I put them into groups rather than let them
choose their partnerships. Overall the class was lacking
community and ultimately respect for their peers, their school and
themselves.
To bring positivity and respect into the classroom I
established a classroom motto; Respect each other, respect this
place, but most of all respect yourself. I created a poster with this
motto on it and hung it in the classroom for the students to see.
We continuously referred back to this motto when we were
getting off track and students genuinely appreciated it and took it
seriously. I found that this was successful and I would like to
always create a classroom motto. Next time, I would have the
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students create their own classroom motto, then have them

design posters/ some type of visual to display just to include them
in the process even more.
Garinger Gold was a positive incentive program where my
students received gold into their class pot when I saw positive
acts in the classroom. It was a really great way to focus on the
positive happening in the classroom and a way to unite the class
towards a common goal. Overall it was a success and the
students did meet their goal. The only problem I had with this was
that I often forgot to reward students for positive behaviour as it
did take some time to drop everything and announce why I was
putting gold into the pot.
As a way to increase respect and rapport among all the
students in my class, I had them complete a lot of group work in
our science units. While I let them choose their partners on
occasion, for the most part I put them into groups to get them
experiencing working with all of their classmates. At the start I
had a few moans and groans, but I was so proud of them at the
end of March with how well they were working in their groups. I
was sure to go over that it does not feel nice to have a classmate
not want you in their group and we made up the rule that if
someone asks you to be their partner, you cannot say no. Working
on establishing positive group work was really successful in
building a classroom atmosphere of respect. Students had less
disagreements and were encouraged to collaborate with their
peers about their designs/work to ultimately build a structure.
In April our class participated in the DEHR Art Gala and
created a piece of art to be donated to the cause to raise money
for Syrian family refugees. Learning about the refugee experience
was an eye opener for my grade threes and was a great way for
them to think more globally and about how they can help other
people and not just themselves. They really enjoyed participating
in this project and it brought out a lot of positivity in my
classroom. To end the year I am having my students share
something positive about their day at the end of the day. We sit in
a circle and I pick a few students to share something positive in
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their day or thank someone for something they did. It ends the
day on a positive note and lets the students feel good about
themselves.

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