Running head: LOOKING FORWARD

Looking Forward
Jennifer Buck
National University

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for

TED 690Capstone Course
Carol Sheperd

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2
Abstract

This paper includes a professional development 5-year plan with a timeline. This particular
timeline is essential to Domain F of the Teacher Performance Expectation (TPE). The timeline
will outline the areas I plan on extending my knowledge and how these professional
development activities will lead to university credit, certification, or recognizable at Ceres
Unified School District, my current place of employment. A plan of action, explanations as to
why I chose the specific professional development activities, and a procedure for sharing my
professional development proposal will also be included. In the paper, it states I would like to
become DI certified. In the case of this professional development certification, DI means, Direct
Instruction. This type of teaching instruction is required at the district I teach in. However, to be
recognized, teachers must show competency by completing a DI lesson in a 45-minute time
frame and evaluated by school board members.

Running head: LOOKING FORWARD

Looking Forward
Professional Development Planning
We look at educators of today as leaders. They must take risks and embrace new
pedagogy (Crocket, Jukes, & Churches, 2001, p. 14). Teaching is a process of continued and
ongoing learning. Obtaining a teaching credential does not mean education stops there; the
education process is just beginning. Teachers need to continually seek instructional strategies to
best fit the needs of their students. As a result, teachers need to plan, and improve their teaching
curriculum, strategy, and teaching style to benefit the students they serve.
The purpose of a professional development plan is to reach an attainable goal(s).
Targeted outcomes allow teacher candidates to monitor their own growth toward program
requirements and help experienced teachers to identify goals for professional growth based on
accepted standards of the profession (Costantino & De Lorenze, 2009, p. 11). These goals
should enhance knowledge in areas of strengths and weaknesses. Every teacher has both,
strengths and weaknesses, but how they identify those areas, enhance personal strategies, and
advance instructional tools to improve the effectiveness is the important aspect. Teachers need to
continuously adapt, accommodate, supplement, and improve, in both teaching and learning.
My Professional Development Plan: Setting the Context
I was offered an internship for my first year teaching as a sixth grade teacher for the 2015
through 2016 school year. This job incorporated teaching the multiple subject content area. This
new school year I will be at the same school site and grade level. Our site has a high level of
English Language Learners (ELLs) in a low-income economy. With this being said, we have a
program labeled differentiated instructional teaching DIT. We level our learners in specific
content areas of high achievers, average, and low achievers (not meeting benchmarks). I had the

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opportunity to challenge the average-achieving students in reading and math, while incorporating
writing in each subject matter for 3 days out of the week for the whole year. Due to the fact that
I teach all subject content areas, my professional development plan infuses a variety of learning
goals across all TPE domains and content standards.
In the next five years (see below Table 1), I plan to gain insight and increase my
effectiveness by taking professional development courses, certifications, conferences, and
activities in all subject areas. The teaching performance expectation in domain F is developing
as a professional educator (CTC, 2013, p. 17). I have researched various opportunities for
extended teacher education and professional development opportunities to help fulfill my career
goal. In my first year of teaching on an internship credential, I had the opportunity to attend the
PLC (Professional Learning Communities) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although this conference did
not target a specific content area, it taught teachers to learn, build, share, and grow together as a
collaborative team. If our sixth grade team works together as a collective whole to build
formative, summative, and cumulative assessments, we can reflect on the student data to drive
instruction. While each teacher has their own teaching techniques, we can sit down and discuss
what worked well for one teacher, and what didnt work well for another teacher. We can assess
the deliveries techniques and modify our teaching to better suit the needs of our students. This
professional development conference was very enlightening and encouraging for our entire staff
to work together.
Second, I would like to be DI (Direct Instruction) Certified in my district in one to two
years. In our district, they give extreme recognition to becoming DI certified. My principal was
very supportive my first year and I asked what she expected of me. She specified DI is a must
and she will be looking for the components when she enters my room. As Fogarty (2001) states

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new teachers must find someone familiar with district policies (p. 12). My principal explicitly
reinforced the expectations of the district norms and policies. There were also instructional
coaches who help build lessons and give guidance when planning DI lessons to make sure
teachers were on the correct path. In the Ceres Unified School District, the instructional norms
include these effective lesson design components: learning objective, activating prior
knowledge, concept development, skill development, guided practice, relevance, closure, and
independent practice. First time learning for all Ceres students should incorporate a DI lesson
presented by the teacher. In addition to having a glossary of words, all the subject area state
frameworks affirm the importance of the teacher explicitly teaching academic vocabulary to their
students (Ventriglia, 2009, p. 5). Therefore, explicit direct instruction is important for me to
further my education.
Third, I would like to attend TEAM Collaborative meetings, which are grade level
specific for 5th and 6th grade teachers. However, this is only offered to Ceres Unified School
District teachers. Look for ways to link grade level teams with relevant resources inside and
outside of your building (Mattos, DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, 2016, p. 10). Grade level
team meetings and collaboration are essential but, if you are able to collaborate with the same
grade level teachers within your entire district, that is resourceful. This is a time to create, share,
exchange, and discuss what works well, where students are struggling and why, and how we can
use resources from each other to be more effective teachers. Therefore, I will be pursuing this
collaboration session to benefit my students and me.
Next, I would like to attend the Writing Collaborative kindergarten through sixth grade,
provided at California State University, Stanislaus. Our sixth grade team infuses writing
throughout all subject areas, as well as every student focusing on writing for at least forty-five

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minutes every day. Writing is a huge part of our sixth grade curriculum and this is an area where
I have the ability to grow. I have so much to learn about the process of teaching writing.
Teachers typically implement the peer edit during the writing process and require students to
have a classmate read your draft (Kennedy, Kennedy, Muth, & Holladay, 2005, p. 61). If
students are unaware of the writing process and expectations, how can they peer edit someone
elses writing? Therefore, I will be attending a professional learning development collaboration
in writing.
At last, I have chosen a professional development activity that will lead to 2 university
units. This is a focus in Mathematics for kindergarten through twelfth grade in Grading and
Assessment, led by Timothy Kanold. He is an award-winning educator, author, and consultant,
and lastly, is a former superintendent. Our district has gone one-to-world in technology where
every student has his or her own chrome book. Our district no longer has mathematics
textbooks. Our curriculum for math is called Go Math and is solely online. From personal
experience, students are definitely engaged in learning with the chrome book; however, I believe
in using a paper and pencil to show work. Therefore, I am curious to see how assessments are
created to show mastery of the content. In an authentic assessment situation, the students
product should be allowed the same flexibility; quality rather than quantity is the goal (Blaz,
2008, p. 58). Due to the fact that quality work is more important than quantity, I am curious to
explore effective ways to assess students and give partial credit for showing different levels of
skills and knowledge of the content.
Table 1. Timeline for Professional Development Plan
Timeline
Professional Goal
2016
PLC (Professional Learning Communities) in
Las Vegas, Nevada. Presenters: Robert
Year 1
DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, & Luis Cruz

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2017

7
Professional development conference led to:
2 University Credits.
Direct Instruction Certification in the Ceres
Unified School District

Year 2

2018

Professional development activity led to:

Certification & recognition in the district I am
currently teaching in.
Team Collaborative (5th & 6th grade specific)
in Ceres Unified School District

Year 3
2019
Year 4

2020

Professional development activity led to: 1

University Credit.
A Writing Collaborative K-6 Great Valley
Writing Project, Location: California State
University Stanislaus
Professional development activity led to: 3
University Credits.
Your K-12 Mathematics Focus: Grading &
Assessment led by Timothy D. Kanold

Year 5
Professional development activity led to: 2
University Units
Procedure for Sharing my Professional Development Proposal
Unfortunately, I never thought about a short-term plan passed 2 years. This allowed me
to research professional development opportunities to continue my education. Teaching is a
process of continued and ongoing learning to enhance teaching strategies and effectiveness.
Teachers need to continually seek instructional strategies and tools that best fit the needs of the
students they serve. During grade level collaboration, discussions on what worked, what did not,
and how we can do things differently, is imperative to student learning. This is also a way to
present the professional development plan to my sixth grade level in multiple subjects content
area. The school district communication will be met through taking transcripts for professional
learning university units to the district office for extended education credits and a pay increase.

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8
References

Blaz, D. (2008). Differentiated assessment for middle and high school classrooms. Larchmont,
NY: Eye On Education.
Commission on Teaching Credentialing. (2013). California teaching performance expectations.
Retrieved from http://www.ctc.ca.gov/educator-prep/TPA-files/CandidateHandbookAppendixA-TPEs.pdf
Costantino, P.M., De Lorenzo, M.N., & Tirrell-Corbin (2009). Developing a professional
teaching portfolio: A guide for success. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Crockett, L., Jukes, I., & Churches, A. (2011). Literacy is not enough: 21st-century fluencies for
the digital age. Kelowna, B.C.: 21st Century Fluency Project.
Fogarty, R. (2001). Ten things new teachers need to succeed. Arlington Heights, IL: Skylight
Professional Development
Kennedy, X.J., Kennedy, D.M., Muth, M.F., & Holladay, S.A. (2005). The bedford guide for
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Ventriglia, L.D. (2009). Best practices interdisciplinary vocabulary development: The rule of 3.
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