Professional Development: Upon reflecting on the evaluations conducted throughout the year by the administration, and listening to feedback provided by my mentor I have been able to adjust my teaching strategies and applications. In the beginning of the year my CSTP self-assessment revealed that CSTP 5 and 2 were my top two strongest areas, with CSTP 4 and 1 ranked as my lowest. As one of my long term goals I set for myself, I wanted to target improving student assessment and creating responsive lesson plans based off student assessments. My final CSTP self-assessment ranked CSTP 3 and 5 as my strongest area, further confirming the personal growth I have seen in myself in this area. My coach as well as my administration also made notes of my growth and development in this area, stating that assessments had become one of my strong points, as well as my ability to respond to students results and adjust my teaching to meet needs of the students. Since Assessments are crucial to special education this was an area I recognized early on as needing the forefront of my focus. Now that I feel I have a grasp on this area I am free to shift my focus to my weaker areas of CSTP 1 and CSTP 2.
While reviewing the goals I set for myself at the start of the school year, I realized that I had made more growth and progress toward those long term goals than I originally thought I had made. Included in the link below is a copy of the professional growth goals I had made for myself.
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Strength's Reflecting on my teaching over the past year I feel my strength lies in my ability to read and understand my students. While I work hard to develop lesson plans and have a set daily schedule, I am not afraid to change those plans based on my students in a given moment. I am highly flexible within my instruction and see the student as a whole. Yes I focus on reaching academic goals, and student learning, however if a student is distracted by hunger, incidents at home or on the playground or anxious they won't be ready to learn.
In an effort to create a safe learning environment, I always take in account emotional safety as well as physical safety. I show my students compassion and respect. By taking the time to diverge from a planned lesson I am able to help my students work throw their emotions, and help them feel validated and valued.
I also have a strength in recognizing when students need more support, or reteaching a concept from a new perspective. Every day I am learning new ways to help my students, and I have found that my students are the best teachers for how to support them. They will gladly tell you what they need and what makes sense to them, when you stop to listen. These conversations allow me to take their strengths and use them to teach, while also allowing them to have a voice and sense of ownership in their education.
How can I Improve My biggest area for growth would have to be remaining consistent in all areas of teaching. Since I am in a more diverse class, and the needs are ever changing it often leads me to also be in a state of constant change. Finding the balance between stable environment with set routines, and being fluid enough to meet all student needs can be tricky. There are days where I feel it is a choice between adhere to the known routine, or stray from it to maintain a stable, healthy classroom environment. Majority of the time I am able to balance both, unless I am not at my best. Teaching through a pandemic has taught me so much about myself and the importance of teacher wellness. My state of being has a direct impact on my students ability to learn. Remembering to take time for myself, my family and leaving work troubles at work is an on-going area of growth for me.
What I am Proud of I am most proud of my students. While I have grown and learned a lot the last two years, I am more proud of the growth they have made. While they have been challenging, they have helped shape me into the teacher I am on my way to becoming. If I didn't have the challenges this group presented me with, and continue to present me with, I wouldn't have made nearly half the growth that I have made. I can see not only my efforts, but theirs as well reflected back at me. None of us are the same as we were at the start of the year, and I am so proud to have been their teacher and to have learned alongside them. There were many days I questioned if I was in the right spot or not. I knew I loved teaching, I knew I was passionate about special education, but I often asked myself if I was doing any good, or being effective. Then one of my students would met a goal, or would have that "Ah-HA!" moment, where the light bulb goes on and it would reaffirm that I was exactly where I was meant to be. In a way I am proud of myself for sticking it, even when it got hard.