STANDARDS V
V. Engage in professional growth and leadership
Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.
- Participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning
- Exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others
- Evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning
- Contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community
Reflection
Professional development is vital to the teachers' ability to achieve success in effectively meeting the learning needs and goals of students as technology is used to support teaching and learning. Teachers who continuously develop their professional development skills through conducting research, attending and participating in workshops, and conferences, collaborating with colleagues, and taking advantage of opportunities to further develop their technology skills will develop the knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully integrate technology in their classroom. The teacher engages in professional development as they put their knowledge into practice, and develop their technology skills through the development of a course site to support a technology supported curriculum instruction such as the Flipped Classroom. As teachers develop lesson plans, and make decisions on concepts to cover and methods that will be used to teach the material using technology to support learning objectives, they demonstrate their ability to effectively use digital tools and resources. Teachers also engage in professional development as they reflect on their learning experience in their Blogfolio where they also evaluate concepts learned through reading literature, discuss their own experience in implementing concepts, and engage in a learning community with colleagues who provide their own feedback and comments on the teacher's reflection. As teachers engage with their colleagues and invite them as participants in their current projects (Google Forms Survey, Google Sheets Gradebook, Google Docs Lesson, Google Slides Presentation) to provide feedback based on their own expertise, the impact is two-fold as individuals help others to develop their skills, and engage in leadership through their contributions. This experience also encompasses shared decision making as collaboration efforts help to improve and enhance the use of technology tools to support teaching and learning goals, and supports creativity as teachers apply the new insights gained from colleagues to further enhance their use of technology tools.
Artifacts
Blogfolio
Course Site
Google Drive Apps (Google Forms - Survey, Google Sheets - Gradebook, Google Docs - Lesson, Google Slides - Presentation)
Future Learning Goals
My ability to support my students' growth towards becoming lifelong learners is largely dependent on my technology competencies and ability to effectively integrate tools into my instruction in order to provide students access to learning at the highest levels. Therefore, it is imperative that I maintain continuous professional development in the area of educational technology to ensure that I am implementing novel tools that best achieve teaching and learning objectives. This will encompass being active in a variety of professional development activities.