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Promoting Professional Learning for Continuous Improvement
Professional learning within the school community is some of the most applicable learning teachers can engage in. Learning from your specific environment ensures the strategies and instruction work with your unique students. Leaders, including school administrators and coaches, are vital to promoting professional learning. They can pinpoint teachers' needs, develop a plan, and align professional learning with district, school, and content goals. Furthermore, they can advocate for and provide the resources and time necessary for professional learning among staff and teams.
Artifact 1
There is growing research to show that early years children learn and listen to music in a different way based on their brain and aural development. When I joined my school's early years education (ECE) team last year, I noticed that many ECE homeroom teachers often used music in their classrooms. They sang songs during morning meetings, played music throughout the day, and had various instruments available for their students to explore in the home rooms. Therefore, I took it upon myself to compile a list of goals and tips on how to incorporate music in the classroom based on early years child development in music. I reached out to the team leader of the ECE team last year and set up a time to join their team meeting to talk through and answer any questions about music integration in the classroom. I found that teachers were very receptive to learning more about their musical choices, and I provided them with additional resources and song lists throughout the year. This year, I joined their team meeting again to review and talk to the new teachers on the team about the same goals and tips. I have kept my recommendations simple as I want teachers to feel they are accessible and useful as opposed to overwhelming.
Music in ECE.pdf
Artifact 2
While taking the graduate course “Leading Instruction in Schools,” I developed a professional development plan and presented findings on leadership research to my colleagues. The professional development plan required me to consider the school's context, student data, and teachers’ strengths and weaknesses to develop SMART goals and introduce new resources and strategies for improvement. This perfect type of professional development plan can be used to support teacher development in alignment with school and district goals. After researching and reading about feminism in leadership, I created a presentation to share these findings and their applications with my graduate cohort colleagues. I enjoy getting to share my findings on the gender biases that are present in teaching and how it affects the behavior of female teacher leaders in school settings. Throughout this graduate program, I have gained professional learning that I hope to use as a teacher leader in the future and pass on to other teachers in my community.
Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium. (2011). Teacher leader model standards. https://www.ets.org/s/education_topics/teaching_quality/pdf/teacher_leader_model_standards.pdf
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