Mike White's Teaching Portfolio
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Conference

Standard VII - Engages in Professional Development

Professional Development. That's a rather large and general term. But it means that a person works continuously to better themselves in their professional field.

A huge portion of my professional development has of course happened through the university and through my student teaching. In this standard you will find evidence that shows what I have done in those venues and also outside of those venues. I've attended some workshops. I've reflected on classes (as evidenced by Standard V). So let's get to it.

Proof Provided Elsewhere - Quite a few items that could be considered proof for this standard have been discussed and given elsewhere. Direct links are listed here:
  • Reflections - Whenever I was formally observed by a mentor teacher, I reflected on the experience and wrote down that reflection. The proof of this is in Standard V, so feel free to peruse that standard.
  • Questioning Techniques - This document is referenced in Standard III. However, at the end of it is a professional growth plan based on my questioning techniques and how I wanted to improve them.
  • Professional Growth Plan - Found in Standard VI, this is a copy of another professional growth plan I worked on with Ms. McAbee that focused on Differentiation and Classroom/Time Management.
College Assignments - This year we've done three major projects.
  1. The first was a lesson plan, which is my Persuasion Through Poetry lesson plan.
  2. The second was the Questioning Techniques assignment listed above.
  3. The third was an assessment assignment that I have in Standard IV. It's the Poetry Assessment that I designed.
Each of these items were done over a course of days or weeks. Each step was graded by my professor as we went.

Outside of the college assignments, I've also attended a few other professional development workshops and am a member of a couple professional organizations.

Reading Workshop - This document is the first page of a booklet we received when I attended a reading workshop. The concept was reading strategies that focused on getting the students to learn Core Content.
CATS Ethics Training - This document is the title page of a booklet we received when I attended the CATS Ethics Training workshop. We were being trained as to what you could and could not do during testing.
Do/What Workshop - This wasn't your normal workshop. This was a one on one with my mentor teacher at the high school, Ms. McAbee. This was to introduce to me the DO/WHAT method of prewriting for open response. I had to teach this method to the students for the Harlem Renaissance unit, so I needed to learn it. She handed me this packet and we went over it. This document is the first page of that packet.
neaToday - I love to read and this is one of the magazines I read every month. The information provided within has given me many successful ideas. The National Education Association is a wonderful organization to be a member of.
KEA News - Yet another organizational monthly magazine. I'm also a member of the Kentucky Education Association. I read this magazine/newsletter every time I get it. It's great to read about the educational strides that are taking place in what is now my home state.

Reflection

I was trying to think of a way to put "know your students" on this page, but other than that quote, I don't really see how to do it. Professional Development is all about you bettering yourself for the benefit of yourself and your students. So in this instance, I guess the truer remark would be "know yourself."

Throughout my "career" in college, I've engaged in many professional development activities. You can even go back to my Undergrad years and find that I've worked on at least learning the content I'm teaching, which will be addressed in the next standard. It's very important to get to know your own weaknesses and strengths and to find ways to improve yourself.

Personally, there are quite a few things I still want to learn. I want to get my Doctorate in English. I want to go to portfolio training for Kentucky. I want further instruction on creative writing because I just can't get enough. I want to learn to play piano, draw, and ride a motorcycle too. Those aren't professional development, but they are important to me. Learning is important to me. That's why I chose teaching. I want to take what I've learned and pass it on because there is just so much good information out there.

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it."

-Samuel Johnson

Hey! That quote leads us to Standard VIII perfectly...
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