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Professional Development Reflection

This document reflects on the professional development opportunities that Toochi Enworom experienced as a CREST-Ed Fellow. Through weekly seminars, they learned various teaching strategies and conducted action research in their classroom. They also had the chance to present on reflective practices to colleagues and discuss improvements for the following semester. Specific professional development sessions on classroom management and interview skills prepared Enworom for their own classroom. Participating in critical friends groups and professional learning communities further expanded their learning. Overall, the professional development experiences helped Enworom develop as an educator.

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154 views

Professional Development Reflection

This document reflects on the professional development opportunities that Toochi Enworom experienced as a CREST-Ed Fellow. Through weekly seminars, they learned various teaching strategies and conducted action research in their classroom. They also had the chance to present on reflective practices to colleagues and discuss improvements for the following semester. Specific professional development sessions on classroom management and interview skills prepared Enworom for their own classroom. Participating in critical friends groups and professional learning communities further expanded their learning. Overall, the professional development experiences helped Enworom develop as an educator.

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Toochi Enworom

Professional Development Reflection


During my time at GSU as a CREST-Ed Fellow I attended weekly professional

development (PD). We spent time together as a cohort receiving an infusion of various special

education, technology, literacy, and ELL strategies, across our diverse content areas. Through

CREST-Ed and the support of the colleagues I have been able to experience a full year in the

classroom with a mentor teacher and implement the many lessons from PD. We also had the

opportunity to conduct an anchor action research project in our classes. My research focused on

the effectiveness of collaborative study groups in my freshman biology class.

I also had the chance to present on useful reflective practices to my colleagues. The

presentation was held at the end of the Fall semester and I discussed a “3, 2, 1” strategy that I

use. I instructed everyone to write down 3 things that they did well this semester, 2 things that

they would like to have changed and 1 thing that they will do differently for the Spring regarding

the changes they would like to make. As educators it is important to take time and reflect on our

strategies as “a process that may be applied in puzzling situations to help the learner make better

sense of the information at hand and to enable the teacher to guide and direct learning in

appropriate ways” (Aldahmash, Alshmrani, Almufti, 2017). After the presentation we were able

to discuss what worked in our classroom as well as collaborate with one another to make

recommendations as to what changes would be best in the Spring.

One PD experience that resonated with me emphasized establishing good classroom

management skills from the start of the school year with my students. I was particularly

interested in strategies that related to tardiness because this is an issue that I currently have with

one of my classes. During that PD I learned about the “Last In, Last Out” strategy and it has been
a very useful tool. The strategy is that the students that are late to class will be the last to leave

when the dismissal bell rings. Implementing this in my classroom has encouraged my students to

take responsibility in how they manage their time in the hallways. PD opportunities like this have

prepared me to enter my own classroom next year.

Another PD that I enjoyed centered on interview skills. As a new educator we discussed

what employers want to see in a teacher candidate. We were able to look at materials such as,

lesson plans, supervisor evaluations, and resumes. Being able to reflect on my work and see the

growth from when I started the MAT program was helpful for me to prepare for interviews.

In addition to the weekly seminar times I also participated in a critical friends group in

which we learned different strategies to discuss dilemmas, interpret texts, implement protocols,

and assess student and adult work. The groups were coordinated by two retired educators who

have experience working as principals and overseeing their staffs’ professional learning

communities (PLC). I also attended PLCs with my mentor teacher twice a week. These two

groups “consists of a group of professionals sharing common goals and purposes, constantly

gaining new knowledge through interaction with one another, and aiming to improve practices.”

(Sigurðardóttir, 2010). In attending both I’ve learned about more practices, such as Chalk Talks,

that I can learn and implement next school year.

This summer I will have the opportunity to attend the AACTE this June and represent the

grant alongside the CREST-Ed team. I will get to share my experience of being in an educator

preparation program and all that I’ve learned. I’ll also have the opportunity to hear from

representatives on the changes in educational policy and advocate for the profession.
References

Aldahmash, A. H., Alshmrani, S. M., & Almufti, A. N. (2017). Secondary School Science

Teachers' Views about Their Reflective Practices. Journal Of Teacher Education For

Sustainability, 19(1), 43-53.

Sigurðardóttir, A. K. (2010). Professional Learning Community in Relation to School

Effectiveness. Scandinavian Journal Of Educational Research, 54(5), 395-412.

doi:10.1080/00313831.2010.508904

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