PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS

• A plan for initial and professional educators
  licensure renewal.

S. Daly, 2007
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Why PDPs?

• The process by which initial educators in the
  state of Wisconsin receive professional
  licensure.
• The process by which professional educators can
  renew their 5-year licenses by focusing on a
  meaningful goal that will energize their teaching
  and have a positive impact on student learning.

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The importance of goal writing

• You must have long term goals to keep you from
  being frustrated by short term failures. Charles
  C. Noble
• Goals. There is no telling what you can do
  when you get inspired by them. Theres no telling
  what you can do when you believe in them. Theres
  no telling what you can do when you act upon
  them. Jim Rohn

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What is your specific targeted goal?
What is the target and where do you want to land?
The plan should be your guide to a meaningful
time of growth and learning, with the intent of
achieving improved outcomes for the students that
you teach.
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DECIDING ON A GOAL

• Do you have a strength area that you would like
  to pursue further?
• Is there an area in which greater competency
  would lead to improved student learning?
• Is your school or district focusing on areas of
  improvement such as reading or math?
• Is there a school-wide program that is being
  initiated that you need to know more about such
  as 6 Traits Writing, Direct Instruction, etc.?

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• Are there areas of identified low achievement in
  your classroom or in the school as a whole?
• Do you have a special interest that relates to
  your job responsibilities such as technology
  integration, curriculum development, etc?
• Is there a new professional role or
  responsibility that you see in your future or the
  future of the district?

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• What could you focus on that would make your job
  more creative or productive?

Questions for decision making related to goals
adapted from Alabama Professional Development
Module, Implementing PDP objectives and
Activities, http//web.utk/mccav/apdm/profdev
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A meaningful goal helps focus our time on things
that are important. That helps tremendously with
time management.
In the absence of clearly defined goals, we
become strangely loyal to performing daily acts
of trivia. Author Unknown
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SMART GOALS

• Measurable-How will you know that you are making
  progress on your goal and that your goal is
  achieved? What will that criteria look like?
• Attainable-Aim for a realistic target. The goal
  should be challenging, motivating and reachable.
• Rewarding-The goal should be personally
  meaningful. It should be your own. Reasons for
  focusing on that goal should be clear, and it
  should be worth achieving.
• Timely-The PDP has a specific timeframe. Given
  this, the goal should be able to be realistically
  accomplished within the set PDP framework.

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FIRST THE GOAL, THEN THE OBJECTIVES

• A goal properly set is halfway reached. Abraham
  Lincoln
• Crystallize your goals. Make a plan for
  achieving them and set yourself a deadline. Then,
  with supreme confidence, determination and
  disregard for obstacles and other peoples
  criticisms, carry out your plan. Paul Meyer

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Objectives are the stepping stones to successful
completion of your goal.

• A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives
  you a tremendous feeling of confidence and
  personal power. Brian Tracy
• Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is
  deciding how you will go about achieving it and
  staying with that plan. Tom Landry

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OBJECTIVES

• Specific, measurable, short-term, observable
• The arrows for your target.
• Focused on the desired outcome.
• Foundation on which activities are built and
  assessments are made so that the goal can be met.

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What objectives will you need to meet in order to
accomplish your goal?

• What do you want to know or be able to do ?
• What do you want your students to know or be able
  to do?
• Good objectives clearly describe the outcome.
• Sequence or order the objectives in a way that
  makes sense.
• -knowledge building
• -implementing
• -student outcomes/assessment

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What kinds of experiences can support knowledge
building?

• Seminars
• Collegial lesson planning
• Observations of other teachers
• Study/support groups
• Researching
• Being mentored
• Joining a professional network
• Being observed
• Reflection logs
• University coursework
• Videos
• School visits
• Exploring technological resources
• Reading journals, educational magazines, books
• Self-assessments
• (Excerpts from Tools for Schools, Dec/Jan 2001,
  National
• Staff Development Council, pg. 5)

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Activities, Activities, Activities

• Make sure the activities directly link to the
  related objective.
• What will be the length of time needed to
  complete the activity?
• Do activities span the timeframe of the PDP?
• What order should the activities be placed in?
  What makes sense logically?
• Will any resources be needed in order to carry
  out the activity?
• Who would be able to collaborate with you on the
  activity? Colleague, mentor, expert consultant,
  study group?

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After the PDP is written, then what?

• Stay organized!
• Dont file the plan away on a shelf. It should be
  an active document that you reflect on and
  revisit weekly.
• Set aside specific times each week to reflect and
  focus on targeted activities
• Seek collegial support
• Stay in touch with other educators and arrange
  specific times to get together and focus on PDP
  progress including activities and assessments.
• Make choices
• Dont lose your target. When confronted with
  distractions, other opportunities, etc, know how
  to set priorities that keep you on track toward
  your goal.
• Our days and weeks can be taken up with minutia
  that interfere with and even hinder successful
  student outcomes unless we know what our focus is
  and stay attuned to our goals and objectives.

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PDP Progress and OutcomesWeek of
______________________

• Goal __Obj. ___ Activity ___
• Goal _ Obj. ____ Activity ___
• Collaboration __yes ___no
• With whom?_______________
• Assessment of Activities/Students
• Reflection

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PDP Monthly Progress/Outcomes

• Objective __ Activity __ __
• Objective __ Activity __ __
• Collaboration this month included
• Assessments
• Outcomes/Review
• Plan for Next Month

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STUDENT OUTCOMES AND ASSESSMENT
Its not about us, it is always about the
students. That is why we teach.
What we assess and how we assess needs to match
with our targeted goal and objectives, with the
rationale being improved student outcomes and
performance.
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AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENTS

• Logs
• Journals
• Writing samples
• Performances
• Observations
• Interviews
• Conferences
• Projects
• Videos
• Questioning
• Oral presentations
• Labs
• Exhibitions
• portfolios
• Self-evaluations
• Authentic Assessment A Collection, Edited by Kay
  Burke, p.84
• IRI/Skylight Publishing, Inc., 1992

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Reflect, adjust, be patient
Over the timeframe of the PDP it will be
necessary to reflect often on progress, make
adjustments when needed, and cultivate the
patience that comes from knowing that obstacles
can be overcome when we have a clear goal that we
are aiming at, and know where we are headed.
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A rewarding journey
The PDP process is a rewarding one for all
educators. Enjoy the journey! Stay focused on
the reasons why you chose your goal and why it is
meaningful to you. Remember that the work
involved will have lasting impact on the students
that you teach.
Positive student outcomes
S. Daly, 2007