PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TRANSCRIPT
March 2017-2019
The MACUL conference takes place every March in either Grand Rapids or Detroit. I have attended MACUL every year since 2017 and was able to present at the 2018 MACUL. This conference attracts thousands of educators from around the state and midwest region to gather and share ideas related to technology in education. The 2 day conference includes keynote speakers, 1 hour sessions, an exhibit hall full of vendors, and many other activities. At this conference, you are able to explore sessions that pique your interest and passions in educational technology. Every year, I walk away from the conference with a renewed sense of passion for this field and ideas that I want to implement into my classroom. It is always refreshing to spend time with educators who have similar interests as yourself. Without fail, I walk away from this conference with a larger Professional Learning Network (PLN) than I started with. This allows me to keep learning new things all year before the next conference.
June 2017
I participated in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People through my employer. This was a company wide mandatory training. The training was an intensive 2 day workshop in small groups of about 16 people. Our trained facilitator led the course and we participated in a multitude of ways. We watched videos, had discussions, and participated in role playing activities. Through these activities, we learned what the 7 habits of highly effective people are and strategies we could use to apply them to our own lives. I believe this training has had a large impact in furthering my development as a professional educator. I learned how I can be effective on an individual level, in group settings, and how to make sure I take care of myself so that I can show up to work everyday and be at my best. One of the habits that had the most impact on my was #5, Seek first to Understand, then to be Understood. This habit has changed the way I communicate with my students and colleagues.
December 2017
In the world of Online Education, I use Google products daily. I was already proficient in some aspects, but I was interested in furthering my knowledge of Google products because I knew Google had much more to offer for me and my students. This was a self-paced professional development where I used the Google training resources to learn more about the entire Google Suite. The resources included watching tutorial videos and creating different artifacts in different programs. By completing both level 1 and 2, I was immersed in all products, not just the most popular programs. After completing all of the training resources, I took the 3 hour certification test and then repeated the cycle to complete level 2 as well. This training has allowed me to become an expert in Google and has immensely impacted my practice. I have become more efficient and creative with using Google products in my classroom. I have found that after this training, I have a much more organized Google Drive. Not only has it impacted my teaching, but I can also step up and help my colleagues when they have any questions regarding Google products. Google products are constantly changing and after completing this training, I feel comfortable exploring and learning the new ins and outs on my own.
September 2017-Present
I had the opportunity to take Gallup's StrengthsFinder assessment that identified my top 5 strengths. My team at work wanted to utilize this training to create synergistic groups to work together and so that we could simply understand each other better. This has not been a one time training. We took the StrengthsFinder assessment and have been working on different activities with them ever since. At first, we started with learning about our strengths on an individual level and becoming self-aware of how we use these strengths everyday. Then we moved to learning about how strengths can work together and compliment each other. Now, we have an in-depth knowledge of our individual and team strengths so that we can work together more effectively and efficiently. This professional development has changed my professional and personal life completely. I feel like I have a better understanding of who I am and things I thought of as weaknesses for so long can actually be leveraged as strengths. Now that I have a vocabulary for my strengths, I have been working on deepening my skills in these areas. My top 5 strengths are harmony, learner, restorative, positivity, and woo.
February and November 2019
In my role as an online educator, part of my job includes evaluating online courses in terms of quality so that we are giving our students the best education possible. In my context, we use the Quality Matters Rubric when evaluating vendor courses as well as the courses we build in house. I went through training to understand the ins and outs of this rubric so that I could accurately apply it when reviewing courses. This training was a 3 week online course that required approximately 5 hours of work per week. The course taught me about the K12 rubric through participating in lessons, assignments, discussion boards and quizzes. The training culminated with a certification test. There was a large rubric update after I took my initial training, so I also completed a refresh course to learn about the changes that were made to the rubric. Quality Matters training has been essential for my practice as an online instructor. I am able to accurately use the rubric to evaluate courses to ensure that we are using the best, most aligned courses we can. This has also transformed my practice when I am adding new supplemental content into my courses. I always have this rubric in the back of my mind when contemplating anything new to the course so that it stays completely aligned.
May 2019
In this professional development workshop, 2 representatives from the Michigan Department of Education’s Office of Educational Assessment and Accountability trained my colleagues and I about how state test items are made. Our company wanted to train us in this topic because we work with students all over the state, so it is important that our tests are made as equitable as possible. Using the same steps that the state uses to make their tests will ensure that our tests can effectively test students from all districts around the state. During the session, we learned about the history of state testing, how they write items, bias/sensitivity in test writing, Universal Design, accessibility, and depth of knowledge levels. We practiced analyzing test questions as well as making our own test questions. We participated in some eye opening conversations about how bias can show up when writing test questions. This training was extremely beneficial to me as an educator. The part that had the biggest impact on me was the bias/sensitivity portion of the training. I have applied what I learned to more than just writing test questions. When working diverse populations of students, I actively use that training to make sure that my teaching is bias free and equitable to all students. Unfortunately, I cannot share any of the training materials here.
December 2019
To further my craft as an educator, I decided I wanted to take on teaching AP courses. After teaching for 3 years, I believed I was ready for this challenge. Before I was able to start teaching AP courses, I was sent to a College Board training to learn about the basics of the AP Chemistry course and test. I spent the day with other teachers who specifically taught AP Chemistry. We started out the day by learning about the content that is in the course and how to use the Unit Guides that the College Board provides. We then talked about how to format your course so that it would best align with the College Board materials and how to pace your course so that you would finish all the content in time. Finally, we moved onto the learning about the AP test itself. We learned the format of the test and how it is scored. We then practiced scoring questions together to get a more in depth understanding of the test. I can honestly say I would not be able to effectively teach my AP Chemistry course without attending this training. As a first time AP Chemistry teacher, I learned an incredible amount from the instructor and more experienced colleagues who attended. They each had so many tips and tricks to help me navigate my first year teaching the course. The most helpful exercise was the practice scoring, as I learned how I should assess my students to set them up for success on the AP test.