1. Over your career, what professional development opportunity has impacted you the most and why?
I would say that the professional development opportunity that has impacted me the most is the class I took this summer on Istation. Through all my administrative classes and through my teaching I have heard repeatedly about data-driven instruction. However, I have never felt I had a norm-referenced assessment piece that gave me a clear understanding of my student’s weak areas. We had the IRI, but all that told me was if my students were or were not fluent readers. This program allows me pinpoint the areas of weakness and also offers interventions to assist me in increasing student performance in these areas. The thing I enjoyed most about this PD is that it provided me with information and tools that I am using and will continue to use to improve my instruction and student achievement. It provided me with the tools I have been looking for to enhance my teaching. This was NOT a “professional development that ends where it begins- in the conference room.” (p. 130) The PD was also very hands-on and I left the training feeling confident in my abilities to operate the program.
2. Reflect on the last PD training you participated in at your …show more content…
She was very knowledgeable and offered a wealth of valuable information about the program. The schedule and agenda were strictly followed and all the material was adequately presented. The PD was to show the staff all the materials offered by the new curriculum and the basic format of the teacher’s manual and student lesson. The PD definitely filled a staff need. I also feel that the district was “following the data” (p.131) when they went looking for a new math curriculum. Are students are struggling in math district wide and a definite change was