Maya Cohen
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. - Dr. Seuss
Educator in training
Professional Development
Professional development is vital for all educators as we should always continue to learn as the world is changing every day. This semester, I have participated in various workshops where I have learned and developed my understanding, which I can continue implementing in my future classroom. Below you will see some ways I took part in my professional development.
LGBTQ+ Workshop:
This semester, I was fortunate enough to participate in a tremendous LGBTQ+ workshop where I learned so much. These types of workshops are beneficial for all educators and should be enforced. This workshop taught me new terms and how to address various classroom situations adequately. It also showed many shocking statistics of homophobia and transphobia in schools. I would like to incorporate this in my classroom to educate my students and ensure a safe classroom environment.
Facet Workshop:
This semester, I took part in a workshop at my host school. This workshop is called FACET, and this was a great opportunity. During this workshop, I worked with many elementary school teachers. However, I specifically worked with my cooperating teacher and her partner. During the workshop, teachers worked with their partners and created a bilingual unit plan. This was a great opportunity as my cooperating teacher allowed me to make suggestions and help develop the base of the unit plan. This taught me the importance of collaboration with other teachers and the importance of being open-minded.
“Creativity and Imagination in Schools: A Reflection on Practice":
This semester, I read the article “Creativity and Imagination in Schools: A Reflection on Practice” written by Mandy Holland. This excellent article discussed the importance of the arts and creativity in our education system. This article has shown me the importance of fostering creativity in our classrooms and allowing our students the time to use their creativity in our lessons and activities. I will continue to develop this throughout my educational journey and something I will implement in my classroom.
Lunch & Learn
Throughout my field placement, I was fortunate enough to partake in two Lunch and Learns with various staff members from my host school. This was offered to all teachers from all grades and provided us with various ways to incorporate both tech and STEAM into our classrooms. The first Lunch and Learn I was apart of discussed the "Scratch" platform. We had time to practice using this tool and learn various ways this site could be implemented into our classroom. During the second lunch and learn, we learned about the incorporation of STEAM projects. As this is not something I have done before, it was highly interesting to learn how easily STEAM projects can be implemented in the classroom. Both of these Lunch and Learns provided me with many tools and ideas I could further incorporate into my own classroom.
This document refers to my professional development throughout my fourth field placement. I have reflected on my experiences and shared various examples regarding how I developed each competency.
This document represents my development plan for the next few years. You will be able to see my short-term, middle-term, and long-term goals as an educator. After taking some time to reflect, I have created goals for myself which I hope to achieve working as a teacher.