Thoughts, Reflections, and Essays

As I have been designing my website, and thinking about my professional face to show to the world online, I have gone through a deep introspection. I've thought heavily about what I have done, what I have not done, and what I need to do. In order to put artifacts on my website that represent me sufficiently, and to a respectable (and hireable) level, I need to undergo the process of self-reflection. I have always prided myself on being a reflective teacher. The theory of reflection and its link to professional development (after all what good is reflection if you aren't going to do something positive with it?) is vital to growth as a person and as a teacher. Graduate studies have been vital to my own growth, particularly in that I have had professors who are interested in actively promoting the self-regulation and self-reflection of their students. However, most teachers are not in positions or environments where there is incentive to self-reflect and improve. In these situations there is a tendency, perhaps, to displace the blame on the students, the administration, or the parents. In Alberta, for the last 2 years I taught there, the state mandated professional development plans. These replaced staff evaluations (after the first 2, initiation years). The theory was that teachers should be respected as professionals, and if so, will act as professionals. A principal coming in for 1-2 hours a year per teacher on a 5 year rotation (which was the case) was not perceived as effective as mandating that teachers reflect and plan personalized professional development plans that detail 2 year plans of how the teacher will continually develop. Meetings were held at the beginnning of the year for the administration to approve the plan, and at the year for the adminsitration and teacher to evaluate whether the plan was followed and effective. Moving to Iowa, and back to principal based evaluations (which were, in my first year, an opportunity for the principal to sit in the back of the room and fall asleep... not due to my teaching!) made me realize the importance of self-reflection, self-regulation, and professional development.