Looking Forward 1
Looking Forward: Reflection On and Rationale for My Professional Development Plan
Erica Savage
National University
Abstract
Looking Forward 2
In this paper, I will present a five year professional development plan in partial fulfillment of
Domain 6, developing as a professional educator. I will present my plan in chart form and then
provide a rationale for each year and the goals that I have chosen to include.
Looking Forward: Reflection On and Rationale for My Professional Development Plan
Five year Goals
Looking Forward 3
Year One:2019- • Complete Masters Program at National University
2020 • Update Resume
• Actively seek jobs on EdJoin
• Obtain a full-time position
• Continue to substitute teach in Poway Unified School District
• Complete year one of the teacher induction program
Year Two: 2020- • Complete year two of the teacher induction program
2021 • Collaborate with colleagues to gain instructional strategies and
other advise
Year Three:2021- • Improve and refine pedagogical skills through selected
2022 readings and peer observations
Year Four:2022- • Continue to update my PDQP and set goals to gain
2023 competency in the TPE domains
• Attend professional development courses in the areas of
special needs, ELLs, and technology
Year Five: 2023- • Become a National Board-Certified teacher
2024
Rationale
Year One Goals
My year one goals mostly pertain to the process of getting hired as a full-time teacher.
This course is the last required course to obtain my Masters in Education. Once I complete this, I
plan to revamp my resume in order to update my profile on EdJoin. Yesterday, I messages my
master teachers from my student teaching and asked them if they could write me letters of
recommendation so that I can include those in my EdJoin profile as well. I will continue to
substitute teach in PUSD for the remainder of the year in order to grow in my teaching practices
and establish relationships with educators from different sites. My goal is to obtain a full-time
teaching position for the 2019-2020 school year and complete the first year of the induction
program.
Year Two Goals
Looking Forward 4
I can only imagine that the first couple years of teaching will be overwhelming as I am
acclimating to balancing the demands of being a teacher and having a family. This is why I kept
my goals for this year simple. My goal is to complete the second year of the induction program
and collaborate with colleagues to gain instructional strategies and other advise.
Year Three Goals
In my third year of teaching, my goal is to improve in my pedagogical skills by reading
up-to-date texts and having peers observe me and give me feedback. I am a very goal oriented
person and I love to read books that help me improve as a person and in my career. As I am
teaching in my first two years, I will self reflect in order to understand my strengths and
weaknesses and will select books to help me become more effective in the areas where I am
lacking.
Year Four Goals
My goals for year four pertain to continuing my education through professional
development courses. Three topics that I would love to learn more about are students with
special needs, ELLs, and technology. As the education model moves toward inclusion, I would
like to learn about the different disabilities and how to accommodate them in the classroom.
Living in San Diego, I know that I will also have many ELLs in my class and would like to
continue to develop strategies that will help me better assist these students. Lastly, in the world
we live in, technology is becoming more and more prevalent, even in the classroom. I would like
to develop my knowledge on how to use different programs in order to stay current. As I
continue to develop my understandings of these topics, I will continue to add to my PDQP and
continue to set goals for myself in order to become an extremely effective educator.
Year Five Goals
Looking Forward 5
My goal for year five is to become a National Board-Certified teacher. As a teacher, I
would like to develop relationships with colleagues and the community including the families
that are in my class. As a parent, I know how important it is for parents to feel comfortable with
the person that their child is with on a daily basis.
Professional development portfolios should be organized, goal-driven, and must provide
evidence of a teacher’s professional development over time through the use of artifacts such as
course assignments, lesson plans, and observation data and analysis, among other document
types (2009). I believe that my goals for the next five years are realistic and achievable. This
paper has allowed me to think about these goals and put them into writing, so I can actually
visualize them. According to the article “Golden Rules of Goal Setting,” setting goals in writing
makes them real and tangible so that there is no excuse for forgetting about them (Golden Rules
of Goal Setting). Over the next five years as I begin to cross these goals off the list, I hope to add
more and to use my PDQP as a catalyst for improvement.
References
Costantino, P.M., De Lorenzo, M.N., & Tirrell-Corbin (2009). Developing a professional
teaching portfolio: A guide for success. (3rd Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Looking Forward 6
Mind Tools Content Team. (n.d.). Golden Rules of Goal Setting – Five Rules to Set Yourself Up
for Success. Retrieved April 21, 2019, from
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_90.htm
