RUNNING HEAD: Looking Forward 1
Looking Forward – My Five-Year Professional Development Plan
Karen Bowler
National University
LOOKING FORWARD 2
Abstract
In this paper, I will outline and discuss my five-year professional development plan to
continue my growth and competency as an educator. My plan will include a table-form outline
and further discussion and rationale for each goal as well as my intentions for their achievement.
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Looking Forward – My Five-Year Professional Development Plan
TIMELINE PROFRESSIONAL GOALS
Complete Master’s Degree in Secondary Education
Convert license from conditional to standard
Year 1: 2018-2019 Submit paperwork for PGP column advancement
Continue my PDQP
Begin coursework for second Master’s Degree in
Curriculum & Instruction
Attend Kagan conference for cooperative learning
Year 2: 2019-2020
strategies
Continue my PDQP
Continue/complete coursework for second Master’s
Degree
Year 3: 2020-2021 Seek out and attend conferences for math instruction
Continue my PDQP
Submit paperwork for PGP column advancement
Participate in educational grant writing workshop
Year 4: 2021-2022
Continue my PDQP
Write grant and secure funding for purchase of TI-
Inspire calculators for my school
Become a member of the School Organization Team
Year 5: 2022-2023
(SOT) at my school
Continue my PDQP
Year 1
My goals for this first year will begin with completing my Master’s Degree in Secondary
Education. Once completed, I will then submit the required documents to the Nevada
Department of Education to convert my license from a conditional license to a standard license.
Having completed the Alternate Route to Licensure (ARL) Program, I was required to complete
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several credits in coursework to satisfy the conversion requirements. I made the decision to
complete my Master’s Degree in conjunction with those required courses, and I am so glad I did!
Being a teacher in the Clark County School District, we are encouraged to develop our own
professional growth plan (PGP) which includes activities in a variety of focus areas that one can
participate/complete to earn contact units (CU’s). Planning and participating in these activities
empowers teachers to design their own path for instructional and developmental growth. The
earning and submitting of the required number of CU’s allows teachers to attain column
advancement in their salary. With the completion of my Master’s Degree and other activities, I
will have earned the necessary CU’s to submit for an advancement. To finish my planned goals
for year 1, I will reflect on my progress with regard to competency within the Nevada
Instructional Performance Standards and update my PDQP by replacing and/or adding artifacts
that demonstrate my growth.
Year 2
Year 2 of my five-year plan begins with a lofty goal as I plan to start a second Master’s
Degree in Curriculum and Instruction. In this program, I will learn more in depth methods,
strategies and techniques for designing units of instruction, delivering lessons, and assessing
student learning. It will allow me to closely examine my teaching practices and improve in my
pedagogical duties. Having attended my first Kagan conference on Cooperative Learning two
years ago, I have always planned to go back for either their Win, Win Discipline workshop or the
Advanced Cooperative Learning workshop. It was such a fabulous conference, and I learned so
many helpful strategies that I use in my classroom almost daily. I love integrating the Kagan
structures into my lessons and believe that my students learn so much more when they work
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together, discuss concepts, and share their ideas. Again, I will finish off the year by reflecting on
my progress and updating my PDQP accordingly.
Year 3
Studies toward my second Master’s Degree will continue in Year 3 and possibly be
completed dependent on the program requirements and timeline. I also plan to seek out and
attend at least one mathematics instruction conference or workshop that will help me improve
and further develop in my instructional strategies and techniques within my content area. With
the completion of additional coursework toward my second Master’s Degree and attendance at
an instructional conference, I plan to have several new artifacts and experiences to add to my
PDQP reflecting a more accurate view of my progress and growth to that point.
Year 4
My Year 4 goals include my participation in a grant-writing workshop. Learning to write
grants will allow me to help my school and students by, hopefully, securing outside funds in
order to provide educational experiences and/or materials for students that our school would not
normally be able to provide. Although I teach mostly 7th grade math courses, I am currently
teaching one section of Algebra I, which includes both 7th and 8th grade students. While there is
another teacher at my small school that teaches two sections of Algebra I, her classroom is in a
different building than mine. Our school only has one set of 30 TI -84 graphing calculators,
which is kept in the other teacher’s room. These graphing calculators are extremely helpful for
students especially during our Quadratics Unit. My goal is to be able to secure the funding
necessary to purchase a second set of graphing calculators so that all of our Algebra I students
will have access to them. Also, depending upon the number of CU’s I have accrued toward my
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PGP through coursework and other activities, I should be able to submit the required paperwork
for a second column advancement sometime within Year 4. Updating my PDQP at the end of
the year will most likely include grant-writing artifacts as evidence of my growth in this area.
Year 5
Finally, by Year 5, I will have learned the art of grant-writing and will finish writing the
grant and submit it with hopes of being awarded the funds to use for purchasing the graphing
calculators previously described. Another goal is to become a member of the School
Organizational Team (SOT) at my school. The SOT Team is made-up of parents, teachers,
support staff, students and community members who assist in making important decisions that
affect the school and students in addition to giving input on the school’s strategic budget and
plan of operation. With a few more years under my belt, I believe that I can be an asset at that
point in my career by giving input and professional advice on matters that will directly affect
students, school, and the community. Again, reflecting on my progress and growth, I will
continue to update my PDQP to provide evidence of my growth and development as a teacher.
At the end of my five-year plan, if not sooner, I will be setting new goals for myself as I
continue to evolve as a teaching professional.
