Professional Development Standards

Standards:
​1. The candidate has deep knowledge of current and emerging state initiatives and programs including, but not limited to, the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI); the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI); Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX); Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators and Students Statewide (ACCESS); and RTI (Response to Instruction) and their relationship to student achievement. 

It is of the utmost importance to familiarize yourself with state initiatives and programs to best serve our students. We have multiple sources to access information on RTI, AMSTI, ALEX, and other programs at the click of a mouse. ALEX has been extremely useful in assisting me with completing assignments and using X to reach out to other educators to help with RTI and AMSTI. Social media is a way to connect with experts I can learn from and extend their expertise in my classroom. I also use X and Facebook to discover where other trainings occur within my living area.
2. The candidate understands how content and skill development can be supported by media and technology and knows how to evaluate these resources for quality, accuracy, and effectiveness.

Technology is an awesome tool to use to support the development of skills and expand content in the classroom. I use IXL, Freckle, Epic, Discovery Ed, Epic, and Readworks in my classroom. I use these tools to differentiate instruction, allowing my students further to develop math, reading, and science skills. I can check the time spent on these tools and compare this to tests each week to see if students are regressing, maintaining, or excelling in their lessons. I am a believer in YouTube. YouTube is my first choice if I need to find information on just about anything. As a parent, I find IXL helpful in helping my children to complete math lessons. IXL gives a great tutorial on how to work each problem. I use X and Facebook to collaborate with other educators and gain more ideas and insight.
3.The candidate dedicates time to collaborate with both colleagues and students to improve practice, discover and share resources and ideas, and solve problems. 

It is most helpful to collaborate with my other teachers and colleagues. My grade-level team meets weekly to ensure we are on the same pace and page. The grade-level chairperson guides us in the right direction for best practices to use in certain situations. We share advice, resources, and opinions on how the curriculum is going and the best way forward. If I need further assistance, I can seek help through social media. Teacher's Pay Teachers and Pinterest helped me find new ideas and materials for my classroom.
4. The candidate continually improves his or her practice by learning from and with others and exploring proven and promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning. 

I continuously attend professional development opportunities to learn from others and improve student learning using technology. As a grade-level team, we meet monthly to collaborate on new ways to incorporate technology within our lesson plans. I attend STEM symposiums offered by my school and surrounding schools and monitor the National Science Teaching Association on X for free teaching resources. 5. The candidate seeks out opportunities for leadership to support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning.

The Baldwin County School system uses Leader in Me. I implement Leader in Me in my classroom to support student empowerment as I use the program to teach students to take ownership of their educational progress. Leader in Me is not just doing something differently but seeing things differently. I have Kagan training from an array of leadership courses designed specifically for educational leaders.