West Virginia State University

College of Professional Studies

Department of Education
Professional Development (PD) Reflection Outline

Name:
Kaylee Dillon
Major Content Area:
Elementary Education
Circle one:
SOPH

PD Topic/Title:
Non-Formal Education Workshop
PD Date:
3/5/13
PD Units:
12:30-1:30

Please respond to the following prompts:
1. Summarize the key points you learned from this Professional Development
experience.
The WVSU Extension Service offers a lot of information to educators and current
students in the community. They provide research-based knowledge on teaching
techniques and innovative activities. This service focuses on 4-H youth development,
agriculture and natural resources, community and economic development, and family
and consumer sciences. They do many hands on activities with young children and
youth in the community. They teach valuable information to students, for example,
proper ways to take care of the environment, our bodies, and how to handle money.
2. Discuss how these key points connect to your content area.
Learning by doing involves the process of experiential learning model. This model
incorporates doing something, reflecting upon it, and applying what you have learned.
The 4-H uses this do-reflect-apply process to guide positive youth development and
growth. Experimental learning is a very important educational strategy to use in the
classroom. It allows students to discover information and ideas on their own, which
eliminates lecturing and delivering all of the information. The emphases on leading by
example really stuck with me. They said that when they work with students in the
community and teach them how to treat one another, safety tips/rules, how to maintain
good health, etc., that we need to also live this way.
3. Share how you might use this new information in your future classroom.
I will use the new concepts and steps of experimental learning in my classroom. This
information will aid me in creating hands on activities. For instance, instead of reading in
a health textbook about information on how having good nutrition and exercising will
help you live a more effective life, you could have the students exercise in fun ways that
they do not know is exercising. Teachers should also demonstrate proper ways of
acting in the classroom and with other people and the environment. I believe that
teachers shouldnt ask their students to do things they wouldnt do themselves. For
instance, schools do not want their students walking around on cell phones, so the
teachers shouldnt either.