This is a reflection on my professional life

As a professional, it is my job to participate in development opportunities that will have a

positive impact my students. I look for opportunities where I can educate myself on the current

events that influence students within the classroom and out. I attended the Educate Georgia

Summit in January of 2018. At the summit I learned about ways that I can contribute my voice to

the legislature that influences the regulations that are enforced in the school system within the

United States and the community of my school.

The event was a great chance to meet people from all walks of life all with a vested interest

in education. I also learned that the house education committee meetings where bills are presented

and decided on are live streamed and then archived. I think that it was good for me to refresh my

memory on all the different levels that inform the education system and in turn my future job.

I also learned about the book series Bluford and the great influence it has on getting

students interested in reading. I learned that in title I schools you can even request class sets. I love

to read so the idea of having an in class library and finding ways to incorporate and encourage

reading within a science classroom was very inspiring. Finding out more about your community

and the school you work in can help you get information that can help you gain access to things

that can help your classroom and spark ideas. Bringing literature into the sciences is something

that I want to advocate for and practice in my own future classroom.

I also attended Discovery Day at GSU. The event was composed of four floor levels. Each

floor level housed a number of hands on science activities for kids and parents to engage with. The

activities that I organized in collaboration with a group of my peers. The focus of our booth was
on computational thinking and programming robots. The day was filled with interacting with

parents and children and getting them excited about education concerning coding. A lot of the

students were already involved in programs at their schools that exposed them to coding.

Participating in the event allowed me to interact with parents and children outside of the classroom.

The child’s natural curiosity was on full display, with less fear of failure or fear of asking questions.

In addition to volunteering and conferences I have also created a Professional Development

Plan to encourage continued growth. I want to continue to collaborate with professionals in the

field. A lot can be learned from our colleagues that can inform my teaching practices in a positive

way. Research shows that when schools foster teacher collaboration, it improves the overall

climate of the school (Fine, 2010). When teachers collaborate there is a higher teacher and student

morale. There is also more trust between teachers, principals, and other professionals working

within the school (Morton, 2010).

References

Fine, L. (2010). Educator teamwork seen as key to school gains. Teacher Magazine.

Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2010/02/17/metlife.html.

Morton, I. (2010). Teacher collaboration in secondary schools. Berkeley, CA: National

Centre for Research in Vocational Education.