Professional Growth Reflection

The Growth Mindset in Action

I have always been in love with the process of learning, but authentic professional growth requires the willingness to confront one's own limitations. During the global pandemic, I found myself struggling with attention, motivation, and a localized malaise that tested my resilience. Overcoming this rut required deep self-reflection and the decision to seek out counseling—a dialogical process that reminded me of the profound impact a kind, guiding presence can have. Testing my own growth edges has given me invaluable insight into the presence that must precede teaching. I take these lessons with me into the classroom, utilizing a "Growth Mindset" to stay present and patient with struggling students. Having confronted my own unseen potential, I feel uniquely equipped to meet students who are stuck in their own ruts and to help them envision what is possible past their present difficulties.

Calibrating the Digital Classroom

As I reflect on my early student teaching experiences, I realize how many erroneous notions I initially held regarding the compensatory effects of educational technology. I entered the classroom with an abundance of technological savvy, which I used to help the Language Arts department implement GoGuardian web-blocking software. By compiling formative assessment data on student web use, my mentor teacher and I identified how task-switching and digital distractions were causing significant losses in learning time.

This collaborative data analysis fundamentally shifted my orientation away from faddish technological shortcuts. I began redesigning my lesson plans to exclude unnecessary technological components, focusing instead on the social-emotional aspects of collaborative learning and practicing an embodied, highly mobile classroom presence. This pedagogical pivot was deeply affirmed by research from my professional organization, the National Education Association (NEA), which highlighted the incessant impediment cellphones pose to meaningful engagement. Moving forward, my professional practice will consistently prioritize unmediated, meaningful human interaction over technological crutches.

Mastering Differentiated Instruction

Another vital gift from my student teaching experience was gaining a stark awareness of the vast spectrum of capability and idiosyncratic learning styles present in a single high school classroom. While I successfully build trust with difficult students by maintaining what psychologist Carl Rogers called "unconditional positive regard," my goal is to elevate this interpersonal respect into a highly systematic instructional responsiveness.

To develop more effective differentiation in my instruction, I am taking proactive steps to master these skills through local professional development. I am leveraging resources and workshops offered by the Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD), the Edmonds School District, and the Washington Education Association (WEA)—organizations known for offering robust training on divergent learning styles and educational equity. My commitment is to show the kind of preemptive respect that anticipates and addresses unique student needs from the moment a lesson is designed.

Intellectual Courage and Educational Leadership 

Part of my professional growth plan involves consciously overcoming a self-critical "imposter syndrome" when it comes to assuming leadership roles. Rather than staying in my comfort zone, I am actively charting the next three to five years of my career. To build validation through earned merit, I am consulting with my mentor teacher regarding the administrative steps required to eventually become a department chair, and I am seeking out a National Board Certified Teacher to mentor me as I begin the rigorous National Board Certification process.

Additionally, I am committed to developing what I call "Intellectual Courage". To address the rising levels of social and political polarization in broader society, I am attending teacher trainings hosted by the Constructive Dialogue Institute. My goal is to master the methods necessary to model and convene depolarizing, Socratic conversations in my classroom. By continuously refining these practices, I intend to teach my students how to risk reasoning together in courageous, compassionate, and fair-minded ways.