PROFESSIONAL LEARNING & ETHICAL PRACTICES

The teacher engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate his/her
practice, particularly the effects of his/her choices and actions on others (learners, families, other
professionals, and the community), and adapts practice to meet the needs of each learner.

The professional meetings and conferences I attended provided me the opportunity to learn more
about teaching and learning. My participation in ongoing learning opportunities through
professional meetings and conferences helped me to acquire more knowledge, teaching strategies
and skills I needed in order to attend to the diverse learning needs of my students. Teachers need
to constantly update their teaching knowledge and skills by attending professional meetings and
conferences. I found that it is important to collaborate with other teachers and learn from them a
variety of data I could use to evaluate the outcomes of my teaching and students learning and
use the information to update my teaching style. I also learned the different technological
resources I could use to improve my lesson plans and provide learning activities that makes
learning more exciting for students.
My first piece of evidence is a parent conference agenda I completed during my course (EN 440
Literacy III). The professional development and literacy development knowledge helped me to
provide a data about my teaching and the students performance, which I shared with the parent
during the conference. It helped us to know what the students have accomplished, and guided me
towards setting new goals for my students higher literacy development.

Ava Dawe

Sharing
List Student Strengths

Parent/Guardian Conference
(20-30 minutes)
Time

Details
Ava loves reading and has
greatly improved in her
reading. She passed level
16 reading assessment, and
will be reading at a level 18.
She reads stories with some
expression and smooth
talking voice. She identifies
and connects key events in
her reading without
prompting (Previewing).
She includes some
important events when
retelling, and uses
vocabulary from the text to

Materials
Caps For Sale, by
Esphyr Slobodkina.
I just forgot, by
Mercer Mayer.
Delivering your mail,
by Ann Owen.
Dinosaur planet, by
David Orme.

demonstrate basic
understanding of some key
words/concepts. She retells
with no prompts from the
teacher, and also gives
relevant reason for response
that reflects higher level
thinking
(synthesis/inference).
Goals for Tutoring

Assessment Data

Activities

To read smoothly at an
appropriate rate and with
good expression paying
attention to punctuation
and phrasing. Think and
talk about what they read,
improve understanding by
predicting and retelling
with pictures.
The quick phonic screener
assessment data given to
me at the start of the
tutoring showed the
following scores: 80% in
Consonant Diagraphs,
80% in silent E words, No
attempt in R controlled
vowels, and 90% in sight
words. She was reading at
level 12 when we started.
She now passed level 12,
14 and 16 and might be
reading at level 18
soonest.
The quick phonic screener
assessment I gave Ava, she
got the following scores:
100% in Consonant
diagraph words like (phat,
whack, whip, Beth, etc.)
95%in Silent E words like
(mite, gate, mile, etc.)
100% in R Controlled
words like (mart, Bert,
shark, perk, etc.) She also
got 100% in the sight
words assessment like
(much, any, even, etc.)
Some of the activities we
worked on include:

Game
(played with student)
This is optional

Prediction, we learned
how readers get their
minds ready to read (say
the title out loud, name
what you notice about
what the book might be
about, etc.) Fluency, we
learned the strategies
readers use to figure our
tricky words in their book.
We learned strategies
readers use to read in a
smooth regular talking
voice. We learned how
readers use punctuation
as a clue to help them read
the words smoothly.
Comprehension, we
learned the strategies
readers use to retell a
book when they are done
with reading it. I modeled
how to apply each of these
strategies when reading a
book and also asked
students to practice using
the strategies while I
listened in. I assigned a
book to each student to
read first, and then I
listened in to how they
read and apply the
strategies when they read
the book the second time
and I offered corrections
when necessary. Students
were also engaged in
writing sentences about
what happened at the
beginning, middle, and
end of the story book they
read. We talked about it
and I gave suggestions to
help them improve their
writing.
Sight Words pick and read
activity.

Chart will grow will as it is filled in.

Evidence #2
My second piece of evidence is my reflection/journal on the Fire Up! Conference I attended
during my student teaching. It was a professional development conference held at Grand Valley
State University mostly for student teachers and other educators. The goal of this professional
conference was to provide student teachers and other educators with an opportunity to engage
in new learning from different presentations that will help us become more effective educators.
I also attended four other seminars that informed me of new teaching ideas I could use in our
current and future classrooms.

Sr. Kate Okolocha

EN 506
Fire Up! Conference Journal
3/8/16
The Fire Up! Conference for student teachers and other educators took place at Grand Valley
State University on Monday, March 7th, 2016. Many student teachers and other educators from
different universities and colleges attended the conference. The goal of this professional
conference was to provide student teachers and other educators with an opportunity to engage
us in new learning from different presentations that will help us become more effective
educators. It was also an opportunity for educators to meet and interact with colleagues and
friends from other universities and colleges. Each participant was expected to select five
sessions from all the available presentations, fill a planner for the sessions ahead of time to
enable us have ideas of what the topics would look like. I also selected alternative choices in
case the sessions I chose were overcrowded; this would enable me attend other sessions. All
the participants received a program booklet that helped us locate the sessions. The information
and directions in the program were easy to understand, and there were many workers at
different places to help us identify the rooms for the presentations and for lunch. At the end of
each session, each participant was expected to answer on electronic evaluation with questions
for that session and the overall conference evaluation. I feel that the conference was properly
organized because materials we needed for the different presentations were put in place
before our arrival. The presenters used the resource materials accordingly in helping
participants learn and enjoy the presentations. I found this conference quite interesting and
educative.
During the first session, I was privileged to learn from a presenter, Bridget Rieth, a fifth grade
teacher from East Grand Rapids Public Schools. Her presentation was A Feast of Literacy
Feed your students every day! During the presentation, she reminded me of what I learned
from one of the literacy courses at Aquinas College and also expanded my knowledge on the
topic. Topics discussed were: teachers should get and read poetry that is right for the students

always. Teachers should encourage students to stay with a book reading and enjoying it until
they finish reading it. Teachers should use space in the classroom to promote daily reading.
Teachers should use picture story books that challenge students to think critically. During
reading workshop, teachers should create enough time for independent reading and encourage
students to read books they love to read. Teachers should provide a variety of gender books
students can choose to read. Teachers should create a reading club for students to come
together to read and enjoy. Students should fill a form to record the books they read each day,
number of pages, and what they learned. This will help teachers find out if students are really
reading, staying with the same book and enjoying reading. I agree with all she said during her
presentation, and I am already using some of these strategies in my student teaching
placement.
The topic I chose during the second session was Teaching Elementary Science: What a
R.I.O.T.!! The presenter was Michael Filman, WGVU Education Coordinator, and Retired Lowell
Area Schools 5th grade teacher. The presenter demonstrated how teachers could use many
hands-on demonstrations, experiments and ideas in the classroom to make science fun and
learning easier for our students. He emphasized the importance of using engaging science
activities in helping students learn and limit how science text books are read in class during
teaching and learning. I enjoyed his experiments and demonstrations on air/weather,
sound/vibrations, motion/forces, oceanography, earth, and electricity. The fun activities will
engage students and they will love to learn.
The topic for the third session was The First Five Years (Learning and Thinking). The presenter
was Ashley VanDort, first grade teacher. The presenters focus was on the tips and tricks that
will help a young teacher thrive. She emphasizes the importance of knowing how to set up a
classroom, getting affordable books for the classroom library, establishing positive relationships
with parents and colleagues, dealing with tough parents, communicating with families on
challenging topics, and creating and organizing a classroom. She also reminded me that bulletin
boards are huge teaching tools that should be used for teaching and learning. I should not make
the mistake of using them for cutesy things. I need to take pictures of class teaching chart
materials and add them to my board because they are good visuals for students. I have to build
lasting relationships with my students and create a culture of kindness in my classroom to help
students respect each other. I love the strategies she discussed in this session.
Michael Filman, WGVU Education Coordinator, and Retired Lowell Area Schools 5 th grade
teacher was the presenter during the fourth session. The topic of the presentation was
Seriously? Over 100,000 Free Digital Resources to be used in the Classroom? He talked about
WGVU and PBS, as the most trusted names in broadcasting that have a website with over
100,000 digital resources teachers can access for free and use in the classroom. He showed us
how to use the WGVU and PBS Learning Media digital resource website to enhance instruction
in the classroom. I loved his presentation, but my problem with this website is that I dont know
if I can use it when I go back to my country.
The last session was exciting, interesting, and also challenging because of the strategies
involved. The presenter was Annie Kim Sytsma, High School English/Psychology teacher. The

topic was Expectations, and Mindset, and Behavior Management! Oh my! I learned that
expectation is everything in setting up a well managed class. Classroom management is an
ongoing practice that takes consistency paired with a clear set of expectations. During her
presentation, she talked about a variety of classroom management practices that were built
upon the foundation of Carol Dwecks research in her popular book Mindset on how and why
people succeed. She encouraged us to read the book and learn the strategies the author
addresses and use them in managing our classroom.
I enjoyed all the sessions and the topics the presenters discussed. I felt enriched by this
conference because they refreshed what I learned from the classes I took at Aquinas College. I
learned many teaching strategies I would use in my teaching career to make teaching a fun
profession and learning an exciting activity for my students. I recommend this conference for
other educators.