Ongoing Professional Learning

OCT Section: The Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession

Focus: Ongoing Professional Learning

OCT Expectations: “Members recognize that a commitment to ongoing professional learning is integral to effective practice and to students learning. Professional practice and self-directed learning are informed by experience, research, collaboration and knowledge” Ontario College of Teachers Foundations of Professional Practice, 2012, p.13).

Curated Materials: Peer reviewed article on the importance of ongoing professional development in order to better teach and assess English Language Learners.

 Analysis/Reflection:

Definition of Ongoing Professional Learning

            Ongoing Professional Learning is crucial for teachers.  “Teacher beliefs and dispositions matter. That is, teachers who confuse the ability to speak English with a student’s intelligence may have internalized, albeit unintentionally, a deficit model of students that will interfere with their classroom effectiveness. By creating opportunities for teachers to engage in professional development in ELL assessment and carefully examining what ELLs can do” will better equip educators to develop instructional supports for individual English Language Learners (Kim, Y. et al. 2014, p. 234-235).  Through learning about different strategies and approaches, educators will feel more confident and effectively create both the experiences and dispositions that will connect with and assist all the students.

Why the Resource informs my understanding of the OCT standard Ongoing Professional Learning
            This resource helped me understand that each student learns differently and without having effective teaching strategies, we wont be able to successfully educate, understand and assess students. Through ongoing professional development we are able to learn about the diverse learning needs and how to incorporate them in our instruction and views of the students.  Another research article, which emphasizes the importance of ongoing professional development for teachers working with English Language Learners, is “Professional Development Implications of Teachers' Beliefs and Attitudes Toward English Language Learners” by Karabenick, S.A. et al (2004).  This article also emphasized how teachers preferred partaking in ongoing professional development as it empowered them with instructional strategies and in class resources to effectively educate English Language Learners. Both these articles reinforced my view on the importance of collaborating with other colleagues and partaking in ongoing professional learning. This will aid me in making sound educational choices that promote growth and learning for all the students.
           

Level of Reflection

            I would need to reflect on the students I have in the classroom and whether I am able to effectively instruct and assess their understanding.  I would need to consider, is my classroom supportive of using and learning language for all the students? I would need to see if I’m supporting both comprehension and student production of language. Through going to professional learning workshops I will be better able to gage if my practices are effective and supportive to student learning.    

References

Karabenick, S. A., & Noda, P. A. C. (2004). Professional development implications of

teachers' beliefs and attitudes toward English language learners. Bilingual

Research Journal, 28(1), 55-75.

Kim, Y., Erekson, J., Bunten, B. A., & Hinchey, P. (2014). Toward Sustainable

Educational Changes through School-Based Professional Development on ELL Assessment for New Teachers. Theory Into Practice, 53(3), 228-235.

Ontario College of teachers, Foundations of Professional Practice booklet. (2012).

Toronto. ON: Author.