Professional Growth Plan

Name: Rachel Richards

School: Wilson Middle School
Practicum Dates: September- December 2017
Teacher Mentor: Aimee Dewacht
School Administrator: Dean Hawkins
Faculty Mentor: Danny Balderson

TQS:
KSA

d) Teachers know there are many approaches to teaching and learning.

f) Teachers create and maintain environments that are conducive to student learning.

Goal #1: To learn and refine various behaviour management techniques customized for the
needs of each individual class to create a smooth running classroom.

Rationale: Behaviour management can be difficult in a physical education class. The gym is
loud, if outside, the kids are spaced out, and they get energized from the exercise. Currently, I
am struggling with two of my three classes. One is difficult because of the number of students
(42), and the other is difficult because of the number of different behaviours and needs of the
students.

Strengths in this area:

I am not afraid to be tough with students
I am open to trying out strategies from other teachers or sources

Challenges in this area:

The gym is loud and it is difficult for students to hear me over the commotion
I do not have any pre-existing relationships with students and need to establish them
Each class has students that need more management than others and I need to learn
how to manage behavior without interrupting class

As a result of your professional growth, what will your students be able to do?
My students will have a clear understanding of my expectations for behaviour
My classes will run more smoothly and I will have to take less time out of teaching to
address and manage behavioural issues

What specific new learning will you need to build your capacity in this area?
I will need to learn strategies to maintain control of a large classroom and intend to do
so through my Professional Inquiry Project, drawing on various resources to compile a
document of ideas for successfully managing a large PE class in a small space.
 Professional Growth Plan
Name: Rachel Richards
School: Wilson Middle School
Practicum Dates: September- December 2017
Teacher Mentor: Aimee Dewacht
School Administrator: Dean Hawkins
Faculty Mentor: Danny Balderson

ACTION PLAN
Strategies/Activities Target Date Resources Needed
(including conducting research) (People, Courses,
Books, Etc.)
1. Observe my teacher mentor and
take note of the various ways she 1& 2. Throughout Survey Monkey
manages behaviours in her practicum My teacher mentor
classroom. University
2. Talk with my TM when I have an 3- October create consultant
idea or an issue and see what her survey and email to Online resources-
experience suggests I try. local PE teachers yet unknown
3. Ask other local PE teachers what
strategies they have found 4- October
successful
5- Throughout
4. Research online strategies and practicum
tips from other PE professional

5. Work on is relationship building. I

need to figure out how to create
relationships with my classes as a
whole, and the individual students
within them.

Evidence of Success (i.e. impact on student learning):

I think the biggest indicator of successfully working my behavior management strategies is if I have a
class that gathers around for instruction quietly in a quick and efficient manner. I can teach a lesson
without having to correct behaviours or ask for them to be compliant, or waste class time yelling and
blowing my whistle for attention.
 Professional Growth Plan
Name: Rachel Richards
School: Wilson Middle School
Practicum Dates: September- December 2017
Teacher Mentor: Aimee Dewacht
School Administrator: Dean Hawkins
Faculty Mentor: Danny Balderson

Year End Reflection:

I definitely saw a lot of growth in this area. The document I gathered for my Professional Inquiry
Project contained a lot of great information and I applied some of the strategies shared in the
survey in my own classroom and saw what worked and didnt work.

Following the advice of my teacher mentor, I saw a lot of growth in my ability to gain student
attention to delivery instructions.

I think the biggest help in growing my abilities was creating relationships with individual students
and with the class as a whole. As I got to know students and my class, I was able to differentiate
my teaching for the needs of my students and saw a lot of success throughout the semester.

I am by no means an expert, but I feel I improved a lot since the beginning of the school year.
 Professional Growth Plan
Name: Rachel Richards
School: Wilson Middle School
Practicum Dates: September- December 2017
Teacher Mentor: Aimee Dewacht
School Administrator: Dean Hawkins
Faculty Mentor: Danny Balderson

TQS:
KSA

d) Teachers know there are many approaches to teaching and learning.

f) Teachers create and maintain environments that are conducive to student learning.

i) Teachers gather and use information about students learning needs and progress.

Goal #2: To develop strategies to motivate students to get involved in the activity rather than
stand around or sit off to the side.

Rationale: Not every student loves PE. In my first few weeks, I have already identified a
handful of students who opt out of class, either by sitting out entirely or standing around and
not participating in the activities, I want to develop ways I can motivate these students to get
more involved in class.

Strengths in this area:

Im a very positive and peppy person, giving positive encouragement is never a
struggle
I really do love PE and value its importance and can summarize this to students when
needed

Challenges in this area:

I dont know when to give encouragement and when to push a student a little more
I dont know how to say no if a students says they are sick or injured and requests to
sit out
I cant relate to students who dont like PE, as I always loved it

As a result of your professional growth, what will your students be able to do?
My students will be able to understand that I do not expect them to be athletes, but rather I
expect them to try to the best of their capabilities.

What specific new learning will you need to build your capacity in this area?
 Professional Growth Plan
Name: Rachel Richards
School: Wilson Middle School
Practicum Dates: September- December 2017
Teacher Mentor: Aimee Dewacht
School Administrator: Dean Hawkins
Faculty Mentor: Danny Balderson

I will need to learn how to deal with students who are there because it is mandatory. I have so
many years of coaching experience but athletes are there because they want to be so
motivation is different than what I am used to.

ACTION PLAN
Strategies/Activities Target Date Resources Needed
(including conducting research) (People, Courses,
Books, Etc.)

1 Asking Teacher mentor for 1 October- Set a meeting

strategies she has used in the past
to motivate students as well as
suggestions based on particular
students within my class.
2 Get to know these students really
well on a personal level. Knowing
what activities they really enjoy or
really dislike could help me when
creating lesson ideas. Also,
building a relationship where I can
cheer them on, or push them to
get involved would be helpful in
increasing the chance of
engagement.
with TM to discuss
these students and get
ideas/strategies
2 Throughout Practicum-
Take the time to chat
with these students
when they are sitting off
and get to know their
motivation behind
opting out
3 Throughout practicum

3 Keep these students on different

teams/activities from their friends.
This tends to promote standing
around and chatting versus
participating in the activity at hand.

Evidence of Success (i.e. impact on student learning):

Since this goal is based on individual students, I will know Im making progress if I see
increased participation from those students. For example, if A. & H. stop standing around and
chatting during games and participated more and if B. doesnt sit out almost every class, Ill
 Professional Growth Plan
Name: Rachel Richards
School: Wilson Middle School
Practicum Dates: September- December 2017
Teacher Mentor: Aimee Dewacht
School Administrator: Dean Hawkins
Faculty Mentor: Danny Balderson

know my strategies were successful.

Year End Reflection:

This was another goal that I am happy with my growth in the last our months. This goal really
meant creating those relationships and understanding what type of motivation works or each
students. Some like a joking or sarcastic manner to motivate, others need a tough love
approach.

One strategy I tried (based on suggestions from my PIP research) was to break up my groups
into skill abilities, the pros and joes. For our basketball unit, I tried this method but took it one
step further by creating a middle group called the rookies.

Student would categorize themselves in to one of three descriptors; the pros being highly
competitive students, the rookies being students who enjoyed basketball but liked to play for
fun, and the joes being those that were still learning basketball or didnt like it.

This strategy proved extremely successful. My competitive students who have a tendency to get
frustrated with their less skilled classmates were able to play fast paced and highly competitive
games.

The biggest success I saw was with the Joes. I had students who frequently sit out of class
games and activities be actively involved in game play. They didnt have the pressure of
upsetting or letting down their competitive teammates. The vibe was very relaxed and my
English Learning Language students who didnt fully understand the rules were able to play fully
because the rest of the team didnt care if they travelled or double dribbled. The Joes had a
very encouraging energy and I had one student say to me I didnt know basketball could be
fun!

This was an excellent strategy for increasing engagement.

I hope that throughout my career, I will continue to learn ways like this that will help get my
students involved rather than sitting off.