Running Head: REFLECTION ON PDQP 1

Reflection on PDQP and Advice for Future Students

Candee Edgar

National University

November 24, 2018

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for

TED 690 – Capstone Course

Instructor Clifton Johnson

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Abstract

This paper incorporates the final process of professional self-reflection of my journey with this

Capstone Course and with my Professional Development Quest Portfolio (PDQP). Discussions

of my experiences along this journey towards completion of this course, my PDQP, and my

Master’s Degree in Education from National University will contain reflections on the following:

content, timelines, challenges, changes with rationale, achievements, lessons learned,

implications on future teaching practices, and advice for future students.

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Reflection on PDQP and Advice for Future Students

My journey began on this quest to complete the TED 690 - Capstone Course for National

University on October 28, 2018; now I am approaching the final destination. During the first

week as I self-reflected, I quickly began the process of researching, reviewing, and looking at

various examples of Professional Development Quest Portfolios (PDQPs). I knew that this

journey was going to be an unforgettable learning experience, and also a culmination of all of the

courses leading up to my Master’s Degree in Education with National University. Many

challenges had to be addressed along the way, but with much dedication, hard work, self-

evaluation, and a plan of action in place, my achievement of completing this final course is near.

This accomplishment is a dream which is now about to become a reality; it will definitely

contribute to my successful future as a professional educator.

First, after reading the 18 page course outline three times, and viewing the overwhelming

calendar and timeline of the Capstone Course, I had to take a huge step back, a deep breath, and

realize that hard work over the last few years has helped me get to this place in my journey. After

overcoming many difficult setbacks along the way, I knew that I am a survivor - I can do this!

Acquiring the text was crucial; I knew the text was going to guide me and be my driving force.

Costantino, De Lorenzo, & Tirrell-Corbin give a clear, detailed step-by-step guide in developing

the PDQP. One of the first challenges in beginning the PDQP was deciding on which web-based

system I would use for development. After researching, I found several web-based systems

which offered free use of their platforms. Next challenge was determining the purpose of the

PDQP. How was I going to use the PDQP, and would it be useful in my future? It was
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definitely an exit portfolio for the course and degree, but I soon discovered it will also be a

working portfolio which will provide on-going evidence of my professional growth and my

teacher performance competencies. Finally, the process began to unfold as I selected artifacts

which would represent and showcase me as an individual. The thing that really worked for me

and reduced my anxiety during the first phase of developing my PDQP was being able to

organize all of my selected artifacts as evidence to document my performance competencies

under the six domains of the California Teaching Performance Expectations which had already

been preselected for my use and described in the course learning outcomes. The six TPE

domains were going to be the backbone of my PDQP and serve as my table of contents. Not only

would these domains help me stay organized, but they focused on PK-12 student-learning

expectations of which I was knowledgeable and confident in using.

As Costantino states, “They [portfolios] encourage teachers to assume responsibility and

ownership for their own learning and professional growth” (Costantino, De Lorenzo, & Tirrell-

Corbin, 2009, p. 5). This is exactly what I experienced in developing and populating Domain F:

Developing as a Professional Educator. After carefully reading TPE 13 which states, “Candidates

use reflection and feedback to formulate and prioritize goals for increasing their subject matter

knowledge and teacher effectiveness” (CCTC, 2013, p. 17), I realized that I would include a few

changes within this domain in order to reflect my own needs and improvement in developing

professionally. As a beginning teacher, I did not have the experiences of student teaching, nor

had I completed the BTSA Induction Program; therefore, I relied mostly on my experiences from

my National University courses and my beginning experiences as a teacher. As I created my five

year professional growth plan, I wanted it to reflect my own passion which is empowering young

children with social and emotional learning. My purpose and plan would have a direct impact
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on achieving my own professional development goals which would be to research and create a

book that other K-2 teachers could implement into their daily schedules on how to incorporate

social and emotional learning. Our children come to us to learn academic content, but until they

are socially and emotionally ready, our teaching practices are useless. This five year plan helped

to bring my goals into perspective. Other small changes which I encountered throughout the

development of my PDQP were mostly in revising and editing the explanations of my artifacts

and correcting APA formatting mistakes which only helped to clarify and polish my PDQP to

give it a professional appearance. Appendix F from the text was a valuable tool which I used to

guide me in making decisions about documents to use as my artifacts. A few last minute changes

were made to improve each domain and make them easy-to-navigate. Most of my changes were

made to enhance my artifacts in a meaningful way for my viewers to be able to clearly

understand and comprehend my professionalism, competencies, and accomplishments.

One of the lessons learned in developing this PDQP is the importance of the learning

community. At the onset of the course, Professor Johnson provided a live session for us to

introduce ourselves as members of the learning community; members introduced themselves by

sharing different backgrounds, years of teaching experience, different strengths and weaknesses,

but in closing we all mutually shared the same common goal of completing the PDQP. Just as

each member of this learning community was on this journey with the same goal, we needed to

showcase our own professional development and be supportive of one another as we worked

towards completion of our PDQPs. By working collaboratively together and providing timely

and constructive feedback on the discussion threads, live presentations, and drafts of our PDQPs,

we as a learning community were engaged in continuous responsible analysis, reflection, and

evaluation to help our members grow, improve, and promote success. Using a learning
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community to promote growth and student success is exactly what we as effective teachers need

to incorporate into our best teaching practices within our classrooms to promote continuous

improvement and develop responsibility for our students.

This PDQP development has provided me an opportunity to visually see my own

accomplishments and my own documents organized in a format which is designed to represent

me and showcase my learning, best teaching practices, accomplishments, professional goals, and

reflections. I have discovered during this process that as I gain more teaching experience, I will

include more samples of my students’ completed work as documentation in some of the

domains. As a beginning first grade teacher, I will incorporate the strategy of using ‘writing

portfolios’ as an assessment tool for students to showcase their best work which will be placed in

their writing folders to document their progress and achievement. Before this course, I had never

heard of a portfolio used in college courses except as an evaluation for art classes to showcase

one’s artwork. According to Costantino, “Portfolios are one of the most authentic ways to

represent the knowledge, dispositions, and skills of a teacher. When used with other methods of

evaluating teacher performance, portfolios can provide a broader perspective of a teacher’s full

range of professional competencies” (Costantino, et al., 2009, p. 7). Upon completion of this

course, I plan to share my PDQP in my spring evaluation with my administrators and also in the

future to incorporate my PDQP with a few revisions into my updated resume so that my future

employers will have access to explore what my teaching practice is all about. Two other

attributes of the PDQP which I will incorporate into my best teaching practices are using project-

based learning with performance-based assessments and allowing my students to be flexible and

creative even when they are presented with challenges.

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My advice to future students regarding the PDQP process begins with first and foremost

obtaining the text by Costantino, De Lorenzo, and Tirrell-Corbin. Let this text become your side-

by-side guide and drive you throughout the entire journey. Next complete as much research

using the resources from the course outline and examples of other PDQPs to get a clear

understanding of the process which you will be going through to create your PDQP before the

course begins. Always clear up any misunderstandings by posting questions to the professor to

clarify before doing unnecessary tasks; time is valuable, you don’t have time to waste! Take the

time management course calendar provided, print it, and post it nearby as a reference to aid and

guide you with course responsibilities. One of the most helpful things for me in planning was to

create myself a chart or self-checklist, so to speak, which listed each domain in one column

including its TPEs and in the other column list the selected artifacts to document evidence of my

performance competencies. This guided me as a working checklist and allowed me to coordinate

artifacts so that they would be meaningful and understandable to my viewers. Before you

present your PDQP in the live-session, write a script and practice keeping your presentation

within the five minute time limit; this script can also be used in the future when presenting your

PDQP to administrators or future employers. Remember anyone who views your PDQP will be

evaluating your documentation using specific criteria. As Costantino states about use of your

portfolio, “The portfolio, in this phase, is a carefully selected collection of exemplary evidence

that highlights a teacher’s best work and accomplishments” (Costantino, et al., 2009, p. 69).

Lastly, as you complete your PDQP be sure to self-evaluate, edit, and proofread all

documentation included in each domain and evaluate the technical aspects of your website so

that it is easy-to-navigate and pleasingly aesthetic to the viewer. My suggestion is advice to

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future students should be compiled and shared as an attached document at the beginning of the

course along with the course outline.

In conclusion this Capstone Course encapsulates the true definition of professional

development which is intensive and collaborative. Developing this PDQP includes all of the

attributes which exemplify professional development, such as, a variety of learning

opportunities, guidance and supervision, reflection and self-evaluation, collaboration with a

learning community, and presentation of a final performance-based project, my PDQP, which I

am proud to share and showcase. I am grateful for this learning experience and all of the best

teaching practices which were incorporated into the course and my PDQP which will be most

beneficial to me in my future as a professional educator.

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References

Costantino, P., De Lorenzo, M., & Tirrell-Corbin. (2009). Developing a professional teaching

portfolio: A guide for success (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

The California Teaching Performance Expectations [PDF]. (2013, March). California

Commission on Teaching Credentialing.