Independent Professional Growth Plan

Amanda Law

During the 2014-2015 school year, I would like to make improvements with
managing student behavior. As the Emotional Support classroom teacher, there are
daily behaviors that need corrected in order to engage in learning.
Domain 2: The Classroom Environment:
2d: Managing Student Behavior- My current level of performance needs
improvement. My goal is to improve this area to proficient. Students in the ES
classroom need frequent prompts and reminders about appropriate ways to conduct
themselves throughout all areas of the day.
Steps to improve:
1. Utilize daily behavior checklists to target where specific behavior issues
occur.
2. Communicate and collaborate with other teachers on progress of student
behaviors outside of the ES classroom and ways to prevent inappropriate
behaviors.
3. Communicate and collaborate with parents on progress of student
behaviors ways to prevent inappropriate behaviors.
4. Counsel students on appropriate behaviors and reinforce positive
behaviors to increase frequency.
During the 2014-2015 school year, there have been a great deal of change in the
Emotional Support classroom. There are have changes in student participants,
leaving and enrolling. The classrooms physical location also changed. Throughout
all of the change, one factor that never changed was the consistency of the
expectations. This domain has improved to proficient as evidence by two formal
observations by administrators. Although managing student behavior has been
observed as proficient, this domain will continue to be a goal of mine to remain
relevant with the changes and to stay current on new techniques. This year, I
continued to utilize the Law Dollar system for students to earn money to
purchase break times, snacks, and prizes. Even though this is the second year I
have used this behavior system, it has been successful because of the many
changes in students present in the classroom. I have been more specific with
students on inappropriate and appropriate behaviors, not only in the ES classroom,
but in all areas of the school. Students are aware of the expectations and the
consequences for inappropriate behaviors. I have had to develop different
reinforcements and consequences for each student to being meaningful and
effective.

Independent Professional Growth Plan

Amanda Law

Domain 1: Planning and Preparation

1d: Demonstrating Knowledge of Resources- My current level of performance
needs improvement. My goal is to improve this area to proficient. I would like to
incorporate more meaningful activities for the students using technology. Students
utilize workbooks and worksheets a great deal for learning. I want to take learning
to an interactive level to reinforce the skills.
Steps to improve:
1. Research for available materials to utilize for student learning.
2. Collaborate with other teachers on resources they have found successful.
3. Develop my own interactive games and activities that coordinate with
objectives students will be learning.
This area has improved to proficient as evidenced by two formal observations by
administrators. As with the first domain area, this domain will continue to need to
change with the times as well. New resources that are more effective and
meaningful will continue to be developed to meet the needs of the students. This
year, I sought out external resources for support. I attended a conference on the
topic of behaviors and how to improve behaviors of students with disabilities. This
conference was very informative and meaningful for my position. Not only did I gain
valuable knowledge and techniques to implement into my classroom, I also gain a
new perspective on why certain behaviors occur in the first place. This is a resource
that I passed onto administration for possible in-service training for the Special
Education department or for all teachers. I have also developed more collaborative
skills with regular education teachers to use as resources. As the Emotional Support
teacher, I use the regular education teachers as a way to gain materials and then
adapt the materials to meet the needs of the students we share. I have also used
district materials to develop hands-on learning activities. Specifically, there are
workbooks that supplement the weekly reading selections. I have used the skills
from the workbooks to create hands-on spelling, English, and vocabulary activities
for the students to utilize. The students have grasped and retain skills more
efficiently as opposed to strictly working in the workbooks.