Personal Growth Plan
Goal #1: I will practice lifelong Goal #2: I will be able to redirect students’
learning after completing my
undergrad by obtaining my
Master’s degree and credentials at
the University of California,
Riverside by the conclusion of
next summer.
Rationale: I chose this goal for two reasons.
First, this certification program
allows me to receive my credentials
in my home state of California,
where I want to teach. Secondly, by
choosing the program at UCR, I can
simultaneously earn my Master’s
degree which allows me to exercise
my passionate conviction that
effective teachers are also life-long
learners. By furthering my education
with this program, this goal will
improve the outcomes of my future
students because I will improve my
craft through a better understanding
of education theories and practices.
Additionally, this program includes a
year of student teaching with a
mentor teacher who can provide
support, advice, and lessons learned
from personal experience-all of
which will help fine-tune my
teaching skills and abilities.
© 2018 Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved
Goal #3: I will become more
behavior during whole group instruction
using effective behavior management
strategies in 5 seconds or less.
I chose this goal because having strong and
efficient classroom management is crucial
for creating a classroom environment
conducive to learning. As of right now, it
sometimes takes me up to 10 seconds to get
students back on task- especially when
another student begins to disengage while I
am addressing the behavior of the first.
However, I want to be able to regain the
whole class’ attention virtually in an instant.
I expect this goal to improve the learning
outcomes of my students because mastering
it will help prevent the disengagement of
other students who have to wait for me to
address behavior. Completing this goal will
also benefit the learning of the entire class
since I am redirecting the distracting
behavior I do not want without taking away
valuable instruction time by having to pause
my teaching for too long as I address
behavior.
familiar with effective teaching
strategies, especially Kagan and
whole brain instructional methods
by taking classes and conducting
my own research before I get my
first teaching job.
I chose this goal because the basic
understanding I have of these
strategies allow me to already
recognize how effective they will
be in strengthening my instruction.
However, I feel that in order to
grow and become an even stronger
teacher, I need to gain more of an
in-depth understanding of these
strategies-and others that I may not
have heard about yet. I expect this
goal will give me effective teaching
tools for my instruction that will
present and reinforce information in
a way that students fully and deeply
understand. In short, they will make
my instruction more effective and
give students a more active role in
their own education. Therefore, my
students can benefit from this goal.
 End Date: Seeing as this program is a year-long
program, I expect to accomplish this
goal by June 2019.
Action 1. Apply and receive my
Timeline: acceptance letter (achieved
February 14, 2018).
2. Begin program in June of
2018.
3. Obtain my CPR certification
by May 20, 2018
4. By the necessary books for
my program by May 20,
2018.
5. Graduate from this
program/Earn my credentials
for the state of California by
June 2019.
© 2018 Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved
I hope to reach this goal by May or June of 2020,
which will be when I complete my first year of
teaching.
1. Research behavior management
strategies during my current student
teaching session (implemented during
Session A of the 2018 student
teaching semester.)
2. Discuss strategies with my
cooperating teacher (implemented
during Sessions A and B of the 2018
student teaching semester).
3. Further knowledge on how to manage
behavior more quickly by taking
thorough notes in my classes at UCR,
asking questions of fellow educators,
and conducting my own research by
the summation of my Master’s
program in June 2019.
4. Read “First Day of School” by Harry
Wong by June 2019 and apply his
strategies during my first year of
teaching.
5. By June 2020 (the completion of my
first year of teaching), I will have
already practice implementing these
strategies and determine my own
techniques for applying them that
work well for my classroom.
6. Take any related professional
development classes for classroom
management offered by my school or
Since, I want to utilize my knowledge
of these strategies when I am in charge
of my own class for the first time, my
end date to reach this goal is June
2019- the summer before my first year
of teaching.
1. Conduct my own online
research from educational
websites and teaching
videos by June 2019.
2. Discuss the benefits of these
strategies with my
cooperating teacher
(implemented during the
2018 Session B of the
student teaching semester).
3. Learn as much as I can from
my professors-especially by
asking questions-by the
summation of my program
at UCR in June of 2019.

Resources: The books for my classes will be a
great resource to utilize during this
program-as well as afterwards, I am
sure. Another great resource will be
other teachers whose knowledge will
likely be a huge help during my
program. This includes practicum
and cooperating teachers whom I
have worked with during my
undergrad and have offered their
continued support. I can also
collaborate with the cooperating
teachers I will meet during this
program or family friends who are
elementary teachers.
© 2018 Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved
district during the 2019-2020 school
year.
As already mentioned, other educators (such
as those I have worked with during my
undergrad and family friends in the field) are
a great resource to utilize so I can learn more
about what techniques work and how to
implement them correctly so that they are as
effective and efficient as possible. The
Masters’ level courses at UCR that I will be
taking will also be a useful resource to help
me deepen my understanding of classroom
management strategies and how they work.
Additionally, educational websites and
online books that I have already gathered
during my time at GCU are useful resources
as well that I can use to help me meet my
goal. Finally, another teacher recently gifted
me with Harry Wong’s “First Day of
School” book all about how to manage a
classroom well that I can refer to as needed.
GCU offered great teaching
resources in my class textbooks that
introduced educational strategies
during my undergrad that. While I
can definitely refer back to these in
the future, I also want to utilize
resources that discuss this topic in
more depth so I can have an even
greater understanding of teaching
strategies and learning theories.
One such resource would be the
GCU library, which I will,
fortunately, have alumni access to. I
also can use my notes and other
class-related resources in my
graduate-level courses, such as
informational texts and
conversations with my professors.
Finally, I can supplement this new
knowledge with research done on
my own online.