PROF DEV

• Professional development refers to continuing education and career training after entering the workforce to develop new skills, stay up-to-date on trends, and advance a career
• Ethics is a set of standards, rules, regulations, and moral principles that guide human behavior and actions
• Personal hygiene includes:

  • Cleaning your body daily
  • Washing hands with soap and water after using the toilet
  • Brushing and flossing teeth twice a day
• Personal grooming means being presentable, paying attention to body hygiene, personal cleanliness, groomed nails, hair, absence of body odor, and dressing well
• Forms of Professional Development:

  1. Seminar: brings small groups together for recurring meetings focusing on a particular subject

  2. Mentoring: mentor influences the personal and professional growth of a mentee

  3. Distance Learning: involves physical separation of teachers and students during instruction, using technologies for communication

  4. Coaching: an experienced coach supports a learner in achieving a specific goal by providing training and guidance

  5. Workshops: an interactive meeting where a group goes through activities to achieve a goal
• Courses provide practical information to develop yourself in addressed areas
• Formal education refers to the structured education system from primary school to university, including vocational, technical, and professional training
• Reflective practice involves exploring an experience to identify what happened, your role, behavior, thinking, and emotions, allowing you to make changes for similar future events
• Specialized Training involves furthering education and knowledge in a specific subject teaching area like math, history, or science
• Attending Conferences includes completing training programs, attending events like workshops, conferences, seminars, and pursuing additional education
• Further Education is another way to achieve professional development goals by continuing education
• Leadership Development is pursuing skills to advance professional growth
• Research is a responsibility for professional development, involving carrying out research like reading
• A Webinar is an interactive online event where participants listen to a speaker delivering a presentation or seminar by sharing their remote screen
• Applying Your Learning involves not just taking courses or watching videos, but also applying what you've learned to your own context
• Case Study: an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case within a real-world context
• Gaining and sharing expertise involves gaining and learning from experience, as well as involvement in the wider, profession-related work of your employer
• Work Shadowing: an informal way for someone to learn what it is like to perform a particular job at a workplace by following around or shadowing the worker already in that role
• Action Research: a research method that aims to simultaneously investigate and solve an issue by conducting research and taking action at the same time
• Active Learning Opportunities: methods that ask students to engage in their learning by thinking, discussing, investigating, and creating, practicing skills, solving problems, struggling with complex questions, making decisions, proposing solutions, and explaining ideas in their own words through writing and discussion
• Career: an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life with opportunities for progress
• Classroom Observation: a form of professional development that can happen informally through individual research and reading, classroom observation, or peer discussions
• Continuing Education: an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs
• Schedule of Goals: to begin professional development, create a list of goals and a schedule
• Forms of professional development:

  • Formal education: taking courses, attending workshops, or getting a degree/certification; advantages include learning new skills and knowledge, but it can be time-consuming and expensive
  • On-the-job training: provided by the employer, includes mentorship, job shadowing, and internal workshops; great for learning job-specific skills, but not available in all workplaces
  • Informal learning: reading, listening to podcasts, attending events; flexible and affordable for staying updated on industry trends, but requires self-motivation
  • Professional networking: connecting with other professionals online or in person; helps in learning about opportunities, career advice, and industry trends
• Prominent models categorizing professional development approaches:

  • Guskey's Four Principles:
  • Focus on learning and learners: learner-centered activities catering to individual needs
  • Emphasis on individual and organizational change: professional development drives individual growth and organizational improvement
  • Small changes guided by grand vision: encourages ongoing, bite-sized learning aligned with a broader professional vision
  • Embedded professional learning: integrates professional development seamlessly into daily work routines
• Training model:

  • Views professional development as skill acquisition through expert-led training programs
  • Criticized for its passive nature and limited application to specific workplace contexts
• Learning model:

  • Emphasizes active learning through collaboration, reflection, and problem-solving
  • Fosters deeper understanding and practical application of new knowledge and skills
• Development and Improvement Model:

  • Involves collaborative planning and implementation of professional development initiatives
  • Teachers take ownership of their learning, identify needs, choose strategies, and assess outcomes
• Community of Practice Model:

  • Emphasizes collaborative learning within communities of professionals who share common interests and goals
  • Members learn from each other through sharing experiences, best practices, and problem-solving strategies
• Action Research Model:

  • Encourages teachers to investigate their own practice through systematic inquiry and reflection
  • By identifying problems, collecting data, and analyzing results, they can implement evidence-based solutions and improve teaching practices
• Transformative Learning Model:

  • Focuses on personal growth and critical reflection
  • Challenges existing assumptions and promotes deeper understanding of one's values and beliefs in relation to professional practice