I submitted a goal on April 8 which I updated on September 3, 2013 and reviewed on October 3, 2013. Another month has gone by. Have I made progress on my goal through the action steps?  If I take the time to check in and self-assess, will I be able to determine if I’m on a good path? Will I be able to make a small course correction if I’ve gotten distracted along the way because of the busyness of school? What if I review my intentions and collect evidence now that supports my goal? What if I hold myself accountable for making small progress in just one month?

My Goal:

To purposefully act to forward Trinity School’s mission, faculty-learners and student-learners will grow significantly in their use of reflection and the formative, diagnostic, and self-assessment knowledge that come from such an approach to learning.

Action Steps:

• Intentionally reflect and question to grow and learn. Publicly publish my reflections at Experiments in Learning by Doing using the tag #MyLearningEdu. Connect with others by broadcasting each post via Twitter.
• Reflect on learning by keeping a running record in an e-portfolio. Encourage and provide opportunities and support for others to develop professional portfolios that document learning, growth and reflections.
• Support reflection, questioning, and growth of learners by designing and engaging in professional development opportunities for teacher-learners to learn by doing. Examples:
  • MyLearningEDU 1.5  for teacher-learners to model and experience My Learning from the student perspective.
  • Twitter for Learning  for teacher-learners to foster and develop connections with other educators and experts.
  • Leading Learners to Level Up  for teacher-learner teams to design and implement formative assessment that diagnoses and differentiates while leading learning.

I continue to blog at least once a week. I’ve decided not to use #MyLearningEdu as a category or tag.  It doesn’t seem to make sense to me right now to use this tag.  I still owe Maggie Berthiaume a couple of comments and tweets.

Shelley Paul (@lottascales) and I have facilitated a complete 1-PLU course round of Leading Learners to Level Up (#LL2LU) for The English Connection at Woodward and for math teachers at Trinity and Mount Vernon.  We are planning another round of each during the winter.  I offered a Leading Learners to Level Up session on learning progressions at Trinity’s October 30 Faculty/Staff Forum.

I like what I’ve done so far.  I’ve seen products of my action steps in our Faculty’s #TrinityLearns tweets, Kathy and Maggie’s reflections on their blogs, and with the #LL2LU participants.

See PD in Action for more stories of application of learning progressions and formative assessment.

I’ve also written a new 1-PLU course, Observation of Practice, for our teachers based on the comments of Arleen and Laura after reading my reflection of the class we taught together.  They both commented on how helpful it was to see their class from another perspective. Observation of Practice will integrate formative assessment and reflection with peer observation by having each team member reflect.

• As a result of this observation of practice and feedback loop, which aspects of my teaching do I feel are bright spots?
• As a result of this observation of practice and feedback loop, what questions do I have about my own teaching?
• As a result of this observation of practice and feedback loop, what new ideas do I have?

I have to say that I find it helpful and motivating to check on my progress each month.  Am I intentionally working on my goal? Am I making progress? Have I made small course corrections to get back on track when I find myself distracted by other important work?

I’d love your feedback on any part of this process. Your questions and comments will help me learn and grow.

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To see the development of this goal, see iterations

• Goals and Self-Assessment – Reflecting on My Learning as of October 3, 2013,
• Goals and Self-Assessment – Updated September 2013,
• Goals and Self-Assessment April, 2013 and
• Developing a goal, a SMART Goal – learner outcomes and action steps.