EDUC 556 – Assignment 1

Knowledge Building
Kerri Penford - 10006748
Kerri Penford 10006748

As an educator, professional learning is incredibly important for keeping up with the

developing needs of the classroom. For me, effective professional learning needs to be relevant,

engaging, and supported by peers or an expert.

In the past, I have attended professional learning that I considered irrelevant to my

current/future goals. While the process and information may have been interesting, if I didn’t see

any point to what I was learning then I was unlikely to retain any of the information. When

educators deeply understand the needs of their students, they can identify the knowledge/skills

that they (as teachers) need to fulfill those needs (Timperley, 2011, p. 6). Finding professional

learning opportunities that address these identified knowledge/skills provides the relevance that I

believe is needed to participate in meaningful professional learning (Timperley, 2011, p.10).

Knowing that what I am learning could potentially have a direct impact on the success of my

classroom is powerfully motivating to me and would allow me to make deeper connections with

what I am learning in the session.

During one of our class discussions, C. Cossette brought up the importance of being

actively engaged in any type of learning (Cossette, 2019). When I attend professional learning, I

find that I learn a lot more when I am required to actively engage in the content rather than listen

passively. By actively engaging in the content a deeper understanding of the information can be

formed (Coastal Carolina Community College, 2019). I believe this is true for me because by

trying out the skill/technique I can fully experience the process and see where my

misunderstandings may be. If the skill/technique is delivered passively, then I may run into

confusion when trying to implement it in real life. Also, the deeper understanding formed

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through active engagement makes it easier for me to see how what I am learning can help to

meet the needs that I have identified for my classroom. In the past I have allowed my naturally

shy nature to limit my involvement, but now understanding the value that can be gleamed from

this type of involvement motivates me to participate more.

Finally, I think my professional learning need to be supported by my peers, school

administrative staff, or an expert. When implementing a new skill that I have learned, I find it

extremely helpful to have someone that I can discuss the results/progress with. This gives me a

different perspective on why the new skill/technique may or may not be working for me. This

relationship needs to be built with trust so that I am not worried about being negatively impacted

from the relationship, and so that I value the feedback from the provider. I have also realized that

it is important to me to receive feedback that is structured (constructive and focused on specified

areas) (pg.73, Ozek, 2012) because I will shrug off feedback that feels like praise, and dwell on

feedback that feels to negative or isn’t something I thought I was being evaluated on. Receiving

this structured feedback allows me to continue to grow and develop these new skills while

feeling supported, which will reduce likeliness of burnout. (Fullan and Hargreaves, 2016, p. 9).

Having gone through this process, I realize that there are a lot of pieces that build towards

effective professional learning- but I believe that these three attributes are the essential pieces for

me.

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Feedback from Tressa

I think what you are saying is..
- PL is an important component that you will need to continuously be a part of in order to
keep up with the changing needs of the classroom. In order for PL to be the most effective for
you, the opportunities for learning need to be relevant to the needs of your classroom and
students and the content needs to be actively engaging, rather than only listening to someone
lecture. PL needs to offer you opportunities to practice the content brought up in the PL to help
you understand more deeply how to apply in the classroom. Relationships with peers is also
important so that you can receive constructive feedback to determine your next steps in the
classroom.
Reading your work made me think of..
- The article by Fullan and Hargreaves that discusses the importance of collaborative
professionalism, which states that it does not matter how much PD you participate individually if
no one else does (p. 10). All teachers need to work together in order to continue to improve their
practice, which fits in with your condition of having the supportive relationships with peers who
you trust.

APA for in text citations- (Last name, year, page number).

Response to Feedback
The feedback I received made me think of my past experiences with professional learning. It

made me aware of the fact that I am hesitant to participate in learning that is actively engaging

because I am naturally shy around other adults. I can see now that it is important for me to get

over this uncomfortable feeling, so that I can get the full value out of my professional learning. It

was helpful to see connections to readings that I had not made, so that I could deepen my

understanding of my own position.

In the end my thinking on professional learning remained the same. My critical friend was a

valuable resource to hear my own thoughts translated through. When I read through her

feedback, I felt like my opinions became ever clearer and more solidified.

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References

Coastal Carolina Community College. (2019). Active Learning/Student Engagement. Retrieved

from:

https://www.coastalcarolina.edu/faculty-staff/professional-development/instructional-

resources/active-learning/

Cossette, C. (n.d.). In Class Discussion. Lecture.

Fullan, M., Hargreaves, A. (2016). Bringing the profession back in: Call to action. Oxford, OH:

Learning Forward. Retrieved from

https://learningforward.org/docs/defaultsource/pdf/bringing-the-profession-back-in.pdf

Özek, Y. H., Edgren, G., & Jandér, K. (2012). Implementing the critical friend method for peer

feedback among teaching librarians in an academic setting. Evidence Based Library and

Information Practice, 7(4), 68-81. Retrieved from

https://doaj.org/article/7445ca1faa90406586dd53ca 25c452da

Timperley, H.S. (2011). Realizing the power of professional learning. New York, NY: Open

University Press.