Engaging in professional practice has been an important element of my work-life for the past two decades. I seek new information and skills to keep abreast of current technology, to remain competitive in a global economy and to increase my personal lifelong learning ambitions. I believe that continued professional development motivates teachers to improve their teaching and stimulates them to research more while also increasing student learning, as suggested by Bird (2001). As a teacher, I strongly believe that one of my main goals is to foster students’ lifelong learning skills through modelling this behaviour myself and encouraging students, through innovative teaching, to continue their learning (Bryce & Withers, 2003; MCEETYA, 2008). Networking with teachers internationally through my digital professional learning network (PLN) is an informal type of professional development that I believe increases my skills as a quality “networked teacher” (Couros, 2010) and keeps me up-to-date with 21^st century learning skills which I integrate into lessons to help prepare students for the changing world (OECD, 2008).

My aim is to be a permanent Queensland secondary teacher in 2014. To prepare myself for teaching employment and to remain competitive I have participated in numerous professional learning activities, including the learning involved in progressing through USQ’s Bachelor of Education(Secondary) program. This is my final year of study before embarking on a secondary teaching career and so I have had a strong personal focus on professional learning this year.

I attended the ACER Excellence in Professional Practice Conference 2013 and networked with Australian teachers. Through talking to teachers at the conference I learned about the vast differences in teaching practice throughout Australian schools, especially in regards to ICT implementation in schools. During this conference I also had the pleasure to meet Anne Mirtschin, the ACCE Australian Educator of the Year 2012 award recipient (ACCE, 2012). I had originally met Anne on-line through my PLN which is based on my use of social media tools such as blogging, wikis, Facebook and Twitter. I had found Anne’s embedded-ICT style of teaching to be inspirational and I have applied some of her techniques into my own teaching however, I am heavily restricted to be innovative with ICTs within the current Education Queensland system. To further my professional development I also reflected on the teachers, stories and information gained from the ACER conference within my Professional Development report.

During my May 2013 prac I also made an effort to learn and receive constructive feedback from my four mentor teachers as well as the other teachers at the school. Most of the feedback from my mentors was constructive and helped me think otherwise which led to applying new teaching strategies in the classroom. I engaged one mentor teacher in a formal professional conversation which further increased my professional learning and gave me valuable insight into the realities of teaching. I also attended three separate on-site PD workshops that introduced me to Marzano, the 10 essential skills and effective behaviour management. During this prac I also taught Flash for the first time and had personally identified the need for increasing my learning with this software; therefore, when QSITE offered an intermediate Flash workshop I registered and attended it while also networking with more teachers at the venue.The compounded learning through practical experience networking, my PLN, attending the ACER conference, attending the Flash workshop and reflecting through formal reports has increased my professional knowledge and skills which aligns with focus areas 6.2 and 6.3.

Evidence to support my AITSL Graduate Career Stage can be seen in my mentor’s referee statement and in the Standard 6 section of the professional experience report. Further evidence of my dedication to continued reflection and learning can be seen by my motivation to post about Educational issues and topics on my blog site. Also, refer to the ACER and QSITE certificates of attendance for evidence of my participation in the ACER conference and the recent Flash Intermediate workshop.

I value my personal lifelong learning ambition and I believe that quality teachers are continually learning to improve student outcomes. I will continue to seek out professional development that improves my teaching style and increases my effectiveness in behaviour management techniques.

References

ACCE. (2012). ACCE/ACS Educators and leaders of the year award winners. Retrieved from Australian Council for Computers in Education: http://acce.edu.au/acce/acce-awards/acceacs-educators-and-leaders-year-award-winners

Bird, E. (2001). Teaching as an evidence-based profession. In F. Banks, & A. S. Mayes (Eds.), Early professional development for teachers (pp. 273-296). London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd.

Bryce, J., & Withers, G. (2003). Engaging secondary school students in lifelong learning. Camberwell, VIC: Australian Council for Educational Research Ltd.

Couros, A. (2006). Examining open (source) communities as networks of innovation: Implications for the adoption of open thinking by teachers [doctoral dissertation]. Regina, SK: University of Regina. Retrieved from http://www.educationaltechnology.ca/couros/publication_files/research/Dissertation-Couros-FINAL-06-WebVersion.pdf

Couros, A. (2010). Personal learning networks for open & social learning. In G. V. (Ed.), Emerging Technologies in Distance Education (pp. 109-128). Athabasca, AB: AU Press, Athabasca University.

MCEETYA. (2008). Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young australians. Melbourne: MCEETYA. Retrieved from http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf

OECD. (2008). 21st century learning; research, innovation and policy directions from recent OECD analyses. Centre for Educational Research and Innovation.