Professional Learning Philosophy

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As an experienced teacher, and one who has already been fortunate enough to have had many insightful professional learning experiences, I still believe that there are more knowledge and skills for me to acquire. I also understand that teachers who continually undergo professional development (Effect size =0.62) have students who demonstrate greater academic success (Hattie, 2009). As a result, it is crucial that I continue to always consider how I can improve as a teacher and also contribute to the professional development of my colleagues.

An initial step towards contributing to my professional learning is the clarification of my personal philosophy of education. The importance of having a clear philosophy has been discussed by Walcott (1966) and Erkilic (2008). In particular, the latter author states that “philosophy in the learning process gives learners and educators a basis on which to build knowledge.” Therefore, once I have a clear definition of what I believe in, what I understand about teaching and learning and what I hope to achieve with my teaching, I can create a professional development plan which will best meet my needs.

The next step is to consider the type of professional development I might want to undergo. There are two main types of teacher learning: Traditional and Alternative
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I am now at the stage in my teaching career where I have become interested in conducting research to help answer these questions. Because action research is “an inquiry conducted by educators in their own settings in order to advance their practice and improve their students’ learning,” this seems the ideal process for me to follow. I am also thinking that I may even consider expanding upon this at some point as part of a graduate