Professional Development
I believe that professional development begins with empowerment.
All educators possess experiential knowledge that they have gained throughout their years of being both a teacher and a learner.
Professional development should leverage these experiences and position educators as agents of their own professional growth.
This is why I am a big proponent of Action Research as professional development.
Examples of Professional Development I’ve Led
Lesson Study in K-12 Science Classrooms & College STEM Courses
I facilitated three semester-long lesson study groups for educators in both K-12 and college settings. Lesson Study is a form of action research that engages instructors in examining education research, planning and teaching a lesson aligned with disciplinary standards, and reflecting on student work to improve future lessons.
As a lesson study facilitator, I collaborated with 5th grade teaching teams to study common misconceptions students have about physics concepts and plan science lessons aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
I also worked with university professors and graduate teaching assistant teams to analyze student work and identify evidence-based teaching strategies to engage student thinking.
Backward Design for Restructuring Two-Year College Science Courses
I served as a graduate student researcher and professional development facilitator for a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded program (NSF DUE #1645083) that fostered collaborations between two-year community college faculty and graduate students. The focus of the partnership was to apply the backward design model and restructure a portion of the course.
Backward Design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) is a student-centered learning approach that encourages instructors to first establish what knowledge and skills students should know and be able to do by the end of the course, and then plan assessments and learning experiences around these desired results.
My role in the program was to facilitate cohort meetings, provide research and resources regarding evidence-based teaching practices, and evaluate the program as a whole through surveys and interviews.
Introduction to Research for Undergraduate Students
I led a professional development course for 20 novice undergraduate researchers to enculturate them into the norms, practices, and knowledge of scientific research. I adapted the curriculum from the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) to build cohesive synchronous weekly workshops and asynchronous, virtual activities.
Examples of topics I covered throughout the course included developing research questions, communicating research findings, and building relationships with your research mentor.
