Assignment: Professional Development Plan

Write a seven to eight page, three-part Professional Growth Plan in which you focus upon the following areas of personal and professional growth:

• Part 1: Content Knowledge and Resources
• Part 2: Competencies
• Part 3: Reflective Activities

For Part 1, use the Internet or the Strayer Library to research professional organizations, grant opportunities, and / or virtual learning communities pertinent to both the theme of your portfolio, and your current or prospective work environment.

For Part 3, use your textbook, the Internet, and / or Strayer Library to research information on teaching and learning through reflective practice.

Part 1: Content Knowledge and Resources

1. Select at least two of the professional organizations, grant opportunities, and / or virtual learning communities that you have researched, and analyze the manner in which you would utilize the organizations you selected to support your continued professional development.

2. Predict at least three issues that you believe will be of particular significance within the next decade, or choose three remaining questions that you ponder which relate to both the theme of your portfolio and your current or prospective work environment.

3. Select one of the issues or questions you identified in relation to your theme and work environment, and construct an annotated bibliography of at least five print and non-print resources to consult in the future.

Part 2: Competencies

4. Specify the development of your information literacy / research skills throughout your coursework. Provide one to three papers / artifacts / examples from previous coursework in order to demonstrate your change(s) and acquired knowledge within this area. Note: If you do not have papers / artifacts / examples, attach the description(s) of your chosen previous assignment(s).

5. Develop a plan for continued information literacy development as part of your personal and professional growth plan. Your plan must include, at a minimum:

a. Three to five information literacy goals
b. Potential means (e.g., organizations and resources that you may utilize) to achieve the information literacy goals
c. Relevant strategies for applying the literacy skills in educational / work environment

6. Specify the development of your writing skills throughout your coursework. Provide one to three papers / artifacts / examples from previous coursework to demonstrate your change(s) and learning in this area. Identify plans for continued writing development as part of your personal and professional growth plan. Note: If you do not have papers / artifacts / examples, attach the description(s) of your chosen previous assignment(s).

7. Create an action plan geared toward both building upon your personal and professional strength(s), which you identified previously in Journal Entry #6, and toward improving your weaknesses related to your portfolio theme. Your plan must include, at a minimum:

a. Three to five goals
b. Three to five key steps that you plan to take for further evaluation and continuous improvement
c. Potential means (e.g., organizations and resources that you may utilize) to achieve these goals
d. Relevant strategies for applying the plan in educational / work environment

Part 3: Reflective Activities

8. Ascertain whether or not you met the reflection goal that you established in Week 3 of this course. Analyze the significant way(s) and extent to which the process of reflection caused you to become a more reflective practitioner.

9. Propose two to three measures that you would use in order to strengthen your reflective process. Provide a rationale to support your response.

10. Propose two to three ways that you would apply continued reflective activities within your current or prospective work environment. Provide at least one example of such application to support your response.

11. Upload Assignment 2 to your Optimal Resume portfolio. Copy and paste your portfolio's URL into the comment box of Assignment 2 to submit the assignment to Blackboard.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Apply theoretical and practical knowledge gained in prior program courses to explore a new topic or synthesize understanding in the concentration area and the overall Strayer University Master of Education program.

• Develop a working portfolio that focuses on a specific theme or project tied to the Strayer University Master of Education program goals and the learner's area of concentration.

• Create materials that demonstrate the analysis, synthesis, and intersection of course work in the Strayer University Master of Education program.

• Use technology and information resources to research information about education.

• Write clearly and concisely about education using proper writing mechanics.