WHY: I started by thinking about the professional learning experiences I had attended in my district and those I had chosen to spend my own personal money and time on and how they had differed.  And then thought… which ones made an impact on my teaching? I then started thinking about the two year certification and training program I am currently in to become a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) and how amazing it has been and started to really see the correlation to Gulamhussein’s work. I then landed on the Texas Reading Academies and how horrible of an experience this was for most people, but how important the concepts of Science of Reading are. These concepts are not being properly implemented in our classroom and I think a big portion of that blame falls on the TRA. 

 

WHAT: I first focused on what my district has now and was surprised when I found that our Professional Learning is actually based on the Standards for Learning practices. So I focused on drawing attention back to the 5 principles and how we can strengthen what is or is supposed to be in place. Using Duarte’s principles of what is and what could be. 

 

HOW: I created a presentation using Canva and the assets available. It is user friendly and easy to adapt to multiple environments. I added in personal anecdotes from my experiences in and out of the district and things that have truly impacted and changed my instructional practices.