Individualized Learning Plan

Individualized Learning Plan

Candidate: Christina Hardin Dean: Kevin Mulholland

I. Candidate’s Workload Context:

As a professor of English, my course-load ranges from five to seven courses per term. For the first year as a tenure-track faculty, I will limit myself to teaching five to six courses or fifteen to eighteen credit hours. I will be doing two preparations: ENC1101 – English Composition 1 and ENC1102 – English Composition II.

A complete list of my professional development courses and workshops are attached.

II. Candidate’s Strengths Assessment:

Professional Commitment: I have served on several committees on campus to foster my professional relationships and knowledge. I am also a member of the National Council of Teachers of English. In addition, I am in the process of completing an EdD in Curriculum and Instruction at UCF, taking one or two classes (three to six credit hours) a term.

I plan to attend all of the general meetings sponsored by the TLA, including their two online Scenarios workshops. I will also go to several other pedagogical workshops. In addition, I am serving a one-year seat as a Member at Large for the Faculty Association Committee on the Osceola campus.

Commitment to Students: It is very important to me that students feel that they are not just a random number assigned to my class. I strive to make all students feel important and show that I value each of them by working with them individually inside and outside of the classroom. In the past I have scheduled writing workshops where students are invited to come discuss their essays with me outside of their normally scheduled class meetings.

Learning/Student Centered Teaching Strategies: Providing an environment where all students have the opportunity to learn and participate is important to me. I provide opportunities for all types of learning styles and provide practice and work that focuses on the student. I do not employ a great deal of lecture, but rather supplement my discussions with hands-on opportunities for every student to practice a given skill.

LifeMap: As an English instructor, I teach my students that writing will be a part of their lives forever; therefore, I try to teach and develop skills that students will find useful in their daily lives and in their future careers. For example, students learn the importance of using proper grammar in their everyday writing by seeing examples of poorly written communications from such fields of industry as accounting and professional office settings. Students learn that writing in any field of work is important and that poor writing skills can negatively affect their careers. Students also receive the opportunity to write short essays on topics they would actually need to address in their future work settings such as having a successful interview and responding to irate customers. The object is to teach students how to transfer their writing skills from the classroom to the “real world”.

III. Candidate’s Philosophy of Teaching:

When I was young my mother would often find my brother and me playing school with the neighborhood kids; me, naturally being the teacher. I always marveled at the way my teachers approached the classroom, and I hoped that one day I would be able to impart knowledge to my own classroom of students. I loved the feeling of teaching a skill to a group of individuals even back then (though I’m sure the skill of coloring in the lines is less important than being able to write a well crafted paper), and today the feeling is no less rewarding. Teaching is not only a passion, but a career that I enjoy growing in. The most satisfying outcome of my teaching is watching students move from jagged writing skills to more finely polished skills.

While my primary job is to teach students the skills required to succeed in my English class, I view myself more as a facilitator charged with providing my students with the knowledge and information they will need to succeed after they have left my classroom. I want the skills I teach them to be assimilated into their life-long learning process. I strive to provide students with activities that teach them to build upon their existing writing and grammar skills and to see how those skills will be used in their everyday lives, outside of the college environment. The first writing assignment in my Comp I class, for example, requires students to rely on their existing writing schema to develop an essay describing the characteristics of a successful student. I do not grade this assignment as part of the class grade, but rather use it as a platform to help students identify areas in their own writing that need refining. In addition, the assignment directs students toward developing a set of goals that will lead them to be successful, in and out of the classroom.

Active learning has been defined as an approach used by an instructor in which the teaching and learning environment is designed for the learner to be actively engaged in the acquisition and processing of knowledge and information (Lyons, McIntosh, & Kysilka ). A learning- centered classroom must support this active learning. Focus on an active learning-centered environment, along with a greater demand for student-centered learning, is among the greatest forces that shapes my teaching. Among the important attributes that surround a student-centered classroom is the opportunity for my students to learn from one another in team settings. In addition to individual learning, students are provided with opportunities to learn from one another through the use of group projects and team learning experiences. My mission is to teach students how to be successful in and out of the classroom and to take their newly acquired, or in some cases redefined skills, and apply them to their everyday lives.

Individual student learning styles are also taken into account when I design my assignments. In order to meet the diverse needs of students, my classroom offers a variety of learning options and teaching methods. As technology becomes more commonplace and students become more dependent on items like iPods and iPhones to access the internet, I utilize available technology so the assignments become more relatable, and dare I say more enjoyable, to the students. In addition to teaching students the proper use of the internet for academic purposes (for example, to conduct research through the Valencia library databases), I incorporate Youtube videos and DVD clips into my class discussions and have become less reliant on traditional lecturing. I also have WebCT components built into each of my face-to-face classes, so both students who are comfortable with on-line learning and those students who are not as familiar with the use of the computer have an opportunity to learn some skills that will help them outside of my class. Additionally, with the prevalence of texting and on-line chatting among students, I have a Yahoo Instant Message account that allows students to “chat” with me on-line if they have quick questions about an assignment. Offering these alternative methods of instruction and application to my students is essential to their success.

Students are also given the opportunity to construct and demonstrate their creative strengths by “teaching” a particular concept (i.e. noun usage) to the rest of the class. Students are given basic parameters surrounding the presentation, but in an attempt to showcase their own learning styles, the students are encouraged to use their creativity and individual strengths to demonstrate their own knowledge. This allows the students to take ownership of at least one concept and gives them the opportunity to demonstrate their own learning styles.

Essentially, my overarching goal as an English instructor is not to simply teach my students how to write, but rather to teach them how to become active participants in their own learning, to take ownership of their developing writing abilities, and to learn how to apply those skills to the “real world”.

Reference:

Lyons, R.E., McIntosh, M., & Kysilka, M.L. (2003). Teaching college in an age of accountability. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

IV. Learning Outcomes: See Below

Competencies I will need to demonstrate outside my ILP work:

I have all of the Essential Competencies addressed in my ILP.

V. In the box below, check off the selections that you plan to attend or complete. After you have attended or completed one or more you can put in the date in the box next to the activity.

TLA Seminars

While seminars are designed for first year (2100 courses) or second year (2200 courses), please note that they are offered every year and can be attended at any point in the pre-tenure process.Substitutions can frequently be made if a particular seminar is not available or you were unable to attend it. Register and retrieve

transcripts for TLA seminars via ATLAS.

Course Prefix & Number /
Seminar Name /
Description / Check ILP Choices / Date Completed
Year-1 Seminars
PRFC 2161 /
Creating an Individualized Learning Plan (ILP)
Year-1 Kickoff / This online mini-course provides TLA participants with an overview of the Essential Competencies of a Valencia Educator. Participants also learn how to create an effective Individualized Learning Plan.
The face-to-face Kickoff introduces the TLA participants to WebCT6 and to the ILP concept. / ü / 09.05.08
PRFC 2161 /
Creating an Individualized Learning Plan (ILP)
WebCT Course Wrap-up /
The face-to-face Wrap-up meeting provides a collegial, supportive environment of peers to assess each candidate’s ILP development.
Registering for the Kickoff will automatically register you for the online course and Wrap-up meeting. / ü / 10.03.08
ASMT 2121 /
Understanding of Assessment as a Tool for Learning /
This Essential Competency seminar examines strategies that promote student growth through consistent, timely, formative measures, and promote students’ ability to self-assess. Also examined will be assessment practices that invite student feedback on the teaching and learning process, as well as on student achievement. / ü / 10.16.08
SOTL 2171 /
Understanding Scholarship of Teaching & Learning /
This Essential Competency seminar examines strategies, particularly Action Research, that enables educators to continuously examine the effectiveness of their teaching, counseling, & librarianship. / ü / 11.07.08
TVCA 2131 /
Understanding Valencia’s Student Core Competencies: TVCA /
This Essential Competency seminar examines strategies that facilitate student growth in thinking critically; communicating effectively; articulating and applying personal values and those of the various disciplines and appreciating the values of others; and applying learning and understanding effectively and responsibly. / ü / 01.23.09
LCTS 2111 /
Understanding Learning-centered Teaching Strategies
/
This Essential Competency seminar examines diverse teaching and learning strategies that accommodate the learning styles of students and that promote the acquisition of knowledge through meaningful and practical applications. / ü / 02.12.09
INDV 2151 /
Understanding of Inclusion & Diversity / |
This Essential Competency seminar examines learning opportunities that acknowledge, draw upon and are enriched by student diversity and create atmospheres of inclusion and understanding. / ü / 03.06.09
LFMP 2141 /
Understanding LifeMap /
This Essential Competency seminar examines learning opportunities that promote student life skills development while enhancing discipline learning. / ü / 03.20.09
Year-2 Seminars
LCTS 2215 /
Writing as a Tool for Learning /
This session will help instructors appreciate the link between writing and thinking skills already imbedded in their courses. In this hands-on workshop, participants will experience concrete strategies for instructing and evaluating student writing in the disciplines.
LCTS 2218 /
More Than Words: Speaking across the Disciplines /
Practical strategies to develop and assess students’ oral communication skills for effective class presentations regardless of the discipline or field of study. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to use assessment rubrics to design and assess students’ oral presentations.
PRFC 2263 /
Creating an Evidence-based Portfolio
WebCT mini-course
Year-2 Kickoff
/
This Web CT mini-course provides TLA participants with an overview and examination of the elements of a Valencia Faculty Portfolio. Participants also learn how to demonstrate learning through artifacts. The face-to-face orientation reviews WebCT6, the faculty portfolio concept, and the rubric used to evaluate the portfolio. / ü / 10.16.09
LCTS 2216 /
Helping Students Comprehend Reading in the Disciplines /
In this workshop, participants learn strategies for strengthening students’ reading comprehension in any discipline.
ASMT 2227 /
Beyond the Writing Classroom: Rubric Construction /
In this hands-on workshop, participants learn the elements of rubric construction and examine a variety of models to use in creating their own discipline-specific rubrics. / ü / 10.29.09
PRFC 2263 /
Creating an Evidence-based Portfolio
Class of 2011 Wrap-up Meeting /
The Wrap-Up provides a face-to-face workshop where participants can review each others’ portfolio artifacts. / ü / 11.20.09
LCTS 2214 /
Problem-based Learning
/
This workshop explores the learning of subject matter and skill acquisition through collaborative problem-solving. Emphasis is placed on using this method in community college courses.
ASMT 2228 /
Authentic Assessment /
Concepts from current literature about learning-centered testing and grading are presented and discussed. Participants can expect specific suggestions and strategies to make their assessing more learning-centered. / ü / 2.17.10
ASMT 2224 /
Course Design: From Learning Outcomes to Assessment /
Course design can be one of the most interesting and challenging areas of a faculty member’s work. Drawing from research in the field, this session focuses on understanding the characteristics of learning-centered course construction from learning outcomes to assessment.
PRFC 2266 /
Legal Issues /
In this seminar, faculty members will have the opportunity to discuss legal issues with Valencia’s General Counsel.
LCTS 2212 /
Engaging Lectures /
This workshop explores effective lecture techniques. Participants will leave with practical applications for engaging student learning through the lecture format. Participants should bring a set of lecture notes to this hands-on workshop. / ü / 7.08
LCTS 2210 /
A Big Mac: Math across the Curriculum /
In this seminar, participants will examine activities or assignments from a variety of disciplines that require the use of mathematics or quantitative reasoning to enhance the learning of the concepts of the discipline. Participants will be given resources and the opportunity to work collaboratively to create a lesson or activity incorporating mathematics within their discipline.
INDV 2253 /
Personality & Learning Styles for Richer Classrooms /
Understanding one’s own style can lead to deeper meta-cognition and an appreciation for diverse learning styles. This seminar offers information on available online personality, learning and thinking styles inventories. Participants are provided examples of discipline-specific classroom assignments that facilitate this understanding. / ü / 9.17.09
INDV 2254 /
Brain-based Learning Meets Learning Styles /
In this seminar, participants will examine the relationship between the ways people learn and the biology of the brain.

Other Professional Development: See Attached