D182_Task_2 Developing a Professional Growth Plan

Developing a Professional Growth Plan Introduction Currently, I teach seventh grade English Language Arts in a suburb of Houston. The school year was my eleventh year in our profession. The school is a Title 1 school with just under 700 students, in grades six through eight. My class sizes averaged 23 students in person, while some classes also had 15-20 students joining us virtually through Microsoft Teams. Need of Challenge With the obstacles we faced during the school year due to the world wide pandemic and instruction during the school year consisted of a hybrid model, my students’ writing skills are at an all-time low. One of the biggest instructional challenges I am currently facing with my students is their ability to construct written responses that connect to the question they were asked. My students struggle with incorporating a thesis, details and making connections within their responses to their reading. We spent a majority of the year cramming in instruction that was missed due to COVID as we simultaneously taught new curriculum. Unfortunately, we were unable to spend the necessary time to assess our students as we went through the different writing units, which caused us to miss the opportunities for a