Professional Development Plan Essay Example for Free

Professional Development Plan Essay Professional development is the skill and knowledge that we gain to optimize our personal development. Planning is the tool to enhance our ability to achieve a particular goal in a set amount of time. College degrees and coursework, attending conferences, training sessions are all different types of learning opportunities for our professional development. First we have to have a desire for career endurance and personal growth. In this process we have goals which we want to achieve some are short term goals and some are long term. As a teacher I am dedicated to learning and have made a lifelong commitment to education and want to bring a positive social change which will enhance the beauty of educational system on the early childhood level. As a teacher we create an individualized professional development plan based on the age of students in our classroom. As a Montessori teacher I have a belief that I can plan a better curriculum for early ages by merging Montessori philosophy and traditional styles of teaching according to the state content standards. This is my long-term goal to be a academic director on state level for early childhood. But to achieve this long-term goal I have to focus my own professional development which I can gain by updating my skills, and get to know the new material and to get the knowledge which reflects changes in educational theory. My short term goal is to gain more and more knowledge not only about education but about the environment, social changes, cultural differences which affect the educational system. I can achieve all this by doing my PH.D in educational psychology. Because it is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. Educational psychology is concerned with how students learn and develop, often focusing on subgroups such as gifted children and those subject to specific disabilities. This will also help me to enhance the healthy development of learning or mental health of children, adolescents and adults. This degree will also help in my long term goal to prepare myself as a facilitating learner, faces emotional, and  behavioral difficulties in more professional manner. Furthermore, degree emphasis on theory, research and evidence-based practices subscribes to the scientist-practitioner model in the practice of psychology, which is reflected in the academic requirements. It includes the study of human development from diverse lenses such as biological, cognitive behavioral, socio-cultural, ecological, and educational perspectives. Another emphasis of this degree is an in depth knowledge of the scientific literature and its applications in the areas of psychology, especially different aspects of human development, motivation, learning processes, therapeutic approaches, and human diversity. With all this knowledge and information I will be a better writer and a r esearcher because my main focus of my research is early childhood and its issues. References: http://topics.wisegeek.com/topics.htm?education-professional-development# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_psychology http://coe.wayne.edu/tbf/edp/phd-school/index.php