The Professional Goals
http://portfolio.reecezone.net/goals.htm
As a professional educator, I have developed several goals in both the short and
long term in order to facilitate my continued development as a musician,
teacher, and learner. These goals fall into several categories, but they all
reflect my desire for continued growth in my professional capacities. Each of
these goals is closely related to, and reflective of, one or more of the core
propositions of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
The first category of goals is
related to my academic development as a professional educator. In the short
term, my goal is to complete the Master of Arts in Teacher and Learning program
through Nova Southeastern University and earn my Master’s degree. This goal
will be accomplished within six months and will mark a significant
accomplishment in my academic development. In the long term, my academic goals
include further training in choral conducting and literature within the next ten
years. These academic goals reflect my personal desire to increase my knowledge
about choral music and the best ways to teach it to my students by incorporating
the things I have learned into my daily practices as an educator.
Closely related to my academic
goals are my goals related to research. Within six months, I will complete my
action research project as part of the degree program mentioned above. This
short-term goal will allow me to develop better methods of teaching sight
reading within my choral classroom. After this project is finished, I will
continue the cycle of action research by evaluating the results and seeking
further areas for improvement. Within the next five years, I will complete
further action research within the domain of choral music, focusing on teaching
vocal students with changing voices. Like my academic goals, these research
goals will help me increase knowledge about my subject and how to teach it
effectively. More importantly, they have a direct impact on the students in my
classroom. I have chosen to continue with the action research format for two
reasons: First, the search for effective solutions to problems in my classroom
is evidence of my commitment to my students and their learning. Second, the
practical nature of action research allows me to develop the most effective
methods for managing and monitoring my student’s learning and musical
progress.
My third category of
professional development goals involves long-term goals for publication, both of
a choral arrangement and of an article within the next five years. Through my
teaching experience over several years, I have learned that, while there is a
dearth of new choral arrangements every year, only a very few are quality
arrangements for young and developing choirs. I have also learned that,
generally speaking, good choral arrangements have several common
characteristics. I would like to apply this experience in two forms, by
publishing an article on the subject and creating one or more new arrangements
that meet the quality standards I have developed. Achieving these goals will
also provide evidence of my knowledge of the field of choral music education,
and of the best materials and methods for teaching in this field.
The final category of my
professional development goals is related to my continued involvement in
learning communities both within and without the school district. I have two
goals for the short term at the local level: First, I will develop a quarterly
music department newsletter highlighting the development of each group within
the district and informing the community about upcoming musical events. This
will be a collaborative project next year between myself and the other two music
teachers in the district. The newsletter will help us develop the lines of
communication between students, parents, administrators, teachers, community
members, and all other stakeholders in the musical education of the students. My
second local and short-term goal is to help develop a mentoring program for new
teachers in the district and to become one of the first mentors in the program.
This mentoring program will help bring the members of the faculty together as a
collaborative learning community. Both of these local goals will be completed
within the next year. In the long term, my goals involve developing a
presentation about distance learning opportunities and action research. This
presentation will be designed and submitted for consideration for the regional
and state meetings of my professional organization, the Illinois Music Educators
Association, part of the Music Educators National Conference. Achieving this
goal will allow me to become more involved in my professional organization as a
learning community, as well as giving me an opportunity to share what I have
learned through my own teaching and professional development experiences. This
presentation goal will be accomplished within five years. My second long-term
community goal is to establish and participate in a professional-level vocal
jazz ensemble in my community. The challenges of recruiting, organizing,
rehearsing, programming, and performing with a new ensemble are formidable, but
not insurmountable. The rewards of performing at this level and continuing my
personal musical development within a performing community will be worth the
effort. This goal will be accomplished within ten years.
While this seems to be an
exhaustive and exhausting list, I have high expectations for myself as a
professional educator and as a student of music. These high expectations are
evident to my students and help them develop a sense of pride in their musical
accomplishments and the effort involved in the process. As I continue through my
professional development, I will reflect on these goals and revise them as
necessary. It has been a valuable experience for me to articulate these goals in
writing and set the bar high for my continued professional development.
Matthew L. Reece, April 30, 2003