10 Key Points for Professional Development

Yussef Barrientos – 6076-09-11059

Developing Action Steps.

1. Obtain my Bachellor’s degree, and immediately

move on to my masters.

2. Develop a pedagogical strategy to shorten the

gap between students and knowledge.

3. Read the complete collection of “The Great

Conversation.”

Bachellor´s Degree and Master´s Degree

• The opportunity to be the best I can has presented

itself in many different ways throughout my life. I

have now the chance to attend university once

more, and I am more than willing to go all above

and beyond. Studying is my passion, and teaching

is my life. For this reason, I know that everything I am

asked to complete and present, is one more step to

reaching my goals. I will study a masters in resource

management, and then will implement what I will

have learned by then, into my everyday teaching

practice.

Academic Achievement

Pedagogical Strategy. • There is a constant search for strategies that

engage students regardless of the subject being

taught. It is one of my biggest wishes to develop a

new methodology where any educator, from the

most experienced to the less trained can easily

discover a few guidelines that bind teaching and

learning into a trully meaningful experience, without

spending time in things that souldn´t be part of the

classroom in the first place. Ultimately, I would like to

develop the formula to motivate any student, in

any place, at any time.

Strategy

Read the Great Conversation.

• A few years ago, I fellow-teacher told me he had a

collection of books that he needed to get rid of. He

said he didn´t have enough space, and asked me if

I was willing to take them myself. Much to my

surprise, they were a collection of the best

European thinkers of all time. In the introduction of

this collection, the editor invites readers to dialogue

with those involved in the Great Conversation, and

would like to read them all.

List of books found among some of the

authors. The Iliad by Homer

The Odyssey by Homer

The Dialogues by Plato

Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas

Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais

Critique of Pure Reason by I. Kant

Experimental Researches in Electricity by

Michael Faraday.

Moby Dick by Heran Melville

The Origin of Species by Means of Natural

Selection by Charles Darwin

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodos

Mihalovich Dostoevsky.

Long Term Goals First. • Am I satisfied with the work I perform?

Certainly, the answer to this question might present

itself in the form of a typical apology, but for the first

time in my life, no such thing is necessary; rather, I’d

say that I am in fact content with how intensely I

perform at work everyday. I have always believed

that hard work pays off, and even today, I am

absolutely convinced that those who give everything

they’ve got, every single day, are bound to get to

great places in life.

• Where would I like to be?

Many wise men have answered this question in very

much the same form: I wouldn´t like to be anywhere

else, because HERE is where the Lord intended me to

be today. Inasmuch as this response captures how I

feel, it cannot be denied I would like to be in Europe,

perhaps in France or Greece, teaching in the morning

and attending university after the noon. On the

weekend, I´d like to stroll wide and winding streets

with my family, go to museums, or simply sit by the

Seine, and read Alexandre Dumas to my children.

Greece. France.

• Do I really enjoy my everyday activities?

As I child, I heard a teacher say “he who chooses to

do what he truly loves, will never work another day in

his life. ” So powerful an impact those words had on

me, that I, decided that day I would become a

teacher. More than twenty-five years later, and after

so many ordeals I´ve had to overcome in my life, I

fortunately still have the blessing of jumping out of

bed every morning, and go to work fully charged;

that is, because I really enjoy what I do.

• How can I feel better about my own performance?

Certainly, at this point in my career, satisfaction at

work comes in the form of my students´s individual

and collective achievement. It is not only the charts

indicating their constant improvement, or the more-

than-welcomed praising during PTA mettings, but the

certainty they all take something valuable with them

at the end of the class. It is the smile, the wink, or the

daily pat on my back at the end of each class what

keeps me moving forward, and feeling better about

my own performance.

• Is there something I need to change?

• Absolutely. There are many people who assert the

only thing we can be sure of is change, so why

would I be any different? There are others who say

that we do not see life as it is, but we see it as we

ourselves are, and the fact is that, while I try to live

my life in harmony with the lives of those around

me, I can only be perceived from the eyes of

others. Those who see in me the faults I have yet to

improve on. In counclusion, I would say that by

paying attention how those around me respond to

me, I will better know what it is I need to change

first.

Developing Action Steps to Improve as a Professional

1. Become as knowledgeable as possible on my

subject area, teaching methodologies, and the

use of technology in the classroom.

2. Develop people skills, and put them to practice

everyday not forgetting that our students are

above all, people who deserve the best of

treatments from us.

3. Finally, I need to have a job where I would only be

required to teach three or four lessons a day, so

that the rest of my time could be used for research

and padagogical reflection.

Record of “My Pinnacle Moments”.

• March 11, 2000 – My first class ever.

• November 2002 – Conference at the “IGLOO” USAC. Served in front of 350 guests.

• Private School 2005. – A 25-student group leveled at the end of the cycle.

• Met my Wife. 2007 – Changed my life forever.

• P.E.M. in Highschool English Teaching - 2008

• My children were born. - 2009 – 2010

• Managed a regional branch with Operations in Central America and the Caribbean – 2012 – 2014

• Gotten my current job. Oct 2014.

Evaluate yourself. • Strengths: Fortunately, life has given me the

opportunity to keep up with technological

developments, and for that reason, my employers

have regarded me as a relevant educator.

• Weaknesses: The world requires us to be certified for

our current duties, and to this point, I still need to

complete something I should have finished a long

time ago.

Explore Content. • At this moment, the organization I am working for is

moving towards a fully one-on-one daily class

practice, which is confronting all of us with highly-

skilled students who know how to use computers

two or three times better and faster than most of us.

It is for that reason that I have decided to act upon

it and change myself for the better.

Be ready for changes! • As it has been stated before, there are important

changes being made. Fortunately, my department

is being considered for feedback and

implementation of new strategies.

• I believe these opportunities have presented

themselves at a time when I am ready to take

them, so I will give my best.

My Skills and Putting Them to Practice.

• Give presentations

• Manage people

• Coordinate services

• Verbal communication skills

• Designing materials

• Training others

• Written comunication skills

• Multitask

• Promote products or service

Work as a team. • I truly believe and practice on collaborative skills.

After many years, life taught me the most important

lesson of my life which is, you can only shine if there

is a team to back you up, and the team is there,

only if you back them up.

• I have learned to appreciate the value team work

to the point where I have been become a big

supporter.