A strong Professional Development Plan is an essential asset to succeeding in any career, especially one as an educator. Such a plan not only improves initial employability but also works as a guide for motivation, direction, and self-improvement throughout one’s career. A well-designed plan includes specific career and education goals as well as an action plan for achieving those goals. For a Professional Development Plan to be effective, continual evaluation needs to be conducted to monitor personally growth and to ensure that the intended goals are met. Ultimately, failing to plan is the same as planning to fail. This paper is written from the viewpoint of a beginning teacher on her ideal vision for the future. Of course such a teacher will need to modify her goals as the circumstances and experiences demand, but the essay will present what her projected plan of action for her upcoming career will be.
Setting goals is a critical aspect of creating a professional development plan. The writer of this paper has set many educational and professional long-term and short-term goals for herself. In the next five years, the writer aims to complete both her Associate’s degree and Bachelor’s degree in the field of Elementary Education. More long-term goals, which may take 10 years or more, include continuing education all the way up to a Doctorate’s degree, teaching a variety of grades from kindergarten to 12th grade, and eventually becoming a school principle, or possibly even a superintendent of schools.
Although achieving these goals will definitely not be easy, the writer is determined to stay focused and overcome any and all obstacles that may stand in her way. The steps that make up the path toward the achievement of these goals can be rigorous, time-consuming, and probably difficult. First, as a post-secondary student, one must study hard and obtain the maximum