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Unit 3.1: The PDQP Process

Katherine Zamarripa

National University

CAPSTONE 690

Professor Youlin Aissa

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Abstract

This paper will discuss the process of developing my Professional Development Quest Portfolio.

Topics to be included in the discussion pertain to goal achievements, frustrations, questions,

concerns, and next steps for yourself and the learning community in developing a PDQP.

When I was in high school I had some really awesome teachers and I had some not so

great teachers. I always thought if I became a teacher, I would emulate the character traits of the

teachers that impacted my life and helped me learn. I always knew that there was a need for

more good teachers. It wasnt until 2003 that I decided to become an English teacher. I never
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knew which subject I wanted to teach-although I knew it wasnt going to be math. After I

received an A in English 2B at Gavilan College, I thought to myself, Ok, I think I will teach

English.

My education was a slow process because I was busy having a family and working part

time. It wasnt until my marriage was coming to an end that I decided I needed to go back to

school and get my credential so that I did not have to depend on anyone. Since my going back to

school, I have never been more driven in the world of education. My mission to impact the lives

of students and continuing to develop as a professional educator has been a top priority in my

profession.

Obtaining my Masters in Education is a personal goal and accomplishment that I will be

proud to achieve. This achievement will also serve as an example to my children that if one sets

their mind to something, it can be accomplished. Also, I want instill the ideology to my children

in the realm of value and merit of an education. After a short 1 year hiatus from my online

education through National University, I decided to go back and finish my last class for my

degree.

The process of my achievement has honestly been a blur. I was hired as an intern and

took over during the second semester for a teacher who received a position at the District Office.

The second day of teaching, I helped break up a girl fight right outside my classroom. The first

year was the most difficult in terms of educating others. But it was a great experience building

relationships with the students. One of the girls who was in the fight often came to me for advice

and she was thankful I was her teacher and appreciated my guidance for her. Even though it was

a tough year of many unknowns, I knew that I wanted to become a better teacher and learn as

much as I could to help me with that goal.

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At my first school it was a brand new high school and a pilot for the 1 to web educational

institution. This meant that every student checked out their own Chromebook. The first year of

working out the kinks of classroom management with the Chromebooks was very challenging.

However, I was very thankful that for one period we had a collaboration with the same subject

level teachers. This small community of colleagues provided a chance for new teachers to

receive support as well as support from veteran teachers who were struggling with the 1 to web

implementation. I was able to see that it was acceptable to be vulnerable and that risk taking is an

opportunity for growth.

In this particular learning community, I observed one teacher in particular who had taught

for 10 years and served as my greatest mentor to date. She gave me great ideas on how to create

norms in the classroom and developed lessons so that transitions were timely and students were

given many opportunities to collaborate in class. I learned that you can use any popular topic or

current event and align them with content standards and make your classroom rigorous and

relevant.

Because we used Chromebooks to facilitate instruction, I was fortunate to have all

lessons and evidence for my PDQP online in Google Drive. The only evidence I wish I had saved

and organized better were my evaluations-both in classroom and formal observations. I had

many in class observations as an intern and the progress I made in the last year was evident in

the observation documents from Administration. I should have scanned and saved them digitally

in my drive.

On my journey as an educator, my National University mentor helped me look closely at

my teaching strategies in the classroom. Providing lessons with rationals allowed me to focus in
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depth that my lesson was integrating the content standards. My mentor was also an advocator on

providing multiple opportunities for students to collaborate together in terms of speaking.

The Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program (BTSA) was major influence in

the designing and implementation of lessons and strategies I use in the classroom. BTSA made

me reflect certain domains that correlated with the California Standards for the Teaching

Profession (CSTP). This opportunity allowed me to examine my lessons critically. It also was a

pivotal transition into my profession because of the extensive reflection and rational I had to

provide. The direct correlation between my PDQP and how the BTSA Program has helped

supported this process is through the design an alignment of my lessons to the standards.

Constantino (2009) states the process to the PDQP has three components, Connecting standards

to portfolio documentation; supporting your documentation; and displaying your documentation

(p.53). By analyzing a lesson in the induction seminar I was able to improve as an educator and

assess the areas needed for growth.

Another learning community that helped me achieve the necessary tools to develop my

PDQP was the opportunity to attend a variety of teacher conferences. In the 3.5 years of

teaching, I have attended two CADA conferences-one was my first year teaching, two Avid

conferences, one Google Summit, one CUE Conference and two Culture and Climate Summits.

The knowledge and resources I have been exposed to and implemented have been a positive

attribute to my PDQP. I learned that they are so many strategies and tools for teachers-it can be

quite overwhelming.

As I was developing artifacts for Domain F-Developing as a Professional Educator, I

realized how fortunate I was that my admin team at both schools valued continuous professional

learning development. Because of the tools and resources I was equipped with at my trainings, I
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made a conscious choice to share resources and new concepts with other teachers to help

improve the environment in the classroom and on campus. This made it easier for me as I had to

reflect on development opportunities and implementing committees and programs at our school.

As I developed my professional timeline I was able to focus and set goals. I know what I

want to do in the near future and securing it on paper makes it even more finite and will help

keep me accountable. Because I have been teaching for 3 years, I feel like I have already

accomplished a lot, but there is much more that I want to do for my students and for my school.

Thus far the PDQP has been eye opener to my journey as an educator. But it has also given me

the necessary perspective to see what I want to achieve in the next 5 years.

References

Constantino, P. & De Lorenzo, M. (2006). Developing a professional teaching

nd
Portfolio: A guide for success (2 ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
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