Katie Dodd

Science Teacher

Progressing from Senior Teacher to Master Teacher

I had several reasons for wanting to engage with the PDP and therefore stepped forward when it was offered to me in the 2021-2022 academic year (as a member of the second cohort). I thought about this not only from the personal perspective, in terms of what I might learn about myself and my teaching through this process, but also about how I might be able to contribute to the program itself in a way that could positively impact future cohorts. As I look back on the year and my experience, I believe that I have been able to achieve those goals, or at least make progress in those areas (because is our work ever really done?).

Takeaways: as someone who didn’t originally set out to be a teacher but who instead entered the profession as a working scientist, there were many components of my teaching that were developed and refined “on the job.” Although I had some teaching experience as part of my graduate school program, this was to college-aged students and adults, which gave things a different tenor. I didn’t take coursework on instructional techniques or assessment design. I had no experience with classroom management or differentiated instruction. What I did have, even from day one, was enthusiasm and a willingness to work hard, coupled with a desire to improve.

These traits were made more clear to me when I did a strengths test assessment in my first years at EPS, which identified my top strengths as empathy, learner, input, achiever and developer. As I learned more about these different strengths, I found that many of them resonated for me, and I was able to see how I could use them to improve my teaching practices.

Completing this PDP has allowed me to take a step back and reflect on my process, and to recognize that many aspects of teaching that I tackle successfully. It can be hard to take the time to celebrate things that are going well, as this is not my general tendency, but this process has in essence forced me to do so.

This has been valuable to me in connection to my role as someone who’s been at EPS for a long time (I’m completing this process in my 13th year here) and to think about my role in the community. Two of the largest themes that have emerged for me through this PDP are intentionality and authenticity. I feel most connected and content in my work when I find these to be true. I struggle when one or both of them are missing.

Gaining this perspective has helped me identify some challenges and provided me a framework for how I can move forward productively in those challenging moments. I think that it’s also helped me approach this process itself, as it’s increased my self-awareness for why some aspects of this PDP felt more challenging than others. Inevitably, those were ones that felt inauthentic to me. I believe that this perspective, coupled with taking the time to understand the intent behind them and/or push back against them has had an positive impact on the overall program as it’s resulted in some examination of those expectations and occasional recalibration.

Next Steps: There are always areas with room for improvement, and this process has helped me identify certain targets. Fortunately, having a top strength of learner means that I am generally up for the task.

I discuss this more in the following pages, but some particular areas where I would like to improve are assessment practices and increasing my cultural competence. While I have put a lot of work into these areas over the years, they feel to me like the ones that still have the greatest opportunity for improvement. I look forward to continuing to challenge myself in year 14 and beyond.

Suggestions for future participants: Welcome, future PDP-ers (as I imagine you will be the ones who find yourselves looking here!). As I worked through this PDP, there were many times when I found myself thinking, “You know, if I’d set this up a little differently from the start I would have saved myself a fair bit of time later on in the process.” So, please feel free to take a look at some of my suggestions, which are entirely based on my own experience. I would also encourage you to seek out the perspective of others who have gone through this process. And of course, please reach out to me with your questions, as I truly want to help make this experience better for everyone.