Goal Assistance
1
Xavier Williams
Professional Path Project
5012 Overview of Higher education
Abstract
This project serves to showcase a course long assignment which is used to process and reflect on the path of higher education I wish to pursue. This project is broken down into several different parts and was then accumulated into this one final paper. Throughout this paper, I examine the skills and knowledge I currently have and use this information to set goals for myself. The core competencies and gap analysis were used to layout an action plan. This plan will serve as a guide to fuel my future plans and navigation into the field of higher education. Following the completion of this project, I reflect on the process and how prepared I feel for my next steps into the professional path of becoming an Online College Professor.
Introduction
The position that I am envisioning to work in is being an online instructor for online criminal justice course in the university level. I believe that I am a good candidate for this since I have already graduated from a Master’s Degree in criminal justice. Moreover, my broad knowledge and my open perspective of seeing different things from various angles makes me suitable for this job. In this job, I will be interacting with students from all over the world from various cultures and hence I will be able to work with them diligently. I will also be able to liaise with other professionals from different parts of the world and hence this will help me broaden by knowledge in the field.
The contents of this paper will basically the organizational division that my position resides. In this case, it resides in the teaching and learning organizational division. Again, the paper will be taking about the core competency statements in the teaching and learning division that are applicable to my position. Finally, it is the summary and conclusion part which concludes by the core competencies that affect my position as an online instructor for an online course in the university level.
Curriculum Vitae
Part of this project, required creating a Curriculum Vitae to explore skills and knowledge I currently have and where I have some skill gaps. This allowed me to view the areas I need to focus on before pursuing a career as an ESP Teacher/Online Professor. On the following pages, you will find my Curriculum Vitae. In this document, I have listed my education, previous experiences with descriptions of tasks completed along with any additional trainings and presentations I have completed. My goals and gap analysis will follow in later sections.
Xavier Williams
102 Acacia Ct. ▪ Leesburg, GA 31763
(229) 809-9468 Xwilliams@capella.edu
EDUCATION
Master of Science, Higher Education/ Leadership
Capella University, Minneapolis, MN. Current
Bachelor of Social Science, Criminal Justice May 2016
Albany State University, Albany, Georgia
Associate of Science, Law enforcement Technology December 2013
Albany Technical College, Albany, Georgia GPA 2.75
SKILLS & RELEVANT COURSEWORK
Skills: MS Office: Word/Outlook/Excel/Access/ PowerPoint, Quick Books, Dashboards
Courses: Introduction to Social Work ▪ Case Management ▪ Introduction to Education ▪ Ethnic/Issue ▪ Career Development& Employment ▪ Drug Education ▪Psychosocial Aspects ▪ Assistive Technology ▪ Assessment in Rehabilitation ▪ Community Advocacy
WORK EXPERIENCE
ESP Paraprofessional, Live Oak Elementary School August 2016
· Worked with individual students or small groups of students to reinforce learning of material and skills initially introduced and outlined by certified staff.
· Assisted the certified staff in devising special strategies for reinforcing learning materials and skills based on a sympathetic understanding of individual students, their needs, interests, and abilities.
· Assisted the certified teacher with instructing and supervising children in classroom activities, especially students identified as moderate to severely disable.
· Assisted the certified teacher in devising and implementing special strategies for reinforcing skills based on the special needs and abilities of each child.
· Continuously monitored children to ensure safety.
· Communicated with parents about daily classroom routines, expectations, policies, and incidents that have been recorded on site.
Career Goals
My professional goal as an ESP specialist is to help children with learning and attention problems in the classroom. As a matter of fact, there is nothing that gives me contentment than working one-on-one with children particularly those with special needs. As a one-on-one ESP teacher I envisage to work in an institution for the children with special needs. In such a position, I will be able to attend to children who require extra support in their learning processes. Other than helping them out in learning, I can also work with or go out with such children to occupational therapy and speech therapy among other therapies (Osewalt, 2018).
Moreover, in the next two three years, I also envision to continue working with students in general education classrooms. So far, I have work with general education students as well as special need students separately, in a support position. In the near future, I would like to work in an institution whereby general education students and special needs are taught together in the same classrooms. Generally, this is for the purpose of utilizing my competencies in ESP responsibilities and to observe the differences in learning between the two categories of students. However, in instances whereby learners cannot be put together, I would like to attend to students with learning and attention problems in autonomous classrooms. The need to see maximum outcomes in such students motivates me to work with them in small groups with the general students at least to reinforce what they have learned from their ordinary teachers.
Besides working as an ESP teacher, I also want to work as an online instructor for online criminal justice classes at the university level. Already, I have studied and graduated with a Master’s Degree in criminal justice from an internationally recognized university. The university is also accredited by the agency acknowledged by US Department of Education. Currently, I have been working on part time basis as legal tutor at a legal school in my state. Indeed, this makes me to be highly qualified for the job. However, my intention to venture into online criminal justice teaching is informed by the need to provide quality instruction to students through well prepared classes, appropriate lessons, and fair assessments of learning. In addition, in such a position, I will be able to support academic success for at-risk learners and offer clear certification of students’ progress. Bearing in mind that online learning is the next academic frontier, I look forward to reaching as many criminal justice students as possible, in line with my professional goal. Understandably, online classes in any field can be attended by students not only from the US but anywhere and anytime from across the globe.
Gap Analysis
Accordingly, I have the relevant knowledge and skills needed to work as a paraprofessional teacher. Having worked as a Para-educator and library aide, I have developed the essential skills that one need to work with children. In other words, I have learnt most of my skills and experience on the job. Specifically, I enjoy working with children and I have a positive attitude towards children (Osewalt, 2018). Academically, I have completed a two year course from a community college and passed a formal test on the ability to help in writing, reading and math instruction. The National Resource Center for Paraprofessionals is a professional organization that I can use to achieve my professional objectives. The body endeavors to improve the recruitment, deployment and career development of paraprofessional teachers (National Education Association, 2017).
On criminal justice online instructor’s position, I have a wealth of knowledge on the subject field. Specifically, I can teach the relevant courses, prepare course material and lessons, also provide interesting and suitable assignments for students to demonstrate learning results in a real life environment and ensure program learning outcomes are given and delivered as required in the syllabus. The National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) is one of the professional organizations in the criminal justice field that I intend to leverage so as I can achieve my professional goals. In this respect, there is much I can learn from this body so as to succeed as an online criminal justice instructor at a college level.
Core Competency Statements
In this section, I will outline my core competencies for the division of Teaching and Learning. The following are my core competencies;
· Decision Making: I have good decision-making skills that will help me in management of students. Moreover, good decision making will help in identifying the best way to help my students. In my career, I will be required to make hard choices during crises which will require good decision-making abilities.
· Conflict Resolution: over the years, I have handled conflicts in my profession which ha taught me important lessons that I can use I resolving conflicts in my field of work. In my career, I will encounter many people with different cultural beliefs. These differences ten d to encourage conflicts in learning institutions. Conflict resolution will therefore be required to ensure that differences are resolved amicably (Zhu et al., 2013).
· I have skills in Information Technology: this is an essential core competency in my field because I aspire to become an online instructor. With the dynamics in technology, these skills will be useful when adopting new technologies.
· Flexibility: This is one of my most important core competencies. I am able to adapt in in various environments cultures. I intend to reach many parts of the world professionally. I believe I will need to be flexible to coexist in various parts of the world.
· Leadership: As an instructor, I will have to demonstrate leadership skills in various aspects. For instance, I will have to apply leadership skills in creation and management of teams.
Current trends and issues have an impact on each of the above core competencies. For instance, fast changes in technology have an impact on my information technology skills. As new technologies are introduced, my skills may become obsolete. I will therefore to improve my information technology to keep up with technology dynamics. Increased social interactions across the world will also impact my core competencies. To interact effectively with people from different parts of the world, I will have to embrace diversity.
Overview
Education Support Professionals (ESPs) are important members of the education fraternity and the society in general. This is because they ensure learners have successfully gone through their education process all the way from pre-school to college. Basically, these professionals have a wealth of knowledge, experience, and commitment and play fundamental roles in the school community as they prepare students to become better members of the society (Osewalt, 2018). Personally, I am an ESP professional who has worked in different learning institutions in different positions. For instance, as a Para-educator, I have previously worked as a non-instructional teacher and library aide in an educational complex that had an elementary school for the special needs students and a high school for general education students. As a teacher, I dealt with both special needs students and high school students. Also, I doubled up as a library assistant for the high school students. I have also worked in the position of a policy coordinator for a paraprofessionals’ resource center. Currently, I am working as an ESP teacher.
The organizational division in which my position as an online instructor in the university level resides is teaching and learning organizational division. In this organizational division, I will be interacting with various students as well as other professionals during my normal duties. Through the interactions may not be physical a lot, I will be connecting with them through online means and keeping a close tie at all times. According to MacDonald (2008), The position will enable one connect with people from diverse backgrounds and hence I believe it will help me develop and nurture cohabiting skills that will help me interact well with them. In the process, I will be a proud tutor who will have touched the lives of many people across the world in that I will strive to provide quality services to them at all times.
Being an online instructor for a university course is I will be dedicated in making sure that I provide the necessary resources to my students at all times. I will also engage them most of the times to make sure that they always have the feeling of being taken care of. The students will feel that I am caring of them and this will make them learn well and therefore passing their examinations and acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge needed the field.
Summary and Conclusions
My aspiration is to become an online instructor. This way I will reach many across the world. In the university my position lies under the division of teaching and learning. In the paper, I have identified a number of core competencies that will help me in my position. Some of the core competencies include decision making, flexibility, information technology skills, conflict resolution and leadership. Some of the competencies are affected by current trends and issues. For instance, technical skills are affected by changes in technology. Overall, my professional goals are to assist learners both in their early learning stages as well as in the higher institutions of education. As usual, my qualifications align well with my professional goal of becoming an ESP teacher as well as an online criminal justice instructor. With relevant skills and knowledge on these subject fields, I have no doubt that I will excel in my career as a teacher.
References
MacDonald, J. (2008). Blended Learning and online tutoring: Planning learner support and activity design. Gower Publishing, Ltd.
Zhu, C., Wang, D., Cai, Y., & Engels, N. (2013). What core competencies are related to teachers' innovative teaching? Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 41(1), 9-27.
National Criminal Justice Association. (No date). Retrieved from https://www.ncja.org/home
National Education Association (2017). Educational support professionals. Retrieved from www.nea.org/home/education-support-professionals-esp-resources.html
Osewalt, G. (2018). Paraprofessional: Who they are and what they do. Retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/partnering-with-childs-school/working- with-childs-teacher/paraprofessionals-who-they-are-and-what-they-do