Introduction to Academic Language, Literacy, and Numeracy in Education EDU10026

Introduction

My professional development plan, as a pre-service secondary school teacher doing a Bachelor of Teaching, entails a severe reflection on my personal, numeracy, and academic literacies. This evaluation will help me know my strengths, challenges and development needs that will help me grow thus becoming a good teacher. I will assess my current literacy, numeracy, and academic literacies concerning my learning in the EDU10026 unit, "Introduction to Academic Language, Literacy, and Numeracy in Education." I will then outline three areas of growth, grounded on this evaluation, and then explain how I will strive to attain these growth goals using the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) criteria. In this way, I will ensure I can keep growing and, at the same time, develop more effective pedagogy for future classroom practice.

Personal literacy evaluation

Personal literacy is defined as a person's level of literacy in the context of education, reading, writing and communication. In this EDU10026 unit, I have also better understood the concept of literacy, or at least literacy beyond my own. A necessary strength I have is the ability to read and understand educational texts, thus participating in critical controversies. Nevertheless, I still consider my strengths in the written part of communication, particularly in that formal academic style, a weakness. Self-reflection assignments carried out weekly show that I experience difficulties in structuring ideas in writing, which confuses the final argument. The mindset theory states that these skills can be enhanced by embracing the growth mindset and persistence in the face of setbacks (Dweck, 2016). To cover the said gap, I will dwell on enhancing my academic writing skills by asking for feedback and attending writing workshops or using the writing centre. In completing the activities, I might have consolidated some of my personal literacy skills through practice testing (Dunlosky et al., 2013).

Personal numeracy evaluation

Mathematical literacy in education is a concept that relates to the capacity to utilize mathematics, both in solving problems and understanding numerical information. Although I understand numeracy concepts rather well, there was a shortcoming in utilizing numeracy competencies in practice teaching. This was evident, particularly during the completion of the tasks assigned within the context of the EDU10026 unit, particularly for those tasks that required the interpretation of quantitative data. As for me, I can efficiently perform all mathematical operations listed above but it is challenging when it comes to explaining the said concepts to the students. I am good at pointing out a mistake in an arithmetic computation and working through a problem independently; however, I feel weak in expressing my thoughts in a classroom. Several studies have supported the argument that the teacher factor that contributes to students numeracy is confidence in the content (Goos, Geiger, & Dole, 2011). The following approaches would be adopted to improve numeracy teaching skills: real-life problems to improve and the gap between content knowledge and classroom application.

Academic literacies evaluation

The understanding of the text, thinking in general, and the conceptualization of academic language all fall under the purview of academic literacies. These skills have been highlighted in the EDU10026 unit that has been taken to enhance the development of a pre-service teacher. A skill I have used effectively is the capacity to read texts critically and obtain helpful information for discussion and writing assignments. However, I have discovered that I cannot blend many sources together effectively in writing arguments and, hence, inhibit my academic writing. To this problem, we can relate shortcomings in integrating information from various sources. The units discussions and readings on learning strategies have enabled me to discover that engaging in active learning practices, such as taking notes when in class or summarising content, is favourable in enhancing academic literacy. To overcome these challenges, I will employ an organized approach in the form of concept mapping and consistent reading of academic materials, as recommended in the study on effective learning strategies (Pintrich, 2000).

Goal 1: Improve Academic Writing

The first growth area in which I want to be effective within the next five years is enhancing my academic writing ability and establishing good structure in my arguments. To do this, the plan of drafting and reviewing the papers systematically will be followed with a keen emphasis on topic sentences, supportive facts, evidence, and coherence. I will also access writing services from various universities, such as writing workshops and writing partners, to improve my writing skills (Kiili et al., 2013). To determine success, I will follow up on feedback, which will likely be obtained after submitting several assignments in the next two semesters. This goal is entirely reachable and honest because writing is a skill that can be acquired through practice, especially when it comes to academic writing. The aim I have set for myself is, therefore, to level up and maintain a gradual increase in assignment grades by the end of the year based on the growth mindset theories by Carol Dweck (2016), where learners dwell more on feedback and engage in practice continually.

Goal 2: Enhance Numeracy and Communication Skills

My second growth goal for this academic year is to enhance my communication skills in delivering numeracy to students. To this end, I want to use more contextual examples in my presentation of numeracy concepts, thus giving people a feel of the actual application of the concepts. I shall incorporate some items like lesson planning tools and interactions, incorporating group teaching among the students. Mentor teachers feedback during practical teaching experience and observing students behaviour and comprehension level will be used as the criterion for evaluating the progress achieved. This goal is realistic since it covers my current teaching practice, and I shall get many practising chances during the placements. Indeed, by the end of the practicum, I want to have tremendously improved feedback from the students as well as a more favourable evaluation of the mentor in light of the research that underlined enhanced communication in numeracy teaching (Goos et al., 2011).

Goal 3: Strengthen Academic Reading and Research Skills

Another personal growth plan I have set at this age and grade is enhancing my academic reading and research. My primary working knowledge lies in writing academic papers; therefore, I will work on incorporating my research materials more efficiently into academic papers by synthesizing the data instead of compiling it. I will adopt approaches that include reading, organizing information using a concept map, and presenting a summary of arguments from the texts (Hattie & Donoghue, 2016). I will also ensure I spend time visiting research journals and other online academic sites to keep up-to-date with educational changes. Progress can be made in terms of assessing my capacity to include a variety of sources within the selection of academic writing, as seen from the feedback on the assignments above. This matters to me because this goal is attainable, and because it is a skill that involves practice, the improvement is done gradually. In this case, I will observe positive progress in this area when I finish my third year at the university. Through active learning, I can better appreciate various concepts in my learning, which is essential for my academic achievement (Pintrich, 2000).

Conclusion

All in all, my professional development plan has set goals that relate to specific sectors of development, such as academic writing, numeracy skills, and academic reading and research. These goals can work hand in hand with me as a pre-service teacher, and they have been based on reflection on personal literacy, numeracy, and academic literacies. While the plan is comprehensive, one problem is that progress in these areas might also rely on outside factors such as remarks from mentors and time constraints throughout practicum placements. Nevertheless, by setting specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely (SMART) goals, I am confident that I will maintain and increase the capabilities necessary to become an effective secondary college teacher.

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