¶ … Learning My professional goals with regard to the development of students with whom I work is to enable them to develop a better grasp of the English language and to advance their English language skills in reading, speaking and comprehension. In a sense, my goals are intertwined with their academic success. However, on another level, I can identify professional goals that are independent of my students' outcomes. These are to come to class prepared, enthusiastic about what I am teaching, and always in a positive mood. If I can meet these three goals, I can effect an atmosphere in my classroom that facilitates constructive learning, that promotes engagement, and that supports everyone's desire to want to be there. A teacher who projects surliness and lack of preparation is more than likely to develop an environment in which negativity is the result. It is better to promote positivity in the classroom because enthusiasm is a strong factor in the way that we all engage with our duties, challenges, and tasks at hand (Landecker, 2009). Likewise, as Knight (2009) shows, the teacher's professional demeanor plays a tremendous role in how students' perceptions are shaped. Finally, I would like to engage

Incorporating parental engagement into student development is an important way to ensure students' academic success (Vera, Israel, 2012).
My view of the student as a learner is based on the constructivist framework: I believe active learning is a good way for students to engage with the learning material; I also find cognitive theory to be helpful in that new material can be presented to students that builds on their prior knowledge in an effective way (Jensen, 2005; Dobbs, 2011). Thirdly, classical theory is a very helpful tool as well because it allows me to discuss openly with the students questions and issues related to the text: I can ask them questions much like Socrates or Plato would have asked of their students in order to challenge them and direct them towards identifying a solution or way forward on their own (Kristjansson, 2014). My view of teaching has changed because of these theories because prior to interacting with them, I felt that teaching was primarily an activity in which I the teacher was active and students were to sit there and be passive. But these theories have shown me that the students actually learn more and learn better when they are actively engaged with the material, which occurs through active learning (constructivist theory), cognitive learning (Gestalt theory), and classic inquisition (classical theory).

My role in the development of student learning has changed because of my new theoretical knowledge in the sense that I have a greater appreciation of the methods that I may use to help enable students to reach…