All instructors should have a professional development plan.  This plan will assist in the improvement and expansion of instructional planning and delivery.   Personal professional development plans can range from a few simple ideas that you want to explore to a complete formal plan with specific training and time-lines listed.  The formality of your plan may depend on your college and how it approaches professional development.  The way to go about  creating a plan for yourself is to identify what you perceive as your strength areas and how you want to expand or improve them.  For example you may want to expand your knowledge and expertise in the use of instructional technology.  You could outline a plan whereby you would become familiar with the most current hardware, software support, and applications.  You could have the medial person in your college walk you through the technical aspects of using the media, attend a workshop on the media, or acquire the knowledge on your own.  Then you could develop a lesson using that media and evaluate the results.  Once you feel comfortable with this new skill set you could identify another area you want to concentrate on in your professional development. This is how professional growth is achieved while still meeting the instructional needs of your students.

With the pressures of teaching it is easy to forget about professional development but it needs to be a part of your ongoing growth as an educator.  By focusing on specific areas that you want to learn about and implement into your teaching you will soon have a host of skills that you can use to make your teaching more effective and efficient.