For the Love of the Children...
When I sat down to brainstorm my future learning goals, my mind was spinning with various ideas on how I can continue to grow as an educator. I firmly believe that educators are lifelong learners. We are continuously learning and growing alongside of our students. We adapt to the needs of our students and make the necessary accommodations based off of our students needs, which change with each child that enters our classroom, year to year. When thinking about my future goals I wanted to include things that would continue to benefit my students in the continuing years. The goals that I have chosen have also played a significant role in my master’s program for the past five years. They are as follows: explore and use various forms of technology with my students, offer professional development sessions focused on technology for my colleagues, and differentiate instruction in areas other than literary.
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My first goal is to continue to explore and use various forms of technology with my students. As I worked my way through the Masters of Arts in Education program, I was constantly being introduced to and utilizing new (to me) forms of multi-media. . While I have been able to bring several of these new forms of technology into my classroom, there are still so many that I have yet to introduce to my students. My students and I are lucky to be a part of district that has 1:1 technology for students. Each student in my classroom has their own Chromebook that is housed within my room. I currently use this technology to have students complete assignments on the websites that align to our curriculum for math and reading. I also try to incorporate other forms of technology into my lessons throughout the week. For example, I might have my students use voki.com to record their understanding of a certain topic that we are covering or I might use kahoot.com as a way to review for an upcoming assessment. However, with new technology coming out faster than I am able to keep up with it, attending professional development sessions that are geared towards that would be something that I would want to participate in. I've heard great things about the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning Conference (MACUL) in Grand Rapids.
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My second goal goes hand in hand with my first goal of continuing to explore and use new technology, however, with this goal I want to focus on sharing my knowledge of technology with my colleagues. I served as the Technology Integration Coach (TIC) for three years, while I taught in Texas. I led several professional development sessions for my colleagues and would love to continue to do so within my new district. Many of my colleagues come to me now with questions about technology or ideas on how to integrate technology into their classrooms. To be a leader in technology for my colleagues, I would provide professional development that is beneficial to my colleagues. I would reach out to them prior to planning the trainings to get a feel for the type of things that they are interested in learning about. I would also use the information that I receive from professional developments to help guide my sessions with my colleagues. In order to provide effective professional development to my colleagues, I would refer to Cult of Pedagogy's podcast/article, How to Plan Outstanding Tech Training for Your Teachers as well as Edutopia's 10 Tips for Delivering An Awesome Professional Development, while planning my sessions. Keeping my colleagues and myself up-to-date on current technology will provide our students with a variety of learning opportunities.
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My final goal is to become more comfortable with differentiating instruction, specifically instruction other than literacy. During my time spent working through the MAED program, I have become fairly fluent with individualizing instruction that has to do with reading and writing, thanks to my concentration in literacy. I find myself doing this throughout the day without having to spend a lot of time brainstorming ways to present lessons and assignments to my students who learn in a variety of ways and at a variety of different levels. However, when it comes to subjects other than reading and writing, I often find myself struggling for effective ways to individualize instruction. I've recently become familiar with Dr. Paula Kluth, a former educator, and the work that she has devoted to ensuring all students have a responsive and engaging school experience. She has written numerous books and has a plethora of other valuable information available. The most useful and efficient thing that I have come across is the website, "Differentiation Daily" where she shares a new way to bring inclusion into the classroom each day, in a variety of subjects. And the best part is, many of the ideas that she shares includes ideas that involve technology.
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While my master's degree may be coming to an end, I know that my learning is not. As I continue through my teaching endeavors I'm sure that my goals will shift and alterations will be made to my current goals. However, with the above goals of bringing new technology into my classroom, providing my colleagues with professional develop opportunities that revolve around technology, and bringing differentiation into my classroom through a variety of subjects I feel confident that my students and colleagues will gain valuable knowledge.
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