The Long and Winding Road
Thinking will not overcome fear but action will ~ W. Clement Stone
Being a nontraditional student has been my experience since I made the decision to go back to school in 2010. My perspective towards returning and going after my masters degree seemed out of reach. I imagined the stress I would have to endure while trying to make time for my school work, maintain a teaching position, take care of a household and raise two very active children. It is because of my dedication to my children that I made the decision to step out of my comfort zone, take the risk and return. I wanted them to realize that college is an opportunity not an obligation. I am constantly being taught new things, and many of them are being taught by my students. Everyday they show up ready to take risks and learn something new. Because I teach young children I see their ability to explore and question things.
I began to feel like I was at a crossroads with my traditional teaching methods and tools. Technology was beginning to become a bigger idea and part of my curriculum. My fear of the unknown and how it was going to impact my role as a teacher was beginning to pique my interest. My own children and students were comfortable and more knowledgeable about how to use technology and the role of teacher and student was becoming reversed. I began to see how technology could transform the way I teach and learn. I knew that educational technology was here to stay and I wanted to be a part of it.
My goal now is two fold; first I want to try and take technology and use it as a powerful contributor to student learning. For it to impact student achievement technology must be used to deepen children’s engagement in a meaningful and authentic way. Technology is a tool and should be used when it is the best one for the job.
Professional Development (PD) is a strategy that schools use for the purpose that educators strengthen their practice, because a useful teacher PD leads to student learning. I knew that the PD offered by my district was not going to be enough training necessary to help my students become knowledgeable about the range of appropriate applications available. I not only want to strengthen student engagement but I also want to take my new ideas and tools into my school and try to transform our PD. Technology is more than just supplying teachers with iPads and showing them how to use them, a meaningful PD will help teachers see how they can seamlessly use technology within their curriculum.
My original goal focused on trying to learn about technology to solve the problem of my lack of knowledge about its function. I was more focused on learning what was available and how to use it, not what was best for my students. My goals now are directed more towards effectively integrating it into my curriculum to support student learning. I have realized that technology and my curriculum should work hand- in- hand with a specific task that I would like to accomplish.