My Reflections Along the Way
This page is designated to present my reflections of where I started, where I am going, and how my thinking has changed as a result of being a student at Michigan State University in the Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program.
Started by Following My Instincts
Looking back at my goals when I applied for the Masters of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET), I realize my instincts were spot on. Michigan State University’s MAET program was a good fit for my needs. My first goal was to gain knowledge to meet the needs of my urban students by developing my skills in technology, an area that I admittedly will say I was very weak. Another goal that I set out for was to acquire products and ideas in my teacher tool belt to incorporate the technology for students usage in a meaningful way. Moreover, an important purpose for pursuing my MAET was to create a larger professional network to collaborate and bounce ideas around with colleagues with many diversified experiences.
In respect to developing my technology skills, I believe that this goal has changed in a large way with the abilities gained. I can be the person to problem solve technology issues. I can use a variety of devices and programs with confidence. I also feel this goal can be the same even though I have developed my technology skills immensely. We all know technologies are always changing so now that I have a greater comfort level to explore available options, I will keep the goal to continue to develop my technology skills to keep up with the changing times.
I am committed to teach innovative hands-on lessons that integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Thus being a STEM educator the goal of obtaining products and ideas to provide students with a strong foundation of engaging opportunities to gain the knowledge needed to be successful in the many STEM fields has stayed the same. Again, I have gained a wealth of tools and ideas that are easily applicable for classroom use but as a lifelong learner, I will continue to strive for better and the latest tools to assist with integration of the subjects so students will have continuity that will naturally create higher order thinking skills on particular topics. These opportunities are very limited in many areas of an urban learning environment. I want to help make that gap smaller by teaching with the best and latest tools helping all students to shine on their strengths and strengthen in their weaknesses.
Since my participation in the Wipro Urban STEM Fellowship that guided me to this MAET program, I have fulfilled my goal to attain a larger professional network of individuals in diverse fields that I have and will utilize as resources for myself and other educators. This goal to increase my professional network is going to stay the same for me. As I now have become a health teacher in all the changes that take place within Chicago Public Schools (CPS), I have immersed myself with all the professional training available for current health educators enlarging my professional network.
During my studies in the MAET program, my classroom setting has changed from a science lab to a Macintosh laboratory teaching health to grade K-8 so this program has provided me with the skills and tools needed for me to provide quality instruction in an entirely different subject area with computer systems I had not used before. CPS students and families have been faced with a lot of changes these past years. If I can be part of the positive change that naturally grabs our students’ attention, I am grateful.
Going for the Tree of Knowledge
Imagine a blooming tree, its branches strive to reach new heights reaching the warm sun. More fascinating is the size of the root system the blossoming tree establishes as it grows. The root system stabilizes the weight and height so the tree is resilient to turbulent storms. As the end of the Masters of Art in Educational Technology (MAET) program is approaching a close, I reflect on this accomplishment as life changing like developing new branches as I reach new heights. I have met wonderful educators and many other professionals that share same interests and the need for knowledge. The challenging, rigorous content pushed me to depths I would have not otherwise discovered. Studying educational technology has certainly created opportunity for me to develop my craft. One branch of knowledge I would like to pursue is becoming a Master Gardener. As a Master Gardener, I would be able to apply my knowledge of gardening and build new information through training that I would share with the school
community. Attending national conferences is another branch in my future learning plans as it helps me stay current with new trends in the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). I have attended National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) conferences that allowed me to branch out to a larger professional community. There is a specific conference in Phoenix, AR I believe will help connect my love for gardening and improve my knowledge to integrate agriculture in the classroom. Additionally, teaching health has forced me to reevaluate my own healthy habits as I age. I feel my flexibility limiting so branching out and learning yoga is an area that will benefit my wellbeing. I want to model a healthy body equals a healthy mind for my students.
A new branch of knowledge that will heighten my abilities in the educational profession will be to become a Master Gardener through the Extension of the University of Illinois. Through a yearlong training, I will develop knowledge in gardening and horticulture that will be applied in the school community as we create a school garden. The eleven class topics include botany, soils, vegetables, fruits, flowers, trees and shrubs, grasses, landscaping, insects, and diseases. Once the training is complete, I will serve 200 intern hours to qualify as the Master Gardener. The required 10 training hours and 30 volunteer hours each year will keep me current and provide me the opportunity to give back to the community. This branch of newly formed knowledge will connect directly to science, technology, engineering, and mathematic that will transfer into the classroom. How cool will it be for students to grow their own food and experience the processes required to put food on their plates?
My next branch of further learning involves attending professional conferences. I have experienced national conferences and feel rejuvenated with insightful messages from expert speakers and presenters. The wealth of information and resources are self directed so I am in control of what I find most useful for my purpose. As a science and health teacher, I am specifically interested in attending the 2016 National Agriculture in the Classroom conference. I chose this because I have a great interest in teaching agriculture awareness to the students and community. We rely on agriculture which is all around us. The conference tends to be STEM focused which appeals to my interests. The experience provides me with strategies to guide students to be innovative collaborators that problem solve. I also get to share these ideas and resources with my fellow educators.
Ultimately, personal health is essential for all individuals. Being a very active person allows me to explore my world. I am interested in learning more about yoga and meditation. I regularly practice Zumba which energizes me but I feel a need to revitalize myself with an activity that will help me reach news depths of flexibility and self awareness. From a small amount of reading, there seems to be many choices of yoga. I will be sticking to the slow beginners classes located close to my mom’s house so I will be able to stop in and visit before hand. As I learn more about the activity, I expect to progress to a more advanced level. This new learned skill will benefit me in many areas personally and professionally. As educators each day brings a different new challenge, I feel yoga will provide me the time for reflection which will improve my craft.
The choices I have suggested for myself as a future learner will support me as I branch out for excellence as an educator. Learning to challenge the normal by implementing learning that truly creates personalized learning through gardening is an objective I will achieve by doing and reflecting. Continuing my learning experiences by attending STEM based national conferences of my choice will provide me with tools and opportunities to explore, create, and share allowing the ability to excel. Finally, learning and working on skills that will affect my body and mind is very wise. As individuals, the roots of our foundations need to be nurtured to expand and provide stability to power the demands of our craft. So, no matter what type of storm is upon educators, the strength I receive from the knowledge I seek will assist in weathering any storm. Eventually, this newfound strength allow branches to reach higher and retrieve the energy of the sun once again.
Everything Changed with an Email 😊
So it all began with an email. If you are like any educator, you get large quantities of email. Professional development opportunities, colleagues correspondence, student work, district newsletters, vendors, etc… Did I ever think an email titled STEM Fellowship Opportunity would change my thinking and practice as a learner, teacher, and leader? Starting in the spring of 2014, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) partnered with Michigan State University (MSU) to launch the Wipro Urban STEM Fellowship Program. I had just landed a job as a science laboratory teacher at one of the 12 reopening STEM schools that CPS created after the closing of 52 schools. I had been teaching science laboratory for grades K-8 for seven years, so I was comfortable in the science curriculum, but I needed support with the whole STEM concept. The program sounded powerful and a wonderful chance to hone some skills and content that I would find useful to affect my thinking and practice. Yes, this email lead me not only through an intensive year of integrating STEM content allowing me to create innovative and multimodal instructional experiences for students, but the fellowship guided my decision to continue my study of educational technology, an area that I had the least comfort level. My thinking of technology and education were about to change.
The first MSU Wipro STEM fellowship cohort was intriguing. I had participated in several different types of professional development and never experienced anything as unique as this program. I remember day one we were told to go out into the city for 30-45 minutes and take pictures of yourself, keeping your goal in mind, to reveal something interesting and unique about you. The instructions were open-ended: be creative, think about angle, and possibly out of focus. Then you had to tweet out a picture with a brief explanation. I did not even have a Twitter account. Wow, did I become immersed in technology. At first, I did not think I could keep up with my other fellows. I was so slow in learning the technology. I felt anxious when things were difficult. I had to ask myself, “Is this how students’ feel when we put demands on them to produce when it is something new?” I wanted to give up by the second day. The pace was too fast and the technology too new. I am not saying the instructional team was not supportive, they were. Actually, after reflection they pushed me to new heights that I did not even realize I had. My eagerness to get the projects done and right added to my persistence. Best of all the leadership team watched carefully at my frustrations but gave space that was needed for me to figure things out on my own. I learned by doing. I began to change my thinking when it came to classroom instruction. Do I provide space for my students to figure things out on their own but yet support as needed? That email changed my learning journey. As I completed my first year as a MSU Wipro STEM Fellow, I decided to continue in the 2015 summer hybrid cohort working towards my Master’s in Educational Technology from Michigan State University.
After the year fellowship, I felt a level of confidence in technology that I never thought I would achieve. Off I went to Michigan State University. I was immersed in technology from the very first day. The hybrid structure of the three courses required me to stay on campus for 10 packed full days and the remainder of the content was completed online over a four week period. This was a great choice to scaffold my online experience and set me up for success. I feel the hybrid structure gave me a strong foundation by first meeting face to face before I ventured into the online portion since this was a new format of learning.
I remember arriving on campus about an hour before class started, new to the whole campus/dorm life and my first assignment was to represent “What is learning to you?” in one sentence with a picture and blogging it out to the world. Holy smokes, I thought I am in real trouble here. I never blogged before and what I had to use a tool (Wordpress) that I never heard of ….and off I went to learn a new set of skills. My sentence holds true to my belief.
The world is mysterious with so much to learn. I teach in Chicago Public Schools on the south side during very challenging times. I am proud to continue my education and complement my craft. I want that natural curiosity that students have at a young age to continue into the middle grades.
Students get distracted with social and emotional peer issues that are very important to their development. But students need to realize knowledge is a road to endless possibilities.
The summer cohort intertwined three courses of study which included: (CEP 810) Teaching for Understanding with Technology, (CEP 811) Adapting Innovative Technologies in Education, and (CEP 812) Applying Educational Technology to Problems of Practice. This integrated learning experience allowed the blending of project-based learning. Once I experienced it, I realized how meaningful it is to the learner. For example, my theories of learning and understanding were more meaningful as I gradually reiterated my lesson planning to engage students in inquiry processes and problem-based learning using principles of networked learning, universal design, and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). As a cohort we explored, created, and shared our successes and failures producing a network of learners. This is what my classroom has evolved into as a method to engage the students. Just recently in my nutrition curriculum middle school students were investigating different spices. Where does the spice originate? What culinary and medicinal qualities does the specific spice hold? Each student had their choice of which spice they wanted to research and create a Google Slides Presentation. It not only gave students the ability to study something they desired, but after sharing their presentations students developed into a network of learners and be able to revise based off feedback from their peers. Teaching for Understanding with Technology (CEP 810) introduced me to a wealth of tools and teaching strategies I use in the classroom. As a result of this instruction, I am better equipped to integrate technology in meaningful ways for my learners. Another change in my practice is project-based where my students worked on a personal data plan. Students are required to participate in physical fitness tests for physical education class and record their data. I repurposed Google forms so that students could record their personal data height, weight, BMI, and their physical fitness scores for each area tested. Furthermore, they needed to analyze the data and determine an area they should try to improve as a personal goal. Toward the end of the year, students will again measure personal data and retest the physical fitness scores. Based off the data students will determine if they reached their goal and create a new personal goal towards health and fitness. This information is stored in their Google Drive so through the years students will have a sense of growth and development bringing self awareness to their growing bodies.
Adapting Innovative Technologies in Education (CEP 811) allowed me many situations to explore different technologies. One that really changed the way I think is being introduced to the maker movement. The maker movement is a phrase use to describe independent inventors, designers, or people who tinker. It is like big show and tell space. Working in groups during the summer cohort, we played with different maker kits. We needed to use imagination, teamwork, creativity to come up with a maker activity. Later the cohort would be hosting a Maker Faire where students would come a play and create while learning. The maker movement is increasingly getting popular around the country.
I realize the maker movement is important to apply in the classroom especially in content-area classrooms that are not utilizing technology. This provides students with a chance to create and possibly fail and try again using new ideas. This learning cycling help scaffold problem-solving and higher order thinking through authentic ways as students do.
During the summer, I also researched and studied students’ use of technologies in their lives. It made me change my thinking about student usage on social media and how it is essential students participate in appropriate digital citizenship at a younger age. I use Common Sense Education scope a sequence to guide my instruction to be sure students are well informed of the proper behavior they should use while online and the consequences that people face when they do not. So as students work in Google Classroom they are encouraged to write a post or ask a question that relates to the lesson while they are completing their activity. I believe that allowing students to communicate in this way gives me the ability to help promote good social media practices in ways that support the instructional objectives. This practice is useful for their usage out of the school environment. There is still more work to do, like going into depth about “fair use,”and the legality of citing pictures and remixing.
Diving deeper, Applying Educational Technology to Problems of Practice (CEP 812) encouraged a group of colleagues to work together using different technologies to research and propose a solution to educational-related problem. Over the course of a four weeks we used Coggle a software to help draw out our ideas, Voxer a walkie talkie app to communicate daily, Zoom a conference tool to meet weekly, Google Documents to work together on a white paper, Blendspace a program to provide a place to put research material, Piktochart to provide a infographic to represent the work, and Animoto to create a video to represent our process as we worked out a best practice proposal to solve the “Wicked Problem.” This powerful experience has helped me understand how my team was able to collaborate and brainstorm some important issues that our profession faces today. I am more knowledgeable on taking steps towards making innovation a learning ethic. I support this culture in my classroom and school community with promoting the development of cross-curricular activities. A fine example is how I met with the middle school team and explained the need to support students as they develop their science fair projects. So, the science project was not taught in isolation but was integrated across the disciplines which created a more cohesive project-based learning experience.
As time is passing and graduation is closer, I have internalized that moment in time when I felt hopeless. The pace is too fast and the technology too new. I am able to empathize with how students might feel when pushed to new heights they are not aware they can go. I also want to allow them the space they need to discover and or fail and try again with just the right support. Students will learn by doing. Innovation is active. This Master’s program has opened my eyes to look through different lenses. Life is not always as it appears. Dig deep into the content and know it, but remember to look at the whole picture from many perspectives. I never dreamt that that email would create a life changing turn in my professional journey. I hung in there when things got tough with everything I had. I am a different person because of my diligence and the support from all the staff at MSU. I would not have come to this point if it was not the MSU Wipro STEM program. That July day when I arrived for my first class on campus, I felt an acceptance into a new community that was powerful. I would not be where I am at today ready to finish my MAET from MSU if it was not the ignition and energy of all the people that lead this amazing program. The metacognition, I experienced as a result of this program has equipped me to be a better educator for my students.The level of confidence and support drove me to a level of “I can do” and I want to do more as a learner, teacher, and leader. I can not thank you all enough for the support and sense of community I feel as a Spartan.
Cite
Image retieved from Flickr by Arduino_cc