Teacher- Student- Lifelong Learner
A place for learning, reflecting and growing as an educator and a student.
The Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program at Michigan State University provides many pathways and opportunities for graduates. My original goal with this program was to acquire a degree that has many potential opportunities associated. My future goals for myself as an MAET graduate are to open myself to the possibilities that are out there in the educational technology world but, currently I am a fourth grade teacher and am happy in this role right now. In addition to being a fourth grade teacher, I have been using the skills and knowledge I have learned so far from my MAET courses to create digital resources for all fourth grade teachers in my district to help streamline curriculum. I would love to continue this at a higher degree once I graduate from this program. I am passionate about creating materials to help support educators.
Looking ahead to the future, I have 3 goals that stand out to me. My first goal is to continue building my knowledge of educational technology resources, my second goal is to create more integrated technological resources for schools and my third goal is to continue researching so I can be up to date on the best practices for education.
My First Goal
#1
To begin, my first goal is to continue building my knowledge of educational technology resources. Through my courses so far in the MAET program, I have learned and built upon my experience with tools and resources that integrate technology into education, however there are many more resources to discover. My goal for the future is to continue learning new technology platforms and continue building my knowledge of existing technology resources. I will reach this goal by continuing my work of researching and experimenting with technologies that can be used in the classroom. I will discover what works the best for myself and my students. I plan to educate myself and attend webinars on other tools I may not be familiar with to expand my knowledge of new resources. I will follow the Office of Educational Technology and their publications, projects and updates to stay on top of ways to make technology equitable in education. I will also achieve this goal by working to become a Google Educator. Deepening my experience with Google and their applications would allow me to use these resources as best as possible in the classroom.
My Second Goal
#2
Next, my second goal is to create more technology integrated resources for my district. I am currently creating digital math resources within our curriculum for other fourth grade teachers in my district. I understand that technology is not easy to navigate for every educator, so creating resources for them to use allows for consistent instruction to be delivered across the district. My district currently uses Schoology as a Learning Management System and I am using Bridges Curriculum for curriculum guidance for the slides. I would like to learn more about Schoology as a platform. I will do this by engaging in their professional development, exploring the tools and resources they offer and experimenting with the different affordances that they have as a learning platform. I want to try several different ways of importing the created resources and determine a way that works best for teachers. I also want to become even more familiar with the Bridges Math curriculum I use. I am creating resources based on this curriculum so I will educate myself on the best practices and resources. I will do this by attending Bridges professional development sessions, listening to their podcast, reading their blog and browsing through all of the resources that we are provided. My goal with this is to educate myself on the platform, curriculum and content so I can create helpful, meaningful and best-practice resources for the teachers in my district.
My Third Goal
#3
Lastly, my third goal is to continue researching educational practices and how it can be incorporated into technology to teach the best practice to students. I believe that to be the best teacher possible, it is important to continue changing, learning and growing as an educator. I aim to stay up to date on relevant research by attending educational conferences. I hope to attend conferences and webinars that educate me and allow me to learn through experiences from other educators. Webinars are also a great place to learn about new and relevant resources. I also hope to teach my goal of staying up-to-date on educational best practices by reading research and posts from reliable education websites- for example Education Week, Edutopia, & The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Education evolves consistently with new data, especially post-COVID19 with the effects it had on education (among other things). and there is great research coming out to help support educators. Staying up to date will help support all learners and allow creation of equitable technological tools for educators.
Education is an ever-changing field and it is great to be acquiring a degree that opens many doors and offers many opportunities. I look forward to seeing what the future holds and how I can use my knowledge and experience to continue learning and growing and helping others do so as well! I will continue working hard to be a dedicated educator and student to work towards reaching my goals.