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Personal Profile
I received my BA in English from Pacific Union College and have taught Secondary English for over 12 years. My classrooms have always been filled with students from a diverse range of backgrounds, academic ability and interest pursuits. Whether moving from one classroom to another on the same campus, in another district, or on another continent, I have found that a change of environment opens new understandings and opportunities to grow as an educator. After embarking on the journey of my Master's in Education through Touro's Innovative Learning program, I opened up my local education environment in ways that will allow me to access new experiences and connect with the global learning community no matter where I am teaching in the world. After completing my M.Ed. in August 2013, I will be moving to Rabat, Morocco, but expect to stay connected with the California education community via digital clouds.
Reflections on the Project
The project takes many routes and can have a variety of outcomes, and yet a destination gradually comes into focus. I started by looking at teacher's preferences and attitudes regarding professional development options, which led me to think about applying what I learned about teachers to my own students. My research had revealed that many of the frustrations I felt regularly during PD opportunities are common frustrations experienced by other teachers. For many, the PD experience can be self-defeating if the attended training does not provide opportunities to 1) gain new knowledge rather than a superficial overview, 2) provide experience with using the new tool, method or curriculum and materials, 3) provide support or assistance over time 4) time to reflect on processes and new knowledge 5) time to revise and apply understandings, and 6) opportunities at all stages to collaborate or share with others. While it might be said that adult learners are different than young students, it might also be said that learning to learn is a process that can be practiced in ways that ease the frustrations of varied learners. I set about asking myself what opportunities I offered my students and what I needed most out of all the effort I would put into my capstone project. How might I consistently provide my students structured (safe) and divergent (risky) learning experiences. How could I facilitate a learning environment that is sustainable amidst massive and constant change in the technologies that are available now and in the future? To answer this, I focused my attention on my students and considered the recurring issues for both them and myself as their facilitator of learning. The completion of my capstone project has transformed my classroom practices and readied me for innovative change.
Lasting Learnings from the Program
My main reason for choosing the Innovative Learning program was to merge out of the slow lane of classroom technology use and into the fast-paced constant stream of upgraded innovation. Over the years of my teaching career, I had noticed that as soon as I figured out how to employ a new technology or use a new digital tool, the technology was outdated and/or upgraded to include new features to learn. I began to wonder if I could ever keep up. Simultaneously, I also began to count the new initiatives that filled my memo box -- PBL, the 21st century Framework, the Common Core, ISTE-nets, etc. I had boxes of curriculum that I never taught the same way twice, and as my courses and campuses changed, I more clearly realized there were the essentials of teaching -- the patterns of learning that permeated every successful course I taught and the basic skills that I had to reteach on a regular basis -- and everything else that was cross-curricular content or theme related. Content could be fascinating or boring to individual students in the same class, and really the content was just filling and easily replaced with other content, what mattered was that students learn how to learn autonomously. With this understanding, I began to search for ways to construct learning experiences that both focused on the patterns of learning and also enabled me to model an adaptive approach to technology in the classroom. As I exit the MEd in Innovative Learning program, I find myself zooming past the slow lane and ready for a yet to be charted field of innovative teaching.
The program gave me a chance to play with tools I had only superficially used before; within the construct of the program I was able to play and learn, but with deadlines that forced me to complete projects and figure out more than I would have on my own. I have acquired not only ability in new technologies, but a fearless disposition in trying new digital tools with my students and an increased willingness to learn with them rather than mastering a tool before instruction. If the world is going to change this quickly, I must focus on leading my students through infinite change in order to prepare them for the careers of their future.
My own increased use of digital tools has also enabled me to become more organized and to expand my use of visual tools that enhance my own learning as well as that of my students. To teach English is to teach communication in all its present day formats; Innovative Learning, to me, is about communicating, collaborating, and creating solutions to issues that connect what we know with what we imagine.
The Master's of Education in Innovative Learning has made me a better educator and facilitator of learning.
The program gave me a chance to play with tools I had only superficially used before; within the construct of the program I was able to play and learn, but with deadlines that forced me to complete projects and figure out more than I would have on my own. I have acquired not only ability in new technologies, but a fearless disposition in trying new digital tools with my students and an increased willingness to learn with them rather than mastering a tool before instruction. If the world is going to change this quickly, I must focus on leading my students through infinite change in order to prepare them for the careers of their future.
My own increased use of digital tools has also enabled me to become more organized and to expand my use of visual tools that enhance my own learning as well as that of my students. To teach English is to teach communication in all its present day formats; Innovative Learning, to me, is about communicating, collaborating, and creating solutions to issues that connect what we know with what we imagine.
The Master's of Education in Innovative Learning has made me a better educator and facilitator of learning.