Sunday, June 7, 2015

Getting Professionally Developed - MTI 563: TheThe 21st Century Digitally-infused Teacher

MTI 562: The 21st Century Digitally-infused Teacher

Teaching is an evolving profession.  It seems like everywhere you turn, there's something new to integrate into your classroom to help our students learn and grow!  Our heads are spinning trying to learn this program or that new technique.  But, as any educator will tell you, if it helps even one child, it's totally worth it!

So here I am, taking an online course to help me help my students.  I have been a classroom teacher for 19 years and have taught every subject within that time frame.  This past school year I have taken a new journey as the Digital Learning Specialist for my school district.  I never would have considered the job if my principal didn't believe in me.  She said that they were looking for a "Teacher first" and the technology would come over time.  When we interviewed my principal I knew that she would be someone who I could grow professionally with and her faith in me for this job has inspired me to work hard and dedicate every day to this journey.  I also want to thank my superintendent who also had faith in me and gave me this position.

I have been very fortunate to have a mentor, Paula Klipfel, who guides me and is the one I call with my questions.  We have formed a support group the fellow Digital Learning Specialist, Samantha.  Together we attend conferences, professional development opportunities, and frequent meetings to help guide the teachers we work with.

Now I'm enrolled in this awesome class to take the learning to another level.  "The 21st Century Digitally-infused Teacher".  I'm learning so much right out of the gate.  We have some amazing people in the class to collaborate with and share ideas. Everyone has a blog and we have been assigned to read them and get to know each other.  This builds our PLN - Professional Learning Network.  We are going to learn so much from each other.

Lots to learn!  I'm excited to learn some new technologies to help teachers with while working with students.  I've already been stretched out of my comfort zone which is a great thing.  The professor said that it's okay to "fail" some techniques and projects as long as we keep moving forward and never stop. Well, that's me...Never Stop!

2 comments:

  1. You are so lucky to have a supportive principal and a mentor. I have no doubt you will do great things.

    BTW, I'm serious about the 'failing'. Your goal these five weeks is to try as much as you can, explore both success and failure so you can help your students when they face it.

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  2. Jacqui, I am sitting here on a Friday night "failing"! I'm using "Jing" and finding all of the pitfalls with it! By that, I mean my pitfalls. But, I did some problem solving and figured out what I did wrong. I really like Jing and think it will be a great tool for me to use!

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