Original Goals      

​

              Flashback to 2017, I had just concluded a year teaching and traveling abroad in the South Pacific. During this time, I worked in some of the most impoverished areas I had ever seen.  The issues there were very real; things like hunger, lack of education, and lack of resources. After this experience, I got my first job as a classroom teacher at Thomas Jefferson school in Virginia. I remember having a conversation with a community member about my new job and they said, “You will have more technology than you know what to do with.” I was taken aback by this comment. I, naively, thought that with an abundance of technology, would come the most “tech savvy” staff, east of the Mississippi. But what I found, was a school that had many resources with very few individuals who knew how to use them.

              I would like to say that I walked into the halls of TJ, armed with the best tools for technology integration. However, this was not the case. I felt extremely out of the loop, and really struggled navigating my way through the district purchased digital materials. It was for this reason, that I joined the Master of Arts and Technology (MAET) program at Michigan State. I wanted to: 

 

1. Increase the amount of meaningful technology into my classroom 

2. Discover new resources to share with my staff

3. Learn more about technology in general to better problem solve and stay competitive in my career

​

Current Goals 

​

               As I have grown in the MAET program over the last two years, my goals have stayed very consistent.  In the last few years I have been with TJ, our technology has increased, as has the expectation for meaningful integration. Every new school year, I reflect on my personal goal of increasing technological competency and my professional goals of increasing meaningful technology and sharing resources with peers. Upon this reflection, I do feel as though I am achieving those goals, I also feel like the learning is never done. As technology rapidly evolves, so too does my need to continue building on these goals.

 

             In addition to my three original goals, the other goal I have been working on is to become a mentor to my peers. My original goal was to share resources with my team and this is still true. However, I have had opportunities in the MAET program to receive peer feedback from Hybrid year two students and give feedback to the hybrid year one students. During these opportunities, I realized how much I enjoy mentoring others and being a part of the creative process. I am planning to continue this mentorship over the next few years and possibly turn it into a future career as a technology consultant in a school or business.  To illustrate these goals, I chose a picture from my classroom of my students using Google viewfinders to study space. This image represents the forward momentum of being technology learner. As an educator, it can feel like you are falling. This MAET program has helped me fall forward.