Reflecting and Defining Future Learning Goals
Introduction
As an educator I am in a constant state of reflection. I personally reflect on my daily experiences and daily teaching practices. I find that this reflection is important for continuing my learning as an educator and for being a lifelong learner. As I continue my journey of being a lifelong learner I find it important to plan for my future and think about future goals I would like to set for myself. On this page I focused on three future goals I would like to set for myself following the completion of my Master of the Arts in Education Technology (MAET) at Michigan State University and I believe are a reflection of some of my most prominent experiences during my time as a MAET student. My first goal is to be more actively engaged in leadership roles in my current school and future schools. My second learning goal is to constantly reflect that I am integrating technology in a meaningful way. My final goal is to earn my Google Educator Level 1 and 2 Certification.
Becoming an Active Leader
I am currently in the midst of my fifth year teaching, this means I am no longer the new kid on the block who is barely keeping their head above the water (although it may feel that way sometimes). Over these past four years although I have been actively involved in several committees in my school, I have never really taken on a leadership role within those committees. One of the previous committees I was involved with worked with Leading Educators. In this committee we had a specific focus on creating purposeful and equitable math instruction for the students in our building. I found my work with them to be meaningful and something I would like to further pursue. Leading Educators has an action guide and partnership that demonstrates and explores the complexities of Teaching for Equity. My hope would be to join in this partnership and bring back my learning to my current school.
Meaningful Technology Integration
One of my initial goals when entering into the MAET program was to learn how to effectively integrate technology into my instruction. I believe that I have accomplished this goal in particular through my learning of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. Much of my masters course work had a focus on the TPACK framework and helped to push my thinking outside of the box as to how certain technological tools can be used in relation to the content that I am presenting. I plan to continuously use this framework to reflect on if I am making the appropriate choices when it comes to the technology I choose to integrate into my lessons. To help support this goal I plan to attend professional developments on the online platforms that I currently use like Seesaw or IXL and any future online platforms so that I can have a better understanding of them. Using the knowledge from the professional developments andTPACK framework I am hopeful that my lessons will be taken to the next level with meaningful technology integration.
Becoming a Google Certified Educator
Finally, my third future learning goal is to become a Certified Level 1 and 2 Google Educator. One of the reasons as to why I want to become certified is because so much of my day to day work involves Google products and apps. On a daily basis I am using Gmail, Google Docs and Google Slides and while I have learned a lot about each of these products through my own exploration. I believe that taking these courses will help me to have a deeper understanding of the different products I am using and possibly underutilizing. By gaining a deeper understanding of Google products this will also help me with my goal above in checking to make sure I am integrating technology in a meaningful way.
Conclusion
In conclusion, these future goals that I have set for myself are ambitious ones. However, I am motivated to do what is needed to achieve them. The three goals that I set for myself are goals that I believe are not only future goals that I want to achieve but also a reflection of my experiences throughout the MAET program. These goals that I have created will help me to continue my journey as a lifelong learner even though my formal learning position as a student is coming to an end with the completion of my MAET program. I am excited to continue my pursuit of being a lifelong learner by not only working towards and accomplishing these goals that I have currently set for myself. But by also setting new goals throughout my professional career.