Never Truly "Done"

 

Although all teachers are diverse in their beliefs, their personalities, their approaches to teaching, etc., I believe that there is one quality that all teachers have in common: we are life-long learners.  When I converse with friends and family outside of the teaching field about the conclusion of my master’s program, many respond with comments about how I will be officially “done” with school.  In one sense, this is true.  I will no longer enroll in courses, learn from professors, or receive grades for my work.  However, while I will be “done” with my formal education, my learning as a teacher will never truly come to an end.  With this idea in mind, I began to think about specific goals that will help me to continue this trend of learning.  These goals include:

 

1. To integrate technology into my curriculum whenever possible

2. To be a teacher who is culturally aware and responsive

3. To seek professional development outside of my district   

 

I have chosen these goals because I think they not only align with who I want to be as a teacher, but I believe that they are also appropriate for the world that we live in currently.

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Technology Integration

 

Technology has always been something that I have tried to use whenever possible as a teacher.  However, with the current state of our world, I have truly come to see how vital my own knowledge of technology is for my students.  During my first three years as an educator, I strictly taught English Language Arts (ELA).  Over those three years, I gathered a whole repertoire of useful ways to use technology as an ELA teacher.  When I found out in July that I would no longer be a middle school English teacher, but rather an elementary school math teacher, I panicked.  Not only was I going to have to learn how to teach this new subject and curriculum to kids in person, I was also going to have to learn how to teach this to kids online.  I knew right away that if I wanted to be a highly effective teacher for those online learners, I would need to expand my current knowledge of technology.  While I have begun to do this throughout the first few weeks of school, I am still learning.  One thing that I know to be true about technology is that the possibilities are endless.  Due to this fact, integrating technology into the curriculum whenever possible is a future goal that I consider to be important.  One resource that will help to get me started on this goal is a blog post written by Travis Rink.  His post is titled, “15 Free Tech Training Resources for Teachers.”  This post will not only help me to get more comfortable using certain technologies, it will focus directly on technologies that will benefit teachers.

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Culturally Aware and Responsive

 

While obtaining my undergraduate degree at Michigan State University (MSU), I was a part of the Global Educators Cohort.  The purpose of this cohort was to learn how to appropriately handle all of the different cultures and belief systems that would come in and out of our classrooms over the years.  Being a part of this cohort is not something that I regret in the least, however, the focus was mainly on learning to work in a classroom that was full of diversity.  While my students are all unique individuals, the district that I work in is greatly lacking in diversity.  Even so, I find there to be cultural differences between myself and my students in a way that I hadn’t expected during my undergrad.  Building relationships is the most important aspect of teaching, in my opinion, and in order to effectively build relationships with my students, I need to be culturally aware and responsive towards them in a way that I hadn’t initially expected.  In order to help me work towards this goal I will take the beginning steps suggested by Nikki Williams Rucker in her article “Getting Started with Culturally Responsive Teaching.”  

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Professional Development

 

It makes sense that attending more professional development (PD) would be a good way to continue my own professional learning.  However, I find that getting out of my comfort zone is when real growth happens.  For that reason, I would like to explore professional development opportunities that are offered outside of my district.  I believe that this would not only benefit me, but it would benefit my school because I would be able to pass my learning along to my peers.  While I appreciate the PD offered within my district, it’s not always what I’m looking for as a teacher in that moment.  I feel that I need to begin to seek out the professional development that really appeals to me.  I would like to begin this process by attending the “Get Your Teach On” conference.  This conference would teach me ways to effectively use the common core, increase student’s desire to learn, and encourage students to think and learn beyond the standards.

As I read back over these three goals, I am reminded that they matter not just to me as an educator, but also to our world right now.  The use of technology has never been more important than it is currently, due to how many students are attending school virtually.  Cultural awareness and responsiveness are learned skills that can improve not just the classroom environment, but also the environment that we each live in every day.  Finally, seeking to better my own practice will always help me to grow as a teacher and as a person.  Overall, teachers are never truly “done” learning.