Career Check
This blog is based on a paper that I wrote for
the final class and to get my degree determined by Walden University. This
is how I will be able to attain my degree, Educational Specialist in
Educational Technology. This paper will reflect how far I have come in
meeting my professional goals for each COEL disposition and AECT standards, as
well as, what I plan on doing in the future. The COEL disposition
and AECT standards are how an individual in my field rate their development in
Educational Technology. The COEL Disposition Reflection and AECT
Standards Reflections are succinct statements as to how far I have come in
my professional development. They will each include specific examples
that will document my knowledge, skill and dispositions. The actual
dispositions and AECT standards will be listed in Appendixes A and B. The
final reflection reflect will illustrate my strength, weaknesses and where I
want to go from this point forward.
COEL Dispositions Reflection
The
COEL Disposition reminded me of all of the things that I want to be doing and
that I really wasn't utilizing my gifts and skills to get to that level.
I want to be writing curriculum and articles for educators, producing webinars
that illustrate how to use educational tools in the classroom and what is
available and finally to be able to write, teach and design course work online
for future educators and writers.
Reflection of Disposition A-H
Right now, I am teaching
full time as an Affective Needs teacher. When I first began my career as an
educator I was very excited to begin; I worked as a Home-based Head Start
teacher for the State of Minnesota. I loved setting my own hours, working
with kids and parents and setting up presentations. I did not like the
pay. The COEL dispositions that I exceeded dealt with the
adult learners I have worked with in the past year. However it brought
home that I haven't worked on blogs or webinars as much as I probably should be
doing in order to develop some income. The process I have made as an
Affective Needs teachers has put me in a position that I do not like and my
students with affective needs has not been as conclusive nor has progress been
made to the extent I would have liked as documented by my supervisor's
observation.
My original
reflection for disposition one, at the beginning of this course, indicated that
I was presenting webinar and developing other materials for teaching to improve
their professional skills. I am exceeding the requirements of this disposition,
but I have not been working on it on a regular basis. However, I am
learning quite a bit by completing research as I develop a webinar or write a
lesson plan. I have and currently developing more webinars for an online
professional development blog, SimpleK12.com, as well as materials for my
blogs.
Currently, I am also, and an
Affective Needs teacher who works with third to fifth-grade students, with two
paraprofessionals. This experience has included working with an embedded coach
who provides me with resources. She has also suggested different
resources, which we have used to as we collaborated in the development of
materials for the students. These lesson plan included storybooks and videos as
part of the lesson in order to make them interesting and meaningful to the
students. Also, the school has given each student a Gmail account and the
ability to use it to include websites such as Khan Academy, Edmodo, and Google
Drive so that the students can learn to use technology. The students also
use a Kindle for practicing technology skills as they play game
I am barely meeting the
requirements for disposition B, as the students in my classroom have
backgrounds that include abuse of all kinds, neglect, abandonment, and
fear. Three of the students have conducted disorders, one has a mental
illness, and the rest have a terrible home life. All want to love and
support, but due to circumstances in the district and school they students feel
insecure in an environment that has many people coming into their lives.
As a result the students have several trust issues and right now they are very
rude and swear a lot. As a result, an embedded coach is in the class to
help with delivery of lessons, provide an extra set of hands and work with the
students. The children require different learning environments and
kinetic approach to their learning. Also, the administrators have provided additional
technology to help provide individual learning experiences for each of the
students, which is advancement from the beginning of this course.
The progress of Disposition C has
not been as conclusive as I would like to be with my students with affective needs. As a result of the students
individual issues I have read different books on by teachers who work with
students in an affective needs classroom. While I have not made a lot of
progress, some of the students and I are beginning to develop a positive
relationship with each other. This has helped me to provide them with
strategies to encourage their development. The students are starting to trust
me and willing to work with me at various levels, i.e. listen, finish the work,
not swearing at me. Since they are contributing to the chaos, the room
has calmed down a bit. However, I have also had a student who has developed an
extremely negative attitude towards me that has affected the various strategies
that I can use in the classroom. It is difficult to teach when the room
is being trashed, as the other students have to be removed in order to keep
them safe. Research has helped provided me with strategies, i.e. keep
them focused, provide a way to keep them interested, to use in the classroom, but
time and my emotions have not helped to develop more strategies to help my
students. However, I have the beginning stages in place; now I need to
develop more to help the students.
I have
developed a basic understanding of individual, group motivation and behavior,
as indicated in disposition D, of my students. This understanding has
help to begin to start creating a positive learning environment. Currently the
atmosphere in the classroom barely encourages positive social interaction, active
engagement in learning, and self-motivation. This has been a difficult
process. I have only managed to develop the beginnings of the good
learning environment for the students in my affective needs classroom, which
has been document in my observation that my supervisor has conducted. I
have had more success with my adult students, the people who watch my webinars
and read my blogs. Granted it hasn’t been many but the number grows,
especially since they seem to response to my webinars in a positive manner and
like my resources that I have included. Also, they are seeking out new
and other resources to help their learning. While my students in the
affective needs classroom are not doing anything but what they are required to
learn and get me off their back so hey can go to recess.
Disposition E and disposition F
have blended in my mind. AS I stated in a previous reflection of another
disposition, there is a difference between my students with affective needs and
my professional development materials.
Currently, my classroom of students with affective needs does not meet
these criteria. The professionals I meet in from my webinars and online
professional development courses do seem to respond in a positive manner, and
we develop a good learning environment. I understand the instructional
strategies that I need to develop to meet both dispositions, but it has been
the slow going process.
As Disposition F and G suggests, I
am a reflective practitioner, I regularly evaluate my choices, the effects of
my choices on the students and how it effects. I am a reflective practitioner
who continually evaluates the effects and actions on others (students, parents,
and other professionals in the learning community) and actively seeks
out opportunities to promote positive social change and grow professionally.
I have enrolled in
professional development courses within the district to learn what is expected
of my classroom and me. My school has engaged an embedded coach who comes
into the classroom twice a week for a half day to help me understand how to
deal with my students and develop a good learning environment. I
have been told to listen to her and not worry about the districts' consultants
by my supervisors. Unfortunately, the school and my classroom have a bad
reputation from the precious year. There were a series of unfortunate
situations that happen last year that have colored the district view.
However, the good news is that I have tried to be positive with the
consultants, but it is difficult when they keep missing or canceling meeting
with me. There are days that I feel like I fighting a battle.
In addition the help from the embedded coach, I send notes home and
make phone calls almost on a daily basis to keep in contact with all of the
students. I have made it point to go to my special education colleagues for
help and assistance with materials forms and other issues. This has led
to a reciprocal relationship with the other special education teacher.
Also, I have worked with my general education teachers by developing and
working a game during fundraisers. The game was successful, so much so we
ran out of prizes. This fundraiser allowed some of my students to see me in a
new light. Also, I make regular calls to parents/guardians, send home
notes and meet with my parents/guardians to review their individual education
plans and behavior in the classroom.
The past few months have been
interesting comparisons of how my webinars and blogs have been received by
educators and my students have responded to me as an instructional leader with
affective needs are interesting. Interesting in the aspect that dealing with
students with severe emotional needs and educators who are trying to improve
their practice are worlds apart in their approach.
AECT Standards Reflection
The AECT organization has been developed primary for research
and development of educational technology and not necessarily for direct
instruction. "The Association for
Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is a professional
association of thousands of educators and others whose activities are directed
toward improving instruction through technology. http://aect.site-ym.com/?"page=about_landing A
couple of years ago I went to an AECT conference, and I found some interesting
concepts to use in the classroom that were part of case studies. I was a
tech person who helped the presenters set up their materials and stayed to see
how many people showed up for the presentation. Some times I stayed to
listen to the presentation and discovered new ways to use technology in my
classroom.
The AECT standards are similar to the
disposition, but they are more precise to my way of thinking. These standards
specifically aim at incorporating research within the instructional and
provided resources that are from case studies. I have been designing and
development curriculum and webinars for teachers. I have been very active
in the online teaching blog called SimpleK12.com where I have presented a
webinar and asked to present other webinars.
My blogs and webinars have helped me to utilize
the skills that I have learned over the years. When I was in elementary
school, I volunteered for the audiovisual department as it was called at the
time. Now the audiovisual department is called the Educational Technology
department or Assistive Technology department depending on whether you are a
general education teacher or special education teacher. The blogs have
definitely pushed to look further into how to improve my instruction, however,
I haven't been writing about it on my blog as much as I would have like.
The blogs are supposed be used as showcase fro my writing
and knowledge and right now it really does not to that for my career.
I am not involved in the management of the
technology at our school, which really isn't an issue, but it something that I
would like to work on for future curriculum. I may be asked what I
like for technology. However, I have rarely involved in the decision-making the
process of the buying technology for the classroom. The powers that be do
ask me to evaluate the technology that I use din the classroom and provide
training that request.
Professional and Educational Resources
The
program regarding educational specialist in educational technology has been
very interesting for me. Initially, I started with special education but
when I took a technology education class, I realized that this is where my
interests read a lay. While I enjoy special education, I liked the online
class course development class I was enrolled in at the time. The classes
in the educational technology program have been practical because they have
included projects that I kept and I used the concepts in the some of my
lessons. In addition, they encouraged me to join book studies on line.
The course work has also pushed me to find professional
development that I can use to better my instruction and learn more about the
technology that is out there for students with special needs.
There are several resources that I have used; the
course book Educational Technology: A Definition with Commentary by Al
Januszewski is a book that I have used in several classes within this program.
At this point I think I have used this book in three different
classes. The book has been a valuable resource both in and out of the
classroom. I have referenced it for my classroom. In addition, I have
used SimpleK12.com blog, social media sites on Facebook, Twitter, Linked, and
blogs along the way. They have been helpful when I read them, but I need
to spend more quality time looking through and learning from them.
The classes in Walden University educational technology
program have helped me to develop projects in order make lesson interesting fro
my students. My current class just likes to play the games as soon as they are
finished with the software or an online lesson. The book provides me with
a way to understand my students’ viewpoint and good ways to present the
information to the students. The students like technology and they seem
to understand the material better; also the students pay attention to the
work.
Conclusion
The degree from
Walden University as an Educational Specialist will help me to get work and the
work environment that I want. Although I have experience with technology
and have worked hard to develop skills in technology; most of the applications
have this question “Do you have a degree or certification in Educational
Technology or Instructional Technology?” and my answer has been no. Now I
can say with honesty I have a degree, I will also use the course work to apply
for my certification in instructional technology.
Once I receive
the transcript I can use it as part of my resume. Once I develop my time
management skills I will be able to work on developing more materials that
include technology usage, write more articles on using technology with children
with special needs and developing the course with webinar attachments. I
am hoping that I can also get some work as the online instructor. I want
to develop some works a contract employee with the publishing house. The
bottom line is that I would like to be able to work from home as much as
possible and get out of the classroom.
Reference
Association
for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) (2015)
Januszewski,
A., & Molenda, M. (Eds.). (2008). Educational technology: A
Definition
with commentary. New York, NY: Routledge.
Individual
Learning Profile [Lecture notes]. (2015). Retrieved from https:// capstone,
Appendix A
COEL
Disposition
Disposition A. The educator understands the
central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) and can
create learning experiences based on best practices that make these aspects of
subject matter meaningful for students.
Disposition B. The educator understands how
students learn and develop and can provide a variety of learning opportunities
adapted to diverse learners that support all students’ intellectual, social,
and personal development.
Disposition C. The educator understands and
uses a variety of strategies to encourage students' development of critical
thinking, problem-solving, and performance skills.
Disposition D. The educator uses an
understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a
learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active
engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
Disposition E. The educator uses knowledge of
effective verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques to foster
active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the learning
environment.
Disposition F. The educator understands and
uses formal and informal strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous
intellectual, social, and physical development of the learner.
Disposition G., The educator, is a reflective
practitioner who continually evaluates the effects of his or her choices and
actions on others (students, parents, and other professionals in the learning
community) and actively seeks out opportunities to promote positive social
change and grow professionally.
Disposition H. The educator fosters
relationships with colleagues, parents, and community agencies to support
students’ learning and well-being.
Appendix B
AECT
Standards
Standard 1: DESIGN Candidates demonstrate the
knowledge, skills, and Dispositions to design conditions for learning by
applying principles of instructional systems design, message design,
instructional strategies, and learner characteristics.
Standard 2: DEVELOPMENT - Candidates demonstrate
the knowledge, skills, and Dispositions to develop instructional materials and
experiences using print, audiovisual, computer-based, and integrated
technologies
Standard 3: UTILIZATION - Candidates
demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and Dispositions to use processes and
resources for learning by applying principles and theories of media
utilization, diffusion, implementation, and policy-making.
Standard 4: MANAGEMENT - Candidates
demonstrate knowledge, skills, and Dispositions to plan, organize, coordinate,
and supervise instructional technology by applying principles of project,
resource, delivery system, and information management.
Standard 5: EVALUATION- Candidates demonstrate
knowledge, skills, and Dispositions to evaluate the adequacy of instruction and
learning by applying principles of problem analysis, criterion-referenced
measurement, formative and summative evaluation, and long-range planning.
Appendix C
Artifacts
Colorado department of education professional
development.
Educator Professional Development. Randa Professional
Observation.
Journey
