Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Career Check

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 materialsCurrently, 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

http://www.michelledragalinseducationalhome.com/ Michelle Dragalin’s Educational Home.

http://community.simplek12.com/scripts/student/webinars/view.asp?id=2076 15 Ways Google Hangouts Can Take the Isolation out of Special Education.














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