When you're already living your dream... you make small goals
I can honestly say that I get up and go to work every day in my dream job, I’m exactly where I want to be, at a great school, with inspiring co-workers, and exciting students. I am not the person who strives to be an administrator, I can’t imagine leaving my classroom. I’m extremely blessed as I teach in the same school district as I was raised, I am months away from earning a Master of Arts in Education from Michigan State University (third generation Spartan). Life is good. Overall my goals for my classroom are small, but effective and meaningful. I want to continue to include more technology into the classroom increasing student motivation and learning. To do this I have a goal of using three specific tools Google Classroom, Illuminate Education, and an online platform such as Weebly to create a flipped version of my classes I currently teach. First, I am very organized. I create weekly outlines to show students and parents where we are headed in the classroom, and this also helps guide me as a teacher. I feel that communication is important between the teacher and the students/parents. I know there is an easier way than the teacher spending hours on the phone talking to parents or gathering missing work for those absent. One of my goals is to deepen my knowledge of Google Classroom to see what it has to offer. I currently use Google Classroom to upload assignments, but I feel that it can do so much more. I know that if I took the time I could upload all student notes and absent students could review material before they return to school, which would solve a big issue of getting behind in classes. I believe the technology Google has to offer is simply amazing and worthwhile as a teacher and a student. I look forward to using Google Classroom to its full potential and I believe my students would greatly benefit from it's communication opportunities. Second, a program recently introduced to teachers at my schools is called Illuminate Education. This piece of technology allows teachers to track students growth and areas of struggle. This program is mainly used to create tests connected to standards. Once tests are completed by students data can be organized and studied. One of the reasons I am looking forward to using this program in my classroom is because once a test has been entered, teachers may print bubble sheets for multiple choice and true false questions which can quickly be graded using the program and a document camera. This process displays data such as popular missed questions and areas of weakness showing teaching what needs to be retaught. The automatic grading allows me to spend the majority of my time dissecting data. I am so excited to learn more about Illuminate Education, specifically it's ability to track student data and to use that data to help my students better understand concepts. Third, I have spent some time in my courses at MSU working with free online platforms in which I could build websites and create interactive assignments. I have found that program features needed to create a successful flipped class can be difficult to find, so I would be extremely interested in obtaining a grant to purchase a platform such as blackboard or d2l. I want to create flipped classes where lectures are mainly taught on the computer and class time is spent practicing skills. This would allow students to have more access to me, which would strengthen the learning process. Currently I have attempted to create a flipped class using Weebly and I believe I could start to teach using this platform as a test next year. I would love to be able to give students the opportunity to learn at their own pace as well as to go back and review lectures and notes when away from school. It’s not always the size that matters most, it’s whether or not you can accomplish the goal. I believe all of my goals can be achieved with time and hard work. I can’t wait to see what I will actually be able to accomplish in my classroom now that I have finished my degree. This degree has given me the skills necessary to implement technology in to my classroom and I am so thankful for the help and knowledge of the professors, and I am also thankful for my parents who have helped me financially over the past three years so I could reach my goals of becoming an MSU graduate. Because of education I know I will someday be able to reach my goal of increasing technology in the classroom to help students gain more knowledge and to be more motivated to learn.