These goals represent my current and future aspirations of becoming a better educator in a technological evolving world. I believe that the bar has been raised for professional educators and these goals will help me meet those increasing demands.
While identifying areas to increase performance and improve classroom learning, I have taken on the challenge to understand how to better train students in the use of mobile devices during seminary class. This goal has proved to impact my everyday teaching strategies to reduce/eliminate the distraction of mobile devices and train students how to effectively use them to enhance learning.
As I have researched the importance of technology and weighed their advantages and disadvantages, I have come to embrace the use of cell phones in class. I have paid a price to develop training and controlled practices to implement it but it is still a work in progress to create more effective performance.
By working with peers and studying teaching strategies, principles and theories, I have developed and refined my teaching philosophy to help me better understand my professional self. I have directed my lessons according to my philosophy and I have seen an added strength in my teaching. While I feel that my teaching perspective is still evolving, I have come to understand the importance of research and continued adaptation.
Collaborating with others to increase my knowledge and understanding of the instructional technology program pillars has been extremely beneficial. Although discussions and group assignments sometimes were difficult to manage, they have proved to be the backbone of my learning experience. The online community of learners that strive for similar professionalism has created a healthy, competitive environment for me to increase my philosophy and future vision.
Message design, digital images and interactive technology have all impacted my teaching the last few years. Understanding how to use and implement them effectively has been a continuous learning curve because of the endless, evolving resources. I have worked with different applications and programs that have helped me acquire skills necessary to implement what I have learned.
With this goal I have been able to develop a variety of resources to digitalize my instruction in seminary. My small world of digital messages and technology has expanded more than I ever thought it would in the last three years and I have some great projects to demonstrate my learning and progress.
Mastering APA formatting and researching strategies has proved to be one of my most challenging goals. Partly because I have been indifferent to their importance in the past but I have now come to see the impact they can have. Understanding all of the specific details from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association has been a constant reminder of how much I did not understand when beginning the program.
I have accumulated feedback from instructors on my assignments and made improvements to fix incorrect APA formatting. This has helped me tweak my writing to develop more professional habits. Additionally, by researching and analyzing countless articles I have developed a new desire for research. This goal has increased my perspective and taught me the greater value of future research and scholarship. Now, is has become a life long goal of mine to effectively locate and synthesis research that I can use in my current and future teaching profession.
Last Update 4/20/17