Goals Reflection

My Initial Goals: Reflecting on My Progress

When I applied for admission into the online Master of Arts in Education program in 2016 I set the following goals for myself:

1. To learn new research-supported best practices in science instruction
2. To become more familiar with best practices for integration of technology within the classroom setting
3. To use the pedagogical knowledge I gained during my MAED coursework to improve my instructional practice

Looking back on these goals and the coursework I completed for my master's program, I find that I met some of my initial goals. With regard to my first and third goals, TE 861A-Teaching Science for Understanding and TE 861B-Inquiry and the Nature of Science challenged me to create lessons that: 1) are rooted in the investigation of phenomena, 2) required students to "dive deeper" to find plausible explanations for the underlying cause(s) of what they observed, and 3) incorporated classroom discourse to facilitate the learning of all my students. I used this approach to facilitate a research project in which a group of my students sought to identify two bones, nicknamed "J.A.M.E.S.," that had been in our school biology lab for over a decade. (See images below.) The sense of mystery surrounding these bones and the animal from which they had come fueled the students' desire to dive deeper into their research and resulted in a surprising outcome!

The topics presented in CEP 840-Policies, Practices and Perspectives in Special Education aligned with my second and third goals. This course prepared me to better recognize the needs of exceptional students and discuss classroom adaptations with their parents and support staff. For example, based on feedback I received from one of my students with Autism and her mother, I devised ways to put the student more at-ease in my classroom and allowed her choices (e.g. using apps like Google Docs) in task completion. As a result of these changes she has noticeably increased her level of engagement.

With the pervasive nature of technology, I wanted to become more adept integrating technology with classroom instruction. A misconception I had prior to TE 831-Teaching Subject Matter with Technology was that students born since 2000 were already tech-savvy and needed little formal instruction in how to use it. This course marked a pivotal point in my thinking and made me see that a student's ability to operate a smartphone or computer did not necessarily equate to competence in using technology for learning purposes. CEP 817-Electronic Assessment for Teaching and Learning introduced me to various ways of using technology to assess my students' learning and allowed me to create a broader range of formative assessments (e.g. Google Forms quizzes, Socrative, etc.), including games!

While I feel I achieved the first and third goals I set at the beginning of my master's program, I do not feel that I fully met my second goal regarding implementation of technology. While CEP 820-Teaching Students Online provided me with a good base on which I can build further understanding, I recognize that I would benefit from additional experience in developing an online course.