My Professional Learning Plan "From a seed to an Apple Tree"

CEP 810, check! CEP 811, check!

 CEP 812…finished!

I can’t believe these 8 weeks of CEP 812 are over with. I have developed as an educator both scholastically and professionally in taking these courses. I  have learned so many effective teaching strategies and have an impressive list of resources and tools to use in my classroom.  

Technology is ever-changing. It changes the way we live, communicate and go about our everyday lives.  It becomes part of our routine.  It is now time for technology to change the way we teach our students.  Some educators contemplate whether to implement technology into the classroom; this should not be a choice but a must!   We live in the 21^st century!  As educators we are to prepare our students for the real world (which uses a ton of technology), not hold them back.  The amazing thing about being a teacher is we teach all professions. We teach future lawyers, firemen, soldiers, teachers, salesmen, accountants, carpenters, etc.   Our students hold our future.  It is vital we incorporate the TPACK system into our classroom and develop our students to have a 21^st century mindset with proficiency in collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem solving.

When incorporating technology into the classroom it shouldn’t be a substitution of learning but a transformation of learning.  Think, “How will using this tool enhance the learning of my students?”  We all have to accept the fact that implementing anything requires change.  I have not been teaching very long so change is easy for me because I am the "newbie" when I get hired.  Yet, some have been teaching for 20+ years and it gets harder to go away from their regular way.   We must think of the needs of our students and prepare them so they can give back to us one day when they are working citizens.  There are countless ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. Money issues should no longer be a dispute. While taking CEP812 we have discovered so many FREE resources. Incorporating technology doesn't physically mean it has to be in used in classroom, it could be something as simple as a Twitter account where students can visit on their own time.  Every school has a tool in front of them almost daily, but most never realized how powerful it can be.  What do we use every day as teachers to take attendance?  The internet!  The internet is marvelous!

It offers:

• Podcasts
• Videos
• Blogs
• WebQuests
• Educational sites
• Resources for parents
• Infographics
• Google Sites, Docs, Apps, Hangout
• Twitter account (able to keep in touch with students, post reminders of assignments, collaboarte with other educators,etc.)
• Clickers (Fast response)
• Web 2.0

This list could go on forever.  

 “Teachers who inspire realize there will always be rocks in the road ahead of us.  They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how we use them.” -Author Unknown

It is never an easy road when changing your old habits and trying to adapt the new. It will take time, patience and practice.  There will be bumps and curves along the way.My professional learning plan is to take these rocks that I run into as stepping stones and use it to my advantage and pursue my goals:

• Complete MSU’s MAET program
• Continue to grow and study as an educator, never stop my learning.
• Collaborate, teach and share my ideas of technology with not only my students, but co-workers and friends.
• Research, research, research! There are so many tools out there, it is important that I take the time and see what is out there that can be of great benefit to my students and teaching.

I plan to be that teacher that INSPIRES and takes the stepping stones to become that amazing technological educated teacher!  I may have just been a tiny seed in the beginning but now I am a beautiful tree that grows delicious well-rounded apples. Not the best metaphor, but I think you will get it once you watch my Prezi. I am still not where I need to be, but I am definitely blossoming into what the kids would say, an awesome "techy" teacher. 

Please see the growth I have made and my plan for the future below in the Prezi I made.

WPP Part D

My Wicked Problem Project was to implement Khan Academy and Study Island into the classroom.  For this blog post, Part D we were to reflect upon and evaluate the solution that we applied in Part C, the implementation.  Prior to reading this you should have already read my WPP Part C, if you have not, I recommend doing so.  My project  did not get implemented as planned because I do not have a job right now.  So unfortunately, I was unable to apply my WPP to use.   

In my part C blog, I had focused on the different ways to implement Study Island into the classroom with also using Khan Academy within SI (Study Island).  Since I cannot really reflect upon and evaluate this solution, my blog will be focusing on the implications that I will consider for future “wicked problems.”    Though I was not able to have my own real evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice I did find some research about the schools in Massachusetts.  If you click here you will see the summative adequate yearly progress of all the public schools in Massachusetts using SI in their curriculum and not using SI.  This was for the school year of 2005-2006.  You will notice that the schools using SI outdid the schools that weren’t using SI in having a higher score in the aggregate Reading/ELA AYP and the aggregate Math AYP in 2006.  “The schools that used Study Island came from large and small districts and from urban, suburban, and rural locations.” –uxbridgeschools.com  Obviously, implementing SI does make a difference no matter what school size, what district, what location you come from. 

Since I myself wasn’t able to really put this wicked project into practice I am not too sure what approaches I would do differently. I think it would all have to depend upon the results and success of the implementation. But with doing the research it seems that using SI is very effective in the classroom.  In the future when coming across a wicked problem,  I would definitely make sure I know the program/tool inside and out before applying it into the classroom.  I used SI few times in my classroom before I had moved, but I wasn’t really familiar with it.  I was just testing it out because our school had a free trail for a year.  Now after doing this WPP, I feel like I have learned so much more about SI.  One thing I would change especially when implementing any technology resource into the classroom is to make sure that you understand the program, know its potential, know the drawbacks, think about questions that students may have when using it, how to walk the student through the steps, know what could go wrong, have a backup plan, etc.  I would think these things could count as lessons learned that would help benefit others who would like to implement something like this into their classroom.  

I am working towards my MAET so I can be that “techy” teacher, the one who teaches her students to become 21^st century learners.   I plan to spread the word and concept of the importance and benefits technology in the classroom.  As well as  applying the TPACK system into my school building and help my future employees with the integration process.  I want my employees as well as my students to become comfortable and confident when using technology.  As educators, we will continue to run into “wicked problems.”  This is part of education, it is always changing, trying to make things better for our students.  With that comes the learning which never ends. We change things based upon state standards, results of tests, student's engagement, if things went smoothly, the pitfalls we run into, the overall picture, etc.  It is vital that when we do change that we think of TECHNOLOGY. Technology is ever-changing, it's resources surround us.  We have to adapt to it in our classroom and use it because that is what our students will be doing in the real-world which is what we are preparing them for. Our lives revolve around technology and it is now time we start teaching that way too.