Course Reflection:

Over the course of the past eight weeks, I have learned more about myself than during any other class I have taken through Walden. I have developed my teaching and leadership “voice” and began setting and accomplishing small but valuable educational goals. I have always had an “I’ll get to that later” kind of attitude—which at some point becomes quite unmanageable after a while. After replacing that attitude with more of a “no better time than now” outlook, I am finding that I feel accomplished and motivated to continue setting goals, monitoring progress and eventually evaluating my success of my attempts. The GAME plan has given me a whole new outlook and helped me grow as an educator—which has helped improve my students’ learning experiences and attitudes.

I have also become more open with my colleagues about my ideas and experiences with technology. I am helping them become more comfortable with the resources available to them at our school and they, in turn, feel more open to ask me questions when they are struggling or have their own new ideas. Our team is stronger now, and our students are reaping the benefits from our new team rapport.

Lastly, I have begun to develop ways to incorporate what I have learned in this class into the tasks my students are expected to complete. Setting manageable goals is such a valuable tool for students to master—and I am beginning to implement activities and class discussions that center around that vital skill. I am utilizing KWHL charts more regularly, and I am planning on starting the year off next year with a quarterly goal setting activity catered to the learning that planned for each individual quarter. Technology goals will be set simultaneously with content goals—I want the two to go hand in hand in my classroom. I feel like I am a better teacher for finally starting to focus on my own development as an individual educator—and my students are benefiting from my new found strengths and comfort level with technology, goal-setting, and leadership.