I Feel Better… So Much Better
by Katie White
MY LIFE-PLAN...?
Since I can remember I’ve been following my life plan; graduate high school, go to college, complete my undergraduate, get a job right away, one year later get married (had been waiting 8 at this point), wait five years to have kids, travel extensively while working. Yep, this was the plan, and it’s exactly what I did, but in the back of my head something was missing. I had the nagging sense that I wasn’t finished with my formal learning.
I was all set to live a perfectly happy life having followed my plan perfectly, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t done. My husband had completed his masters between his undergraduate and getting married, but that was never in my plan. I had wanted to go straight to work and not mess around with anything else. However, as my plan unfolded over the years, I had a nagging feeling and thought more and more about what I could or would do if I were to get my masters. After a few years of teaching, this feeling became less of a nag and more a part of my new plan. So, I started looking at online programs. I was working abroad and have two children and wouldn’t have time to attend any courses in person. Soon I found several courses that I liked, such as, a masters in education with a focus on reading and math or the masters in art education but they just didn’t click or didn’t fit my lifestyle. Then one day a colleague sent out an email promoting the masters program she was taking and I was immediately attracted to the title and began looking into the details. When I found out I could take the program entirely online and even change this from summer to summer, I knew this would be the flexible program I was looking for. This was great but the real catch was that it would be a degree in educational technology. This speaks volumes and is in sync with the future of education. Before I knew it I was applying and ready to begin and it felt right. I knew the MAET at MSU would be innovative and relevant to my profession and also have potential to extend my position in a school.
MY LIFE-PLAN + MAET
I have been teaching for ten years, and while I still love teaching I have felt that perhaps I’d try another role in education. I am aiming for a role where I will still be in a classroom or at least working with a small group of students. One idol of mine is inquiry guru Kath Murdoch, she floats so seamlessly between grade levels, schools, and countries sharing her well developed understanding of teaching and inquiry. I know that to follow in her footsteps would be a huge leap but I also value what she does when she visits my school and I know there are educational technology coaches who remain in one school or district. As, I started the MAET, I began looking at these positions closer and asking myself if I could be in this role. Course after course, classroom experiences, colleagues, and opportunities that have arisen have urged me towards this goal.
These courses have come in all different shapes and sizes with varying levels of engagement and content. I have gained so much from every course and have been implementing these ideas and resources into my teaching from the first week of CEP 810 Teaching Understanding w/Technology taught by Amy Pietrowski and Ben Rimes. Among the ten courses I’ve had the pleasure to take part in, several courses throughout the program have really left their mark.
CEP 820 shaped my vision of educational technology by opening my mind to the power of online teaching. Having participated in online courses as a student at MSU I knew it was possible but never thought I’d be a teacher in this setting. The interaction among the other students and myself was at the strongest during this course. I felt like I knew each member of my group well. I determined a learning management system based on trials of other LMSs and exemplars from past students, at the beginning of the course. I chose Haiku Learning knowing it was designed as a LMS and that a school I was looking for a potential was currently using it as well. I created a course on Haiku for my students. Through CEP 820, I learned about asynchronous and synchronous learning models. I decided to create a synchronous course so that my students, who were only 3rd graders, and I would have opportunities to discuss the online learning content face to face. Because of this course I will be promoting online learning in my next school as well. It’s allowed me to offer my students and their parents more support because they can not only access the content of my courses online but also the course syllabus and they can work on these lessons asynchronously. I aim to bring this approach to teaching
I have a BA in art along with my teaching certificate. So when it was suggested to me to take CEP 817, from my adviser, I was more than excited. Combining design with technology was very intriguing and a refreshing change of pace. CEP 817 taught by Punya Mishra is one of the most unique courses I took because of his approach to the content. This is a design course and we read about design through the lens of a comic writer Scott McCloud and his book Understanding Comics, and many other published pieces from esteemed authors, such as Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life and Saul Carliner’s Physical, Cognitive, and Affective: A Three-Part Framework for Informational Design. These articles seeped our thinking in design philosophy and perspectives. As we designed our own website, we considered aspects such as color, theme, purpose, idea, content. We made informed decisions based on the purpose of the website and the course lessons and readings. We took part in fun activities such as writing a 55 word fiction story and creating our “Big Kahuna” website. The whole approach to the course made it interesting and exciting to a part of. I took my understandings and brought them into my classroom. My “Big Kahuna” took shape based on the diverse needs of my students and our multiplication curriculum. In the final weeks of my students’ school year I shared my “Big Kahuna” with them and began receiving feedback from both students and parents who were eager to access the site during the summer months to keep up their children’s math skills between school years. Knowing about layout and design choices allowed me to target my students and engage their minds.
MY LIFE-PLAN...?
Since I can remember I’ve been following my life plan; graduate high school, go to college, complete my undergraduate, get a job right away, one year later get married (had been waiting 8 at this point), wait five years to have kids, travel extensively while working. Yep, this was the plan, and it’s exactly what I did, but in the back of my head something was missing. I had the nagging sense that I wasn’t finished with my formal learning.
I was all set to live a perfectly happy life having followed my plan perfectly, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t done. My husband had completed his masters between his undergraduate and getting married, but that was never in my plan. I had wanted to go straight to work and not mess around with anything else. However, as my plan unfolded over the years, I had a nagging feeling and thought more and more about what I could or would do if I were to get my masters. After a few years of teaching, this feeling became less of a nag and more a part of my new plan. So, I started looking at online programs. I was working abroad and have two children and wouldn’t have time to attend any courses in person. Soon I found several courses that I liked, such as, a masters in education with a focus on reading and math or the masters in art education but they just didn’t click or didn’t fit my lifestyle. Then one day a colleague sent out an email promoting the masters program she was taking and I was immediately attracted to the title and began looking into the details. When I found out I could take the program entirely online and even change this from summer to summer, I knew this would be the flexible program I was looking for. This was great but the real catch was that it would be a degree in educational technology. This speaks volumes and is in sync with the future of education. Before I knew it I was applying and ready to begin and it felt right. I knew the MAET at MSU would be innovative and relevant to my profession and also have potential to extend my position in a school.
MY LIFE-PLAN + MAET
I have been teaching for ten years, and while I still love teaching I have felt that perhaps I’d try another role in education. I am aiming for a role where I will still be in a classroom or at least working with a small group of students. One idol of mine is inquiry guru Kath Murdoch, she floats so seamlessly between grade levels, schools, and countries sharing her well developed understanding of teaching and inquiry. I know that to follow in her footsteps would be a huge leap but I also value what she does when she visits my school and I know there are educational technology coaches who remain in one school or district. As, I started the MAET, I began looking at these positions closer and asking myself if I could be in this role. Course after course, classroom experiences, colleagues, and opportunities that have arisen have urged me towards this goal.
These courses have come in all different shapes and sizes with varying levels of engagement and content. I have gained so much from every course and have been implementing these ideas and resources into my teaching from the first week of CEP 810 Teaching Understanding w/Technology taught by Amy Pietrowski and Ben Rimes. Among the ten courses I’ve had the pleasure to take part in, several courses throughout the program have really left their mark.
CEP 820 shaped my vision of educational technology by opening my mind to the power of online teaching. Having participated in online courses as a student at MSU I knew it was possible but never thought I’d be a teacher in this setting. The interaction among the other students and myself was at the strongest during this course. I felt like I knew each member of my group well. I determined a learning management system based on trials of other LMSs and exemplars from past students, at the beginning of the course. I chose Haiku Learning knowing it was designed as a LMS and that a school I was looking for a potential was currently using it as well. I created a course on Haiku for my students. Through CEP 820, I learned about asynchronous and synchronous learning models. I decided to create a synchronous course so that my students, who were only 3rd graders, and I would have opportunities to discuss the online learning content face to face. Because of this course I will be promoting online learning in my next school as well. It’s allowed me to offer my students and their parents more support because they can not only access the content of my courses online but also the course syllabus and they can work on these lessons asynchronously. I aim to bring this approach to teaching
I have a BA in art along with my teaching certificate. So when it was suggested to me to take CEP 817, from my adviser, I was more than excited. Combining design with technology was very intriguing and a refreshing change of pace. CEP 817 taught by Punya Mishra is one of the most unique courses I took because of his approach to the content. This is a design course and we read about design through the lens of a comic writer Scott McCloud and his book Understanding Comics, and many other published pieces from esteemed authors, such as Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life and Saul Carliner’s Physical, Cognitive, and Affective: A Three-Part Framework for Informational Design. These articles seeped our thinking in design philosophy and perspectives. As we designed our own website, we considered aspects such as color, theme, purpose, idea, content. We made informed decisions based on the purpose of the website and the course lessons and readings. We took part in fun activities such as writing a 55 word fiction story and creating our “Big Kahuna” website. The whole approach to the course made it interesting and exciting to a part of. I took my understandings and brought them into my classroom. My “Big Kahuna” took shape based on the diverse needs of my students and our multiplication curriculum. In the final weeks of my students’ school year I shared my “Big Kahuna” with them and began receiving feedback from both students and parents who were eager to access the site during the summer months to keep up their children’s math skills between school years. Knowing about layout and design choices allowed me to target my students and engage their minds.
FRUIT OF THE MAET
CEP 813 Electronic Portfolios taught by Patrick Dickson was the first time I opened my eyes to the power of websites for professional gain and learning. After creating my professional website for marketing myself I created no less than 4 more full time websites. This course allowed me to explore what is important to consider when building a site. It also allowed me to build a portfolio of my work in preparation for my eminent job hunt. This experience also mirrored my students’ own portfolio development. I used many of the ideas I gained from this course in helping my students to share their learning through their own Google sites. As the technology coach in my grade level I also took my understanding of html embed codes, file sharing, menu bars, and website layout to my team of teachers. I guided my colleagues in our grade level site development along with the development of our students’ online portfolios. These online portfolios are now allowing students to share their work with the greater school community, as well as, archive their work as they move up in grade levels over the years to come. This allows them to reflect on their growth.
CEP 813 Electronic Portfolios taught by Patrick Dickson was the first time I opened my eyes to the power of websites for professional gain and learning. After creating my professional website for marketing myself I created no less than 4 more full time websites. This course allowed me to explore what is important to consider when building a site. It also allowed me to build a portfolio of my work in preparation for my eminent job hunt. This experience also mirrored my students’ own portfolio development. I used many of the ideas I gained from this course in helping my students to share their learning through their own Google sites. As the technology coach in my grade level I also took my understanding of html embed codes, file sharing, menu bars, and website layout to my team of teachers. I guided my colleagues in our grade level site development along with the development of our students’ online portfolios. These online portfolios are now allowing students to share their work with the greater school community, as well as, archive their work as they move up in grade levels over the years to come. This allows them to reflect on their growth.
CEP 815 Technology and Leadership has taken me to a new level of confidence and has refined who I want to be in education. While we learned about professional development strategies, project management, planning, evaluation, relationship building, along with the ethical and social implications of technology integration I began to see my role as tech coach in a new light. My colleagues were coming to me for help and bypassing the IT integrator. They were outwardly thanking me for help and encouraging me to pursue a position in tech integration. This along with learning about leadership styles and how this knowledge affects a classroom has empowered me to reach for a new goal. Since this course I have aimed my professional website at attracting an employer to obtain a full time tech coaching role. It has not let me down. I have had two interview opportunities, which are still unfolding, due to my masters and my website. I plan to continue to pursue this goal even if these job openings do not go my way. I know my leadership skills have been sharpened by this course and I would like to share my educational technology knowledge with other educators.
MY LIFE-PLAN: BEYOND THE MAET
No matter what may come my way in the near future, I have achieved my goal to better understand technologies available for education and how I can innovate and create experiences for my students with technology. I plan to deepen my understanding of online teaching and innovative lessons in the future using what I now know. I plan to share these findings and developments with my colleagues, on my Teaching with Tech blog, through Twitter, and through my professional portfolio. At this time, my sites are only buds and I plan to help them bloom into fully functional sites with subscribers.
I will never be the same teacher as I was before beginning this program. When I first started teaching, I had one desktop computer in the back of the classroom on which I checked email on a weekly basis and only to see if HR had sent me anything. Now, I am the technology coach for a 1:1 iPad program, using a MacBook Air for my own teaching purposes, using an Apple TV, and a wireless projector to teach innovative lessons to my engaged students. This is a far cry from where I was ten years ago. Much of this change in my classroom came from my enrollment in the MAET program. After I started the program, I was asked to be the technology coach for my grade level and tech devices began making their way into my hands, I began to hear, “Ask Katie” (in reference to tech questions and potential ideas) and “we’ll test this in Katie’s classroom before we launch this.”
It is with a new found confidence, an abundance of both self-created resources and resources from my courses, and many new colleagues around the world that I am about to leave the MAET and MSU. Now, having been a part of such a strong and well-developed program I feel better, so much better. I feel I have filled in the void that existed before. I have benefited from the intellectual stimulation and professional discussions with peers and instructors. I know this is not the end but instead each course has shown me the potential for what I can do with technology in education. Now it’s time for me to get to work growing my products and sharing my understandings with even more students and colleagues while helping them build their own understandings.
MY LIFE-PLAN: BEYOND THE MAET
No matter what may come my way in the near future, I have achieved my goal to better understand technologies available for education and how I can innovate and create experiences for my students with technology. I plan to deepen my understanding of online teaching and innovative lessons in the future using what I now know. I plan to share these findings and developments with my colleagues, on my Teaching with Tech blog, through Twitter, and through my professional portfolio. At this time, my sites are only buds and I plan to help them bloom into fully functional sites with subscribers.
I will never be the same teacher as I was before beginning this program. When I first started teaching, I had one desktop computer in the back of the classroom on which I checked email on a weekly basis and only to see if HR had sent me anything. Now, I am the technology coach for a 1:1 iPad program, using a MacBook Air for my own teaching purposes, using an Apple TV, and a wireless projector to teach innovative lessons to my engaged students. This is a far cry from where I was ten years ago. Much of this change in my classroom came from my enrollment in the MAET program. After I started the program, I was asked to be the technology coach for my grade level and tech devices began making their way into my hands, I began to hear, “Ask Katie” (in reference to tech questions and potential ideas) and “we’ll test this in Katie’s classroom before we launch this.”
It is with a new found confidence, an abundance of both self-created resources and resources from my courses, and many new colleagues around the world that I am about to leave the MAET and MSU. Now, having been a part of such a strong and well-developed program I feel better, so much better. I feel I have filled in the void that existed before. I have benefited from the intellectual stimulation and professional discussions with peers and instructors. I know this is not the end but instead each course has shown me the potential for what I can do with technology in education. Now it’s time for me to get to work growing my products and sharing my understandings with even more students and colleagues while helping them build their own understandings.