I can’t believe we are at the end of the Master's journey!! It has been amazing! We had so much learning and growth. When I was a teenager I loved to have a diary. It allowed me to reflect on my day and my feelings. I have been checking my blog and it felt very similar. I could feel how scared I was at the beginning and how my thinking was changing during these last 18 months.
I still remember when we were asked to create an eportfolio! Everything started with Concepts of Educational Technology. We had to read (Dweck, 2006) and I can truly say it changed my life and the way I see things now. Mistakes are a part of the process for learning. Then, we learned about COVA. At the beginning I didn’t understand very well what the concepts of Choice, Ownership, Voice, with Authentic projects meant. At that point, we were introduced to the concept of education as a factory (TEDxYouth, 2012). I remember watching the video and feeling anxious because nothing has been done to solve this situation with public education. Later, we started learning about learning philosophies so we could reflect on which one was our favorite. After that, we were asked to build our professional network. This has impacted my learning and teaching in so many ways! I keep getting ideas from others and I think that my teaching is better now because it is more dynamic. Last, we had to create our ePortfolio. That moment was very stressful because I didn’t know what to use or how to start! COVA generates a lot of pressure on you when you start with this model. I was not used to making decisions on so many aspects at the same time. But, when we finished this class, I had my ePortfolio with the links to the different assignments we had for this class.
Then, we had the Portfolio class where we structured our ePortfolio and where we had the opportunity to give and receive input about it from our classmates. After that class, we had Disruptive Innovation. COVA attacked again. We had to select a project to apply to our place of work. The fact that we had to reflect on something that needed a change was captivating. I was petrified because I didn't know how to start, where to find resources, and how APA worked. When I was done, I loved it!! I loved going to different sources and learning different aspects of topics that are part of the main idea. I liked creating the Implementation Outline too. The fact that you had to have a Why and a How helped to find the heart of the project. Creating the video was so much fun!! My students were thrilled to be a part of it!
The next class, Leading Organizational Change was difficult but so good!! We had to reflect on the Why, we used the Influencer Model (Patterson & Grenny, 2013) to apply it on our project, we applied the 4DX (Covey et al., 2012), and we read about Crucial Conversations (Patterson et al., 2012). This book has helped change how I interact with people. I try to be more patient and I try to listen from the heart. I think this was one of my favorite classes despite the fact that it was so hard for me. I know that if I get a job in an administrative position, I will be coming to revisit all of these resources.
Afterwards, we Created a Significant Learning Environment. We read two books (Thomas & Brown, 2011) and (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). This class was very useful because I learned about the BHAG and had the opportunity to plan a topic using the 3 Columns Table and the UbD. I really liked the UbD even though it was very detailed. It helped me plan a very complete set of lessons for a better learning experience.
I found the next class captivating, Global Context. I loved learning about how education and different projects work in different parts of the world! This class was eye opening. Even though I come from a different country, it was very interesting to read about how laws and other aspects make your project succeed or fail. I created a Call to Action following TEDx Talks (2010) recommendations for good presentations. I liked Duarte’s words of the contrast of what it is now with what it should be when you present an idea. I wrote another literature review, and updated the innovation plan. I remember how surprised I was with the importance of knowing the laws and having clear strategies where the barriers and concerns are handled.
For the next class, Action Research we read Mertler (2016). I loved this class and it helped me grow as a teacher. Now I am not scared of trying little and measurable changes in my class. In fact, now I am trying a new strategy with my small groups for reading and it seems to be working. I made the mistake of not leaving a group with the previous system to be able to compare the results, but now I learned my lesson. This is the class that is making me think about going for the doctorate. I want to try new things and research about them. This was another stressful class because we wrote a literature review and an action research.
Last year I was looking for opportunities for a new job. Many of the ones I found interesting were working with LMS. At that time, I did not know what that was about. With the next class, Online Learning, I learned how to create classes online. It was interesting to study about all the components that you have to have in mind when implementing an effective online class. For this class, I had a set of blog posts about the process: Instructional Design and Learning Theories, Moving to Online Courses, and Reflection of Online Learning. Those posts show the steps I followed when creating my LMS: https://app.schoology.com/course/2150610742/materials
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With the next class, Professional Learning, we learned how to plan and implement an effective go and show PL. This year I am mentoring a new teacher. I am trying to incorporate the five elements of effective PL with her: Duration, Support, Active participation, Modeling, and Specific to the discipline. I have observed her and I gave her feedback. I have provided materials and I have modeled for her what she said she needed support with. We maintain constant communication and the growth mindset directs our conversations. I still remember the pressure and frustrations of being a first year teacher.
We had the opportunity to learn how to find and follow the requirements to be published on Resources for Digital Environments. I never thought that I could be published!! I loved this class because it forced us to move away from our comfort zone and try something new. I remember Professor Haynes saying that we didn’t have to be experts on the topic or to have previous experience with writing an article. She pushed us to try it. It was really a life changing experience when I was published by Edutopia. Now people look at me with a different set of eyes. I think this looks excellent on my resume and I want to keep writing to have the opportunity to share the learning with other people.
Digital Citizenship was a very interesting and emotionally hard class. We read Ribble (2015) and we learned about the nine elements of digital citizenship. We learned about the digital footprints we leave behind everytime we go online. It was very interesting to learn about copyright, plagiarism, public domain, fair use, and creative commons. I have been talking with different people and giving some advice about these topics. Watching videos about bullying or cyberbullying is so hard! But learning how to educate people to be kind is a beginning to attack the problem of bullying.
Now we are in the last class and it is fascinating to go back to reflect on our learning. I am glad we have the opportunity to put all the resources together in case we need them in the future. This is the point when I have appreciated the ePortfolio the most! I created this video to reflect on the journey. I am scared of what comes next because now everything is in my hands, but I feel empowered to keep learning and keep growing.
References:
Covey, S., McChesney, C., & Huling, J. (2012). The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving your wildly important goals. Simon and Schuster
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Random House
Mertler, C. A. (2016). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications
Patterson, K., & Grenny, J. (2013). Influencer: The power to change anything
Patterson, K., Grenny, J., & Swizler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations: tools for talking when stakes are high. (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill New York
Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools: Nine elements all students should know. (3rd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology
Thomas, D., & Brown J. S. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. (Vol 219) Lexington, KY: CreateSpace
TEDxYouth (2012, October 16). STOP STEALING DREAMS: Seth Godin at TEDxYouth@BFS [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=sXpbONjV1Jc&feature=emb_logo
TEDx Talks. (2010, December 10) Nancy Duarte uncovers common structure of greatest communicators 11/11/2010 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/1nYFpuc2Umk
Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design, Expanded 2nd Edition. Pearson