In many regards I have been ill prepared for this Master's program and I often think, "What was I thinking?" Looking back, I wanted a challenge and I wanted to learn about my students and their brains. Most importantly, I wanted to improve my teaching. But I took lightly the amount of time that would be required. I continue to struggle with time management and this is taking it's toll on a few areas of my life. Give me a few thing to do and I will do them well, give me many things to do and I will do a lot of things badly. Ah, such is the bane of my procrastination.
As far as technology is concerned, I am still fumbling through, but this gets better with less feared attempts to try new things. At least I am less angry about it. In the beginning of the class, my attitude was that of the proverbial old man yelling; "Get off of my lawn you crazy kids!" Not sure why anger is how I feel about approaching new technology challenges. I suppose it is a displacement of my anger towards feelings of incompetence. It can be so damn humbling and frustrating. I thought that the use of technology was eating my time as I tried to learn how to take an on line class, zoom, create a website and blog, when all I wanted to do was get to the content. I thought that my work was compromised due to this steep learning curve. I now see that it was all about the process all along. I think my big 'ah ha' moment was when Kelley Miller said that this Master's program was the PBL model. It seems so obvious now, but this knowledge gave me better understanding of what this is all about. Interesting to realize that we have been using this flipped classroom model, as well. All in all, I am glad that I was able to stick with the classes and the learning. Proud that I was able to make it this far. I have thoroughly enjoyed the topics that we have covered. I have been inspired by the varying strategies and instructional models. I have taken a much needed, indepth look at my instruction and the learning of my students. I am excited to attempt new strategies and to share them with my peers. The readings, the books, the videos have all been stimulating. I have particularly enjoyed learning about the brain and it's learning functions. I am interested to continue learning more about how to implement 21st century skills that integrate the meaningful use of technology in a primary classroom.
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AuthorJennifer Wade ArchivesCategories |