ISTE Standard 4 Digital Citizenship Poster

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Teacher Leadership Standard 4-End of Course Reflection

End of Course Reflection

Teacher Leadership Standard 4: Engage in analysis of teaching and collaborative practices.

10 weeks ago I officially took that big step and began the whole "getting your Master’s Degree" thing. I had begun my third year of teaching 4th grade and it felt like the right time to start this whole process. When I started this course, I really did not know what to expect. I knew that I was extremely intimidated by the whole writing papers in APA format, writing/sharing ideas on discussion boards, and the biggest challenge of balancing being a teacher, teammate, a student, a daughter, a sister and a friend all at the same time. This course’s goals were to have us really reflect and analyze our own teaching practices and collaborate in a variety of different settings-such as partnerships or small groups, which I never really gave much thought to beforehand. I knew about the importance of collaboration, just not the depth of reflection that really goes along with it.

I remember at the very beginning of this quarter, I sat at my computer with anxiety of pushing “reply” to our very first discussion board. Bracing myself for the possible critiques that may have followed, or the possible perception that I really do not know a whole lot in areas of teaching. However, that was never the case. Through our courses reading I gained a lot of knowledge about how to reflect and approach collaboration and working with others. I posted in our second module about the fundamentals that I would like to work on throughout the course/at work and those two things were “Being Open” and “Viewing Learning as Mutual.” The first one of Being Open (York-Barr, Pg. 38): Taking and considering multiple perspectives. Was not something that I struggled with in the sense of needing or wanting to be right all of the time within a group. It was more in the sense that I needed to be open to hearing responses that are going to help me and allow me to grow. I have always had the challenge of hearing critiques and responses to my own personal thinking.  I have always been shy and have the fear of saying or doing something, and having someone harshly respond to it. However, with pushing myself out of that restrictive box, I have been able to really show my grade level teammates that I am a part of the team, I have these ideas, resources, and opinions in which they have been very complimentary of. They have never once responded in a way that has hurt me. Which leads me into the next area that I really took on the perspective of, viewing learning as a mutual thing.

 We are all teachers and have things to learn every single day. I think that is one of the great things about the field of Education, there are always new developments, skills, resources, and theories to try. Our textbook states that some schools take on hierarchy structures of individuals based on age, years of experience, degree held or even the grade level taught (York-Barr, Pg. 40).  Being the youngest on my team in age and in the experience department definitely has made me think that I cannot offer as much as my teammates can who are older and have more experience than myself, however, my perspective on this has changed over the last 10 weeks. It also helped that this course gave me the opportunity to work with a partner during our lesson plan collaboration project that works in a completely different area of education than I do. Immediately I got hit with that fixed mindset of, I am not sure what I can offer to my partner that would be helpful for his lesson and students. After reading the article “Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff” by Keith Heggart, I made a realization that I need to practice what I preach to my students. He states that “the crucial point for individuals is that these mindsets have a large impact upon our understanding of success and failure. Fixed mindset people dread failure, feeling that it reflects badly upon themselves as individuals, while growth mindset people instead embrace failure as an opportunity to learn and improve their abilities” (Heggart, 2016)  I am always telling my kids to take their mistakes and learn from them. That it is okay to make them because we learn so much more and become stronger learners. Just as James Morehead states “That struggling means you’re committed to something and are willing to work hard” (Morehead, 2012). I have really had to embrace that growth mindset as a teacher-student within this Teacher Leadership program and in the work environment. After working with my partner for this lesson, the results were wonderful. My lesson offered a lot of supports for my students-visuals, working with each other, helper rings, which my partner really helped me access. I walked into our first meeting with a skeleton of a lesson, and my partner really helped me add the meat to my lesson in essence of resources, more vocabulary to focus on, and differentiation ideas.

The overall impact of this class has had a great impact on me personally on the way that I reflect and collaborate with others.  Before this course, I still really struggled with voicing my opinions/thoughts, being self conscience of people coming in a seeing me teach, and asking for help. I have always had the mentality that I want to do great things and do the best I can for my students so they can be the most successful. Little did I know, that in order for that to happen, I have to enter that whole process of self reflection and search for feedback in order to grow. However, that feedback cannot just come from anyone. You must pick collaborative partners that produce a positive energy, not drain it. They must have a similar purpose to you in the sense of having a growth mindset and open to the feedback. It has only been 10 weeks of this program and I have felt that I have already started to grow more in my teaching practice. I am looking forward to the rest of this program and the knowledge and experiences I will gain throughout. I feel that I am now in a better growth mindset then I was before, and willing to take those risks in order to continue to grow as a learner and a educator. 

Resources:

 Heggart, K. (2015, February 03). Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff. EduTopia. Retrieved December 4, 2016, from https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/developing-growth-mindset-teachers-and-staff.

 Morehead, J. (2012, June 19). Stanford University’s Carol Dweck on the Growth Mindset and Education. One Dublin. Retrieved from https://onedublin.org/2012/06/19/stanford-universitys-carol-dweck-on-the-growth-mindset-and-education/.

 

York-Barr, J., Sommer, W.A., Ghere, G.S., & Montie, J.K. (2006). Reflective Practice to Improve Schools: An action guide for educators (2^nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. 

ITSE5 EDTC6433 Resolution Reflection Module 5

ISTE Standard 5:

Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.

1. Participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.

1. Exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others.

1. Evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.

1. Contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of the teaching

My Triggering Question: What can learning communities contribute to support the use of technology in the classroom, which I can share with my 4th grade team that we can easily try and start to implement in our rooms?
Resource: PLC Hybird

Summary: Titled "Can online learning communities achieve the goals of professional learning communities? What Literature Says, the articles explains some research on the benefits and challenges of moving PLCs to a more technology base. As teachers we are always struggling for time to meet face to face, the space where to meet, and the pace at which the meetings go. I know within our district, we in the past have had district wide grade level meetings to share ideas. But these meetings never had a great turn out due to the distance and the time to meet. If we had the opportunity to move the meeting digitally, as the text suggest, it may help open the door to sharing more ideas across district. However, depending on the demographic of the teachers , could hinder the involvement. It states that "discussions of online PLCs generally focus on how to move traditional PLC activities and functions online to take advantage of the greater flexibility. The research makes the case for hybrid PLCs, which blend the online and face-to-face environments. As theory and research evolve, more consideration should be given to how the key characteristics of the online environment can transform traditional PLCs."

After this research, I believe that my question needs further research. I really do like the idea of the article giving the idea to use Skype or something like that to help bridge the gap between district grade levels. 

I think that my approach to this last module was slightly difficult for me. Technology and stepping into more leadership positions, these two things have forced me to step outside of my comfort zone. With this year being my 3rd year teaching and starting this leadership program I have had to really take some deep breaths and force myself to take some first steps and really trust myself about what I know/what I can offer to my grade level team and learning community. Part of ISTE Standard 5 is to "Exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others." I started this year with becoming a grade level representative for our school's Instructional Team-meeting with other grade levels to vertically align and dig deeper into our new reading curriculum. Our district recently adopted the Collaborative Classroom Making Meaning reading curriculum which offers a technology twist for teachers to use. As part of assessment, teachers are asked to confer with students during their independent reading time. With the CCC Learning Hub, we are able to take those conferring notes right on our tablets. On my team, I was one of the first members to start using this tool, of setting up a classroom and access the conferring notes section. With doing so, I was able to help my team members access this tool and help them through the other resources that this online curriculum has to offer. With using the the CCC Learning Hub, it helps achieve another part of ISTE Standard 5 of making "effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning." With easy access to these notes, we can guide instruction for independent students. 

In regards to PLCs, my team currently does an amazing job meeting weekly. We meet every Wednesday during our...wait for it....common plan time! This is the first year that all 5 of us have ever had the same plan time. When we meet we always have a set agenda on what we would like to hash out and come prepared for resources that we have found and would like to share for upcoming projects or lessons. My team currently uses OneNote/OneDrive as a place that we upload all of our resources to share with each other. Using OneNote and communicating through email throughout the week is about as much of technology integration my team currently uses to collaborate. With doing some research and looking through some of my learning circle's resources, there are a few things that I would like to explore more for possible team use. 

In the first resource that was shared by one of my learning circle members, Vanessa Oh, entitled "How Teachers Are Learning: Professional Development Remix" makes a couple great points and a list of categorized professional development products: Engage, Learn, Support and Measure. In viewing this source, I realized there are a few products that I already use and have not realized that it is considered part of the learning community realm, like accessing Teachers Pay Teachers or the Teaching Channel. These type of resources are easy to use within our grade level, some we have been using for awhile. 

The second resource that I found beneficial was the the article "Building and maintaining an online professional learning community." For this modules question, I think I narrowed myself too thin. I should have just stopped at the question, what can online professional learning communities offer? From this resource, I have found many different websites such as- Ning which allows its members to create their own social network site for professional development. Through Ning, I found Classroom 2.0, where there are webcasts, discussion forums for teachers to join in regards to implementing technology in the classroom. Another one being Etherpad- this allows for collaboration in real time. A grade level team could all be working on the same document, at the same time, through Etherpad. I thought this one was very interesting. My team could use this for when we create math tests, quizzes, or a literature test. Here is a quick video/tutorial on how Etherpad works: 

There are many different avenues that teachers can go down to collaborate with other teachers via digital tools. You just have to find which media type you prefer and which learning community is going to offer the support you are looking for. Throughout this modules research, I found that there are way more digital learning communities for teachers out there than I thought. I also came to the conclusion that for this ISTE standard that I do not have to have the technological source be used by all members of my team, that I can find the resource and then bring it to the table for my team to use.