So first things first, I am so happy that I decided to enroll in school again to force me to get this website up and running. I am hoping that this will become a habit and my vision of becoming a blogger with come true.
As you can see I started this website two years ago, basically days before we found out that we would be receiving our first new family member, Nala. After years of trying to have a baby and start a family, we decided that adopting a puppy would be a great way to pass on all of this love that we had waiting to give. It was also at this time that we had just finished our third IUI transfer and were crossing our fingers and toes for a positive result. Our fertility doctor recommended that this was our last try before starting IVF treatments. I have always wanted to be a mother, so I was willing and ready to take that journey. Fast forward a few weeks later and we were now a family of three with a baby on the way! I was really wanting to start this website as an emotional outlet and act as a way to build community with other people who were also struggling to start their family.
Now to get to our assignment question. It actually relates to why this website never got the start when I envisioned it all. I needed to learn more, however, life got in the way and I did not have the time. This is the issue that I have had this year going back to teaching in the classroom. I feel like I do not have the opportunity to learn and grow as an educator.
When I started my position with the District on the Tech Support Team in 2017, I knew that I had been blessed with a great opportunity. I was seen as an ‘expert,’ in technology, however, most of us on the team felt as if we were given the time to explore any problems that may arise with technology. We were all great with troubleshooting and if we were not able to figure something out, we used each other to solve that problem, whether it be over Microsoft Teams or in person.
I got to PLAY as a teacher, which is something that I did not feel I always did, even coming from an ECE background. We were given a Dash, Sphero, Microbit, Minecraft, etc. and were just told to explore. I still remember texting a picture to my fiancé of a BB-8 Sphero and saying I was having a ‘rough day at work!’
Now, it’s not to say that the job was not difficult at times, because it was a lot to take in. I was travelling to different sites to work with different teachers and had to teach or troubleshoot on the spot about some aspects of technology that I did not necessarily feel I was the expert at. A lot of the time when I went to work with a teacher they would ask me how to do something that I did not know how to do, however, I did not let this make me feel like I was not good at my job, I always saw this as an opportunity to learn alongside a colleague. This way we had a shared experience and I felt like it also made them feel that no one is really an ‘expert’ when it comes to technology and it takes a little bit of clicking and fumbling around sometimes.
On the afternoons that I did not have to travel I got to research or teach myself something new. I learned things like Scratch, MIEE course, visited various coding websites, researched new and different iPad apps and played Minecraft to name a few. When I could not quite see how this would work in a classroom, I would approach and visit a teacher and their students and let them explore what I was researching or teaching myself. Most of the time I learned more alongside the student and another educator. We would see what the student is exploring and then have a conversation about visions that we could see in a classroom setting.
Now, it’s 2020, I have a 2 year old puppy, an 18 month old son, and I am back teaching full time in a classroom setting in a grade level that I am not so comfortable with, oh, and throw in a worldwide pandemic! Now, for most teachers remote learning involved a lot of learning very fast to get familiar with online platforms such as FreshGrade and Microsoft Teams. Luckily my class was already familiar and set up so that the transition was a little smoother. My classes were created, they knew how to logon and upload (there was a lot of troubleshooting along the way, don’t get me wrong here) and I felt like I was set. I just needed someone to watch my child so that I could have some peace and quiet 🙂
This is my fear moving forward. I am worried that I will not be ‘ahead of the game.’ I am worried that my teaching style will become outdated. I am worried that my philosophies and beliefs will not be relevant. I am worried that I will not have the time to learn and teach myself the things that I need to be a good teacher.
I have now returned to school three times post university graduation. Once to get my Bachelors of Education, once to get my diploma in Early Childhood Education and now to get my Library certificate. As you can see I love learning and this is really why I became a teacher. Now, this is where I need to take this love of learning and apply it to my teaching in a way that I am learning alongside my students. This is something that I am not good at. I am always feeling like there is a pressure to strictly ‘deliver the curriculum’ and the easiest way to do it is through stand and talk instruction. I always feel the pressure from the parents to give their children more homework or have their children learn how they learned. I have seen the eye rolls when students tell their parents all about their Minecraft builds in class.
My big issue right now is how do we change the vision of school to parents. How do I get my colleagues on board to try something new, but will not budge because, ‘this is the way that it’s always been done’ or they ‘do not have the time or patience to learn something new because the last time they did it just changed again anyways.’ I never had so many colleagues say that they wished that had looked into Teams more with me after I had been promoting it for the last three years! It took a worldwide pandemic to learn something new. So how do we move forward?
How do we change the vision that PRO-D days are not just mandatory fluff days that we have to attend? How do we get teachers changing their thinking from being an expert to being a learner? How do we get teachers excited about their own learning?
I feel like I may be going down a rabbit hole with my questions and concerns but this is so important to our education system. We all need to be on the same page, however, it becomes very hard when we are not presented with opportunities to grow and learn as teachers. Once again, I will refer to my dream job that I had where I not only had the time but the opportunities to learn from others. I was sent to conferences all of the time to increase my knowledge. We were invited to meetings with Microsoft and FreshGrade to give input and have conversations about moving forward. We had the opportunity to make change.
All of this is my biggest concern as an educator. In some ways I feel that I have moved backward in my career and I am hoping to get a Learning Commons position so that I have more opportunities to work with other teachers collaboratively to grow as educators.
So moving forwards I feel like I need to be looking more to growing my Twitter presence as an educator so that I can network and learn. I will be looking into managing our school social media/Twitter so that we can start highlighting some of the innovative learning that is going on at the school. I will be looking towards different online resources to help me grow and maybe plan out what I need to accomplish in a school year. I would also love to research more programs like Kids code jeunesse and Finger Food who will come in an teach our staff and students. I would also love to keep expanding my knowledge and look for short videos to show at staff meetings or Pro-D to spark interest with staff, or maybe even talk to my Admin about a ‘share’ time to help network in our smaller school community.
I am still going to need to think of how I can solve all of these questions and concerns. I do not think that there is one solution and it may take a long time and a lot of small steps to get there. I look forward to researching more personal learning network.
I think I took the ‘thinking out loud’ very literal to this assignment, but it was good to get all of that out!
Thank you for listening 🙂
This is a good first post. I appreciate your narrative structure, reflective tone and personal connections. Sharing your personal story helps build a relationship with your reader. And as teachers, we know that it all starts with building that strong relationship! You are asking excellent questions and have good ideas for further reading and research. The key will be finding a focus that you can build on as we move toward the final project.