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My Future As a Life-Long Learner

 

 

 

As my Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program comes to a close, it is more and more evident to me that I am not only a teacher, but a life-long learner. It seems simple; that everyone continues to learn as they go on in life. As a teacher of our youth, however, I feel more responsible than ever to continue to challenge myself and become the best teacher and learner I can be. It is part of my job to continue to learn and adapt my thinking and ways of teaching. Children continue to change and so must we as educators. I firmly believe that teachers who are excited about learning will have students who are excited about learning. As I continue on my educational journey, my main goals are to become a better collaborator, use technology more in my classroom, and stay on top of the different disabilities we see in our classrooms daily. 

 

At my current school, we only have one class of each grade so I was the only first grade teacher. We did not have any extra resources. There was no Resource Room, Special Education Teacher, Reading Interventionist, or School Psychologist. This made things difficult at times. I think some of the best learning that a teacher can do is through collaboration with her peers. The only collaboration I did for the most part was with the Kindergarten and 2nd grade teachers. At my new school, I will have two partner teachers to collaborate with. This is something that I'm very excited about, but also a little nervous. I have always kind of been on my own, so to speak, so it's a little nerve wracking wondering how it will be with two partner teachers. My new school also also has a Guidance Counselor and an Academic Intervention Specialist. I look forward to working and collaborating with them to help my students achieve their fullest potential. There are many articles and videos online that support teacher collaboration and the benefits it provides for students! I plan to read and watch more of these to help me understand the best way to get started with my new colleagues. 

 

Most teachers will tell you that they can teach and do their job without technology. I am one of those teachers. I have been put in classrooms with zero technology and I did my job and I did it well. I do know, however, that when I have had technology, it opens the doors to endless student learning. I am able to teach things in different ways. I am able to share different forms of media with students. I am able to differentiate lessons more. And of course, students always seem more engaged when technology is involved. In the fall, I am starting a new job. I am moving to a larger Catholic school. This school has much more technology than my current school. I look forward to learning more about using technology in my classroom again. I want to use all of my resources to the best of my ability. I need to make sure I am on top of the technology and just how I can use it to benefit my students. I have found some websites that are great for teachers using technology. Here are a few: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/ipad-teaching-learning-apps-ben-johnson ,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w9CnaeaiAE

 

The last goal that I have as a life-long learner is to make sure that I am aware of and fully understand all of the different disabilities we see in our classrooms. There are so many different disabilities that we see now, but as the general education teacher, it is my responsibility to make sure that I reach each and every one of my students, whether they have a disability or not. I plan to continue reading books and online resources, watching videos, attending professional development seminars, and collaborating with the other teachers and special education teachers at my school. 

 

As I continue to reach my goals as an educator, I am excited to see what the future holds. I have big changes ahead this fall and I'm excited to see how I am challenged and how I grow as an educator. Right now, I see myself staying in the classroom, but we never really know what the future holds. I'm excited to continue learning and to see what happens in the future!

 

 

 

Never stop learning quote from: purehappylife.com

Dr. Seuss quote from: http://25dip.com/dr-seuss-quotes/

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