It is hard to believe that this is my final reflection and an end to the coursework to obtain my ed-tech specialist endorsement. For three years I have been working towards gaining expertise and knowledge and skills and an understanding. My pedagogy has shifted, my focus too. When I began this journey, I intended to work towards becoming a STEAM teacher. I wanted to teach kids about technology. Now, I will be working mostly with adults as a coach and I have never felt more prepared than I do right now.
Not only has a pandemic ravaged our world, but our roles in education have also shifted and changed in an instant. It is only because of the last three years of graduate courses that I have taken that I have felt solidly prepared for this challenge.
If you had asked me two weeks ago how I was doing, I might have said awful. This is a very different response for me because typically, I am lighthearted and energetic and positive. For a while, I was not. I was scared and hopeless and unsure about everything in my life. Now, I have embraced this new normal. I have provided professional development opportunities for my colleagues and teammates, and have walked parents and students through this new world of remote learning. And you know what, we are all doing okay.
There are some things that I wish we would've been able to teach our families ahead of time, but mostly my students were prepared. Because I have been integrating pedagogies and practices
Student-focused, universally designed learning is at the forefront of our minds as educators right now. Students are no longer sitting right in front of us so we need to design curriculum that follows the principals in UDL to engage our students.
Although I slipped into negativity, I remembered that focusing positive was more productive and that I needed to look more at what was going right rather than what was going on in remote learning. It worked, I changed my approach, and here we are in week 3 of remote learning with a feeling of productive lessons and activities designed for ALL students to access. Timely and meaningful feedback can be provided and you know what...students are ACTUALLY learning. And so are we. As educators, this zone of proximal development was uncomfortable at first. Now, we are thriving.
Things are going really really well. I have finally figured out how to balance family and work at home. My colleagues have embraced the format that I proposed and we are all on the same page (something that I haven't seen in the five years I have been at City School) and we are collaborating more than we ever have before. All of 4-6 literacy is working together to achieve a common goal.
As the world navigates the COVID-19 pandemic, we know that this is a challenging time for many and unprecedented times for us all. But, I am realizing now that there are many silver linings and I have the skills and knowledge to create positive change for our school family. I have committed to being this leader in making our world a better place.
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