Thoughts of a Growing Teacher [title edited]

After finishing up this course in my Master's program, I have walked away feeling more confident as a teacher and more excited for this new school year and the new ideas and approaches that I will implement. In this course I learned about so many technology tools at my disposal that I had not been aware of before. One of my favorites that the teacher used weekly was Symbaloo. I love how it fostered independently learning, while still be guided by the teacher on content. I am looking forward to implementing this in my lessons to give my students a more independent and empowering approach to their learning. I am not sure I would say I learned this, but that the idea of the independent learning and student creations and student led learning was reinforced in my mind. It is something that I look forward to putting forth in my classroom by getting away from the traditional textbook and opening the class up to more research and projects. I see now how this approach prepares our students for the future workforce and engages them in their work in a way that traditional teaching methods have not. There is a whole wealth of information out there for the students to discover and with the guiding hand of the teacher they are able to do so with great success. The idea of the teacher being the facilitator of learning is a fascinating one and an approach that I have used in my years of leading Bible Studies and teaching Sunday School. When doing these I facilitate the discussion and help guide the women or children to different insights and answers. What I have found in teaching Middle School though is that this is not always totally successful as not all the students feel capable of discussing the topic at hand. For me as the teacher, this means that I need to find different approaches to facilitate the discussion and discovery, and with the wealth of tools that I have discovered in this class, I believe that I have that power at my fingertips.

My favorite assignment in this class was the Accessibility Tools assignment. I found this so informative and really enjoyed trying all of the different tools that Apple has to offer. It was an engaging and hands on assignment for me that was extremely enjoyable. I even got to introduce some of it to my dad who is hard of hearing and uses reading glasses. I had previously never clicked on this on my phone or iPad and am thrilled to have these new tools to introduce to my students and any family or friends that may need it.

As I grow as a teacher and in my own education, I always feel as though I leave a class with more questions than I entered with. I have more of a need of discovery than I had previously. With every new nugget that is introduced to me, there is so much more I can learn about that little nugget and I have barely scratched the surface. I want to know more about each technology that I discovered and found useful, I want to talk personally with someone who has used this technology. I still wonder about the best approach to classroom management, the best way to implement the technology, how to work outside the textbook efficiently to the benefit of the students. As I look at all the things I still want to know and I look at my years in the classroom I realize that I will never stop growing as a teacher and I will never stop learning. Whether I am learning through doing or research or through taking classes, I will never know enough because I have these precious minds in my hands and that is a huge responsibility. A responsibility I am beyond blessed to have, but will never take for granted, so I will keep learning and keep making myself better so that I may be the best for them.