Know thy teacher-self.
Entering into my master’s program, I was a first year teacher who was incredibly aware that she had a lot to learn. I knew I wanted my teaching to be richer and more purposeful. I knew I wanted to see students learning in more relevant and tangible ways. I knew I wanted to contribute more to my professional community. Yet in all these desires, I didn’t know how to make them happen amidst managing my classroom, knowing my content, prepping materials, going to meetings upon meetings — I felt stuck in my teaching practice, like I was merely surviving each day.
I chose to pursue a Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) because I needed the time and space to focus on my teaching practice. I needed to reflect on and revise my practice if I was going to begin my career on the path I truly wanted: a path that led to more purposeful teaching decisions, more invigorating learning experiences, and more insightful professional communities.
I believe that to empathize with another person, to be able to walk alongside someone in their world, is to experience life more fully and more vividly than if we were to walk alone.
"Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors."
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TERRY PRATCHETT, A HAT FULL OF SKY
What I found in MAET was the care I needed to flourish as a new educator. My professors and colleagues challenged and encouraged me through engaging learning experiences that revitalized my teaching practice. I came to a new understanding of my educational responsibility in three ways: my responsibility to students, my responsibility to colleagues, and unexpectedly, my responsibility to myself.
RESPONSIBILITY TO STUDENTS
Using technology to amplify students’ learning
My time in MAET refined my perspective of technology’s role in the classroom: I used to view technology as a trick up my sleeve to impress students, but now I choose technology intentionally to amplify students’ learning. My first class in MAET, CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding with Technology, challenged me to reconsider technology’s purpose in the classroom through the lens of Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK). The TPACK theory asserts that teachers use technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge when designing lessons, but the overlap of these three knowledge areas will create the most effective learning experience. Any technology used in the classroom should support the content objective and the teaching methods used. In other words, we shouldn’t use technology just for the sake of using technology.
TPACK changed my approach to my practice because it challenged me to consider both the affordances and constraints of every technology tool. I learned to weigh the effectiveness of technology over the entertainment because the end goal should be supporting students’ learning. I now consider how the technology, content, and pedagogy works together to create more intentional learning experiences. It is empowering to know that I can defend my teaching decisions, now that I have a lens through which I can assess whether the lesson tools support students’ learning.
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Promoting creativity and failure in the classroom
Another significant change in my teaching practice came from learning about the role of failure as a catalyst to students’ learning. In CEP 815: Technology and Leadership, I read Shaunna Smith’s article “Epic Fails,” which opened my eyes to the idea that students need to embrace failure if they are to develop the grit and perseverance necessary to be creative lifelong learners. When reading this article, I created a three minute video that summarized three main takeaways of the article and described three strategies for applying those takeaways to my teaching practice. In designing the video, I was
challenged by my three takeaways: adopt an instructional approach that promotes student failure, provide students the skills and time to adequately reflect on failure, and use alternative assessments that honor failure and progress over success and perfection.
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My class assignment challenged me to confront my own practice, exposing the disconnect between my beliefs and my actions. Though I strongly value failure and creativity, I wasn't communicating that to students. Learning about failure was critical to my teaching practice because I now design lessons and activities for students that promote failure and creativity as central values of our classroom community.
I write a new quote each week to remind students of our classroom values
RESPONSIBILITY TO COLLEAGUES
Strengthening my Professional Learning Network
One of the most transformational lessons in MAET came from CEP 811: Adapting Innovative Technologies in Education when we discussed the importance of a Professional Learning Network (PLN) to the vitality of one’s career. My PLN is the community of teachers, counselors, administrators, professors, etc. who I’m connected with and who support my development as an educator. I can rely on this community to help me grow and refine my teaching practice. Likewise, they should feel like they can rely on me as their colleague. My instructors invited us to map out our current PLN, and I realized I’m connected to numerous brilliant people who I trust and aspire to be like. Yet, as I saw my connections laid out in front of me, I knew I wasn’t fostering those relationships to their fullest potential, so I set forward into my next year of teaching with this new goal in mind: build a stronger PLN.
Over the next year and a half, I spent intentional time with people in my network. My colleagues and I committed to weekly meetings to plan our lessons together, and we agreed to implement at least one new idea each marking period. I also joined the New Educator Support Team (NEST), a group of new and veteran teachers who meet monthly to discuss relevant topics in our practice. My greater involvement in my PLN has undoubtedly inspired and refined my teaching, and I attribute this change to my time in MAET.
Contributing to my school through leadership roles
In addition to strengthening my PLN, I learned the importance of taking on new leadership roles in my school. In CEP 815: Technology and Leadership, I considered the strengths of my own teaching practice and selected three technologies to present to my colleagues. For each technology, I evaluated the affordances and constraints, especially through the lens of TPACK. The assignment was simple — present three tech tools to the class — but it showed me that I could defend my teaching decisions and that I had something to offer my peers. This reflective experience exposed a false assumption I had been making about myself: that I was too young and inexperienced to lead. Moving forward, I made a commitment that I would seek out leadership opportunities in my school.
Since then, I have joined two teams in my school, one for our mental health awareness program and one for our school improvement team, and I volunteered as the leader of subcommittees. For our mental health program, I coordinate school-wide outreach events with a group of students. For the school improvement team, I co-lead our learning walk initiative among the middle school staff. Both of these leadership roles allow me not only to lead, but to promote efforts that I care deeply about. Though it may sometimes feel intimidating to stand in front of my colleagues, I feel more confident and more purposeful when giving back to my school through leadership opportunities.
One outreach event for our mental health awareness program included writing positive messages on all the lockers for when students arrived in the morning
RESPONSIBILITY TO SELF
Being a lifelong learner both in and outside my teaching practice
I have used the phrase “lifelong learner” to describe myself for years, but MAET taught me that being a lifelong learner is a lifestyle, not a title. In CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding with Technology, I researched the importance of inquiry-based learning. Our instructors themselves had designed our course to be more creative and hands-on, specifically through the Networked Learning Project. In this project, I was tasked with learning a new skill by only using online resources and networking to complete my objective. I chose to learn how to reupholster a chair, and honestly, it was exceptionally challenging. Objectively, my reupholstery project was a failure, amounting to a poorly covered old chair that never made it into my new house. However, because MAET had taught me to reconsider the role of failure in one’s learning, I was able to view this project as a successful experience despite the unsuccessful outcome.
The main lesson I learned through the Networked Learning Project was to never forget what it’s like to be a student. It had been a long time, years even, since I had attempted something outside my comfort zone due to my fear of failure. My failed reupholstery reminded me that many students walk into my classroom each day feeling as unprepared as I did, and I want them to know that their questions and confusions can still amount to lessons learned. Moreover, if I believe that my students should take risks in their learning, then I should do that for myself. I have found a newfound love for discovery and inquiry in my personal life, knowing I owe it to myself to be a true lifelong learner.
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Prioritizing self-care in the effort to prevent burnout
Besides committing to my own learning journey, I walked away from MAET with another responsibility to myself: to prioritize self-care above work productivity. In CEP 822: Approaches to Educational Research, I wrote a literature review on the problem of teacher burnout, seeking to identify common signs of burnout and strategies for preventing or revitalizing from burnout. Common signs of burnout included emotional exhaustion and feelings of apathy toward students, whereas signs of job satisfaction included positive feelings toward students and a sense of accomplishment in one’s work. This research project on teacher burnout reminded me that all of us, new and veteran teachers alike, run the risk of overworking ourselves to the point of exhaustion. However, with some attention to our habits and self-monitoring of our emotions, we can take care of ourselves while still being effective, committed teachers.
"You've been assigned this mountain to show others it can be moved."​
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NOEL SHIVELEY
Completing this literature review gave me a clear vision for my teaching career, knowing that my professional self cannot overrun the other sides of my life if I want to remain happy in this career. Because of this research, I have applied emotional coping strategies and established boundaries in my work life that allow me to be more present and engaged both in and outside work. Even more so, I have developed presentations and activities to help inform others of how to address burnout in one’s career. Through my PLN, I have been able to begin sharing these resources with my professional community. Moving forward, I know this responsibility to myself is one I will cling to and one that I intend to share with my fellow educators.
Overall, my time in MAET empowered me with new knowledge and experience that has defined my teaching practice for years to come. I better understand my responsibility to students to use technology in meaningful ways and to promote failure and creativity as the heart of learning. I better understand my responsibility to my colleagues to strengthen the relationships in my PLN and to take on leadership roles in my school. Last but not least, I better understand my responsibility to myself to be a lifelong learner both in and outside of my professional life and to prioritize self-care above work productivity.
With these new approaches to my teaching practice, I am confident in defending my teaching decisions, leading my colleagues, and taking care of ourselves as teachers. I see a clearer path before me in my career, one that is full of failure, discovery, and purpose. From MAET, I learned the importance of stepping back from the busyness of everyday teaching to center myself on the underlying purpose of living the best life I can for my students, my colleagues, and myself.