The outcomes I envisioned for this course were to complete all assignments as an accomplished student while learning the basics of technology and administration. I believe I have come a long way with my writing since week one. It has been hard for me to accept some of my grades as I am an English teacher and I’m not exactly sure what grammatical errors I seem to be making, but I have tried to correct where I thought I may have been having the problems. I was also struggling with citations as I was used to the MLA style, not the APA. I also struggled with working my way around the system. There was a lot of information in many different places, and it didn’t always match up. So with all the assignments and trying to maneuver around an imperfect system, the course was somewhat overwhelming. I do have a better understanding of school leadership and am getting more comfortable with using technology and moving around the different web tools.
The digital tools that were presented in this course were some I had never used before. The RSS feeds, wikis, and blogs were new to me. I actually used Wikipedia with my students in the past, but never knew that a collaboration of people from all over the world created and maintained the site. Since this class started, I’ve had my technology coordinator create accounts for my third grade students on my web page. They are working through our district intranet and are secure on our server with aliases. My students blogged for the first time last week. I have a multimedia blog on my webpage. I ask a question regarding the project of the week and they answer the question by blogging. When they submit, it doesn’t automatically show. I have to go in and accept or decline their entry. This course helped me to teach my students something I never would have known how to do before. My students are excited about learning while technology is being integrated into my lessons.
I will continue to work diligently on my writing and references. When confronted with a challenge, I will not give up until I succeed. I always thought of myself as a writer, but this course has given me a reality check. I do wish the course outline was not so scattered. Looking at the rubrics, the course syllabus, the week overviews, and the to-do lists, with them all having different or not the same detailed instructions, makes the course overwhelming. The course is a lot of work and research, and to have to struggle to figure out exactly what is expected of the students is confusing. Revamping the course to allow for students to not have to search several places for Lamar’s expectations, will allow all students to be successful without becoming overwhelmed and frustrated. There is so much wonderful information in this course, and some students may miss some of that just trying to get around the website and through all the information.
I was able to turn in all course assignments without too much trouble. Our Instructional Associate was a wonderful resource and very understanding and patient with questions I had. I was very overwhelmed with some of the assignments, especially the ones I had never heard of, like E-Rate and RSS feeds. I was able to get through them and continue carrying on. Again, I think the course set-up was so overwhelming at times; it made it more difficult than it should have been. The assignments are certainly Master’s Degree assignments. There really is no need to make the system difficult to maneuver around as well. Some of the uploading I made to my wiki changed my alignments and fonts. Also, when I created my power point by slideboom and transferred it over, some of my necessary information was deleted. This information was needed for the assignment to be complete. My Instructional Associate was wonderful and allowed me to screenshot my information that was deleted, which allowed me to receive the credit for the weekly course assignment.
I have learned so much during these five weeks. I have learned more about technology, which I love. I want to be the best teacher I can for my students and I know learning technology will help me to do that. I learned that I can handle situations that I didn’t think I could. I am much stronger than I gave myself credit for. I now have a goal, not to just graduate with my Master’s Degree, because I will do that, but to become a better, more advanced writer, teacher, and leader. I have learned that my principal wears many hats and there is much more happening on my campus than I ever imagined. I definitely lived in my classroom and grade level. I am so excited that I am finding out how schools really work, from the inside out. I have always considered myself a leader, and I feel like this program will help me to become the best leader I can be in whatever position I may choose.
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