Confucius stated, “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” My learning journey has not been a straight path. There have been many bumps in the road and quite a few twists and turns. But through it all, one thing has remained true. I am an eternal learner. I will take every opportunity and try to learn from it.
I grew up in a suburban area northeast of Houston as the oldest child of four. Unfortunately, I did not have the greatest childhood growing up. My father was abusive, among other things, and my mother was constantly trying to make up for everything my father did. She was strong and resilient but our education was our problem to deal with. I found solace in reading and a place to hide from the crazy that was all around me. Because of this, reading has always been an important part of who I am. I am a reader. I will read anything you give even if I don’t like it because it helps me understand you as a person. Also because of my childhood, I feel like I am an extreme people pleaser, and that has molded how I am as a student.
I remember in elementary school I was always happy to be there. I had a job to do and work to complete and I enjoyed the praise I received from my teachers. I remember joining the first computer club at our school when I was in fourth or fifth grade. We had the big Mac computers with black and green screens. We would learn how to type and play Oregon Trail. This was a big deal and I immediately loved the feel of the keys beneath my fingers and the possibilities that computers would bring.
When I entered middle school, computer screens were in color and we had a whole class devoted to learning how to use them. Most of our assignments were still handwritten, but I enjoyed taking that class and learning how to use computers. I also was part of the yearbook club which allowed me to use the computer differently, with design. That was a beneficial thing to learn and I would continue being part of the yearbook club throughout high school. Using the computer to design page spreads and Photoshop to edit photos were valuable skills to learn. We were also expected to AR, Accelerated Reader, which was a large part of our expectations for our language arts classes. I remember finding books and being so excited to see they had so many points to earn when you took the online comprehension test when you were done reading. I spent a large amount of time in the library throughout middle school.
By the time I was in high school, computers were a main part of our learning. We had to research online, use the computers to type papers, and make presentations. I continued working on the yearbook and grew the skills needed to do that. Looking back, technology changed so quickly during my school years. I don’t think teachers were quite ready to be able to fully embrace all that technology could bring to education. So while I did use technology quite a bit, none of it was integrated into the curriculum. Throughout my bacehlors, technology was used mostly in the same way. As a means to complete an assignment not to enhance it. I didn’t encounter that type of learning until I began my masters degree at Lamar University in Applied Digital Learning.
Throughout all of my learning experiences I have realized that I love to learn. Going back to school again has been a very joyful, sometimes stressful, experience but I can already tell that the things I learn I will be able to take back to my classroom and apply it in a meaningful way. And in some circumstances, I already have. I am excited to see what else I learn and I can bring back to my students and become a better learner and educator as my program goes on.
Technology has always been an important part of my classroom. I have seen the benefits of speech to text with my dyslexic learners, and cowriter for my english language learners, we have used Podcasts to learn from and Ozobots to retell stories. I believe that technology can be a magic tool for engaging students and enhancing learning for all of my students. I am a firm believer that people learn in many different ways and I relish the chance to give my students many opportunities to understand the concepts we are learning and using technology is a bonus.
I am currently a part of the Aspire Technology Education group in my district. We had to apply to our administrator and then to the head of the group to be able to participate and it has been a great learning experience for me. I am able to learn how to use new technology from other teachers, share what I know with them, and then take back my new learning to my school and share it with them. This has helped me in many ways because I am not comfortable with public speaking. However, being able to share something I know and I am excited about has definitely made speaking to a group more bearable.
There are many things I wish we could improve in education. Carol Dweck states that if we want, “to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning. That way, their children don't have to be slaves of praise. They will have a lifelong way to build and repair their own confidence.” And I think that is where we went wrong. We should be encouraging students to ask questions and to make mistakes and grow from them. But instead we are so focused on them learning exactly what we want them to know, when we want them to know it. By allowing them to feel safe in school and in life to, in the words of Miss Frizzle, “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!” I think we would see so many more amazing things from students. Unfortunately, when we made our education system a business, we lost sight of a few things. I hope in my lifetime I will see a shift to what is really important in education.
Cole, J. (Writer), & Degen, B. (Illustrator). (1994). The Magic School Bus [Television series]. Scholastic Entertainment.
Confucius. (n.d.). Philosophy or Writings.
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Ballantine Books.
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