LEARNING THEORIES AND INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNS

Blog #1 Reflection--The Proposal

At the beginning of the process I was excited to think of a technology aspect that would help my school. I knew exactly what I wanted from the start---1:1 Chromebooks. For the past several years I was fortunate to have a principal who encouraged me to dream and dream I did. Unfortunately, my principal decided it was time to leave and spend more time with her family, but that didn't stop my dreaming. The only difference now is that my current principal has put me in charge of being the Title III coordinator for my school. This new role of mine started during the second week of this class--Perfect Timing!

Part of my job as coordinator is to determine the need, write a plan, and follow through with any paperwork and requisition of funding that my school needs and is entitled to. I hope with the proposal that is required in this class is one I can use at my school this year. 

Thus far, having the process chunked has been workable. Now that assigning projects in on the other foot, I can see why chunking assigning projects to our students this way is more beneficial. Not that I didn't know that, but having to actually go through the process makes it clear why I need to continue breaking down long-term assignments for my kids.

The stressful part for me was actually writing an APA paper. YIKES! I haven't done that in years. I do teach writing, but to sixth grade students. The level of writing is clearly different and I teach my students the basics of APA/MLA writing. This part was a true struggle for me.

Although the most challenging part was writing the proposal, I'm still excited to move forward and see this project to the end. Helping to move my school from shared devices from preschool-8th, to 1:1 Chromebooks for 6th-8th is a reachable goal and I can't wait to finally be able to roll that shiny new cart into my classroom and watch my kid's faces. I've shared my dream with them and the types of homework I have. Not to brag, but to show my students that if you have a goal of wanting something, you have to put in the work to get it.

My second challenge is that since I now have a principal who has no experience with Title III funding, I am left to tackle this goal at work on my own. Right now I feel overwhelmed with that and I'm reaching out to others with questions, so that helps. My current principal is behind me 100% and is supportive and is helping me form connections with the right people. Juggling coarse work, work, family, and now my favorite time of the year with the holidays, I need to find ways to get everything done, but still enjoy the ride.

I'm not sure what I think about Technology Specialist roles of Learning Specialist and Instructional Designer. As a classroom teacher, this is all still pretty new to me. I know I have a deep interest of technology and I enjoy sharing what I know at work and learning from others, but I'm still learning about what being a tech specialist truly means. I'm curious to learn about the field of tech coaching and what that entails.