"I don't believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         - Ken Venturi

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Throughout my years of school and teaching I feel as if I have received an education on education that has delved deeper than I ever thought.  My traditional university education experiences, in both undergrad and graduate work, and my “trial by fire” education in the classroom have helped shape me into the teacher that I am today.  With all my experiences I never thought that I would be where I am now, doing the things I do as an educator at such an “early” time in my teaching career, though I still have a great journey ahead of me.

 

As teachers, we see not only the benefit, but the necessity of continued improvement.  I feel a friend best summed it up on a camping trip.  Paraphrasing, he said...

 

“If you can’t look back and confidently say that you could out think, out talk, and beat up your previous years self then you’ve done something wrong”.  

 

Blunt but true, those words have stuck with me for years.  Our innermost desire is to be “better” than what we are in… well… anything and everything.  My goals will not only be applicable to my job as an educator, but also to my goals and wants as a lifelong learner.  

 

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Contributions to Education

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As a teacher I give, a lot.  This “giving” comes in many forms, teaching students, volunteering time, assisting with school improvement, etc.  These are all important parts of being a teacher, but through this I want to still continue to raise the quality of my contributions.  My pervious experience lie in co-chairing the Michigan Arts Education 2014 Conference, participating in school improvement through my art class (door design pictures below or you can see the project in its entirity HERE), and more.  But some of these are my “first try”, though they were big things, I want to go bigger.  One focus is my school life, I want to join our schools Improvement Team as well as work on becoming a respected voice in my district.  Along with that I would love to become the head or the art program for my district one day, an experience like this would afford me better chances to help make a difference in my school, my community, and my program.

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21st Century Learning and Educating

 

Throughout improving myself and my school I have been working on better integrating 21st century learning techniques into my lessons.  This has happened through use of various tools and technologies.  At my current level I have worked on using the internet as a resource for research and reflection, including digital activities that complement my in class “hands on” use of medias and materials.  I participated in designing an online course this school year on two separate occasions.  Each one helped me understand the usefulness of 21st century learning, but I still feel like I have a lot to learn.  I want to continue to look into what other technologies I could incorporate into my classroom that will benefit teaching and learning.  In saying that I need to make sure that the resources I gather will be applicable in my classroom, what works for others might not work for me, so specializing and narrowing my scope will be necessary in order to better myself and my classroom.  One example of a resource I use and would like to build off of is PiratePad.net.  This site provides students with a google docs esque note pad where they can participate together to take notes, research, share ideas, etc.  Right now I use it for group reflection but would like to build it into group note taking so that through guided instruction the entire class can come up with detailed notes on a section or topic then all I need to do is print it off for everyone.

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Continue to improve curriculum in order to improve learning

 

For this goal I want to focus on continuing to develop and transform my own personal curriculum.  Throughout my time teaching I have amassed many lessons to use, varying from my own creation to those of fellow art teachers, but most of these lessons come from those I know.  I would like to be able to reach out and find more materials and resources to use when creating or finding lessons.  I plan on continuing research into one of our schools persons of interest, Anita Archer.  We have adopted many of her teachings and theories, such as the “I do, We do, You do” which helps guide students through new information.  Using her theories and teachings as a spring board I want to learn more from not only her, but other people deeply rooted in education.  One of those people are Daniel Willingham, an author whose book I read during my first year of the Master’s Program.   His book Why Don’t Students Like School? Was something that really interested me and got me thinking more about theory and its usefulness in application.  For a quick breakdown of the entire book follow the link HERE to Punya Mishra's breakdown of each chapter in less then thirty minuets.  This experience helped me grow, and those experiences are what I seek in the future!

 

 

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All these goals are aimed towards improving myself for the benefit of my craft, my students, and my school.  Without goals we have nothing to reach for.  I feel as if all my goals are great starts, but like every journey, there are stops, stumbles, and even detours.  But once you reach your destination you start thinking about your next trip, so with these goals as a start I look forward to what waits for me on the horizon.