What a Difference Four Years Make.....
By Nicole Campbell
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Four years ago, I wrote an essay explaining my professional goals and how Michigan State University’s Master’s Program would help me fulfil them. Now, looking back at the last four years of this program, including 30 credit hours and four job placements, I find it interesting to look at how my goals have both stayed the same and evolved. My goal was simple “to become a master teacher, a lifetime learner, and to continue to grow as an educator.” I was going to do this by studying Technology Education and Special Education, two areas I felt would help me fulfill this dream. I wrote the following for my reasons for choosing these two areas…”. I believe technology is the future of education and our world. I want to be able to utilize technology in my classroom to provide an education for my students that will prepare them for their future. I believe that my students with special needs should have the same advantages as those in general education and I want to be able to provide that for them. I hope through my concentration in Special Education to learn techniques and methods of teaching that will help all of my students succeed in school.”
Since that day in November of 2011, many of those ideas have not changed. I still believe passionately that technology is our students’ future and to prepare them to be successful, we as teacher must adapt how we teach to meet their needs. I also believe wholeheartedly that my students with special needs should feel as successful, if not more successful, than my average achieving students in my general education classroom. I want to empower my students to believe they can achieve even their highest dreams and to strive to be lifetime learners.
What I have learned through my years as a MSU graduate student is how I can mold these two ideas into one philosophy. Technology is not just the future for our students, it is the present. All of my students strive to be better and learn more when given the opportunity to use technology in the classroom. I have seen throughout different projects and assignments, technology “level the playing field” for my special needs students to shine along-side those who are gifted and talented. With each course, my goal changed from becoming not just a master teacher but becoming a teacher who strives to use technology to support every student to be successful in my classroom and beyond. In the last four years, I have seen technology evolve in my school district and have seen students who have struggled academically,emotionally, behaviorally, or all the above, change with the introduction of different technologies into their everyday classroom. I have come to the conclusion that the old “multiple intelligences,” teachers learned of in undergraduate school have been replace by students who are “multiply intelligent.” My goals have changed to learning how to support these students in 21st century learning, so that even the special education students are successful learners. I need to make sure they learn skills and strategies to help them to continue to be lifelong learners. While my goals have not changed much since that day, four years ago, I have changed as a student and as a teacher. I believe I will continue to strive for new depths in my goals and my want to continue to succeed in the dream of being a master teacher, a lifetime learner, and to continue to grow as a professional educator.
Since that day in November of 2011, many of those ideas have not changed. I still believe passionately that technology is our students’ future and to prepare them to be successful, we as teacher must adapt how we teach to meet their needs. I also believe wholeheartedly that my students with special needs should feel as successful, if not more successful, than my average achieving students in my general education classroom. I want to empower my students to believe they can achieve even their highest dreams and to strive to be lifetime learners.
What I have learned through my years as a MSU graduate student is how I can mold these two ideas into one philosophy. Technology is not just the future for our students, it is the present. All of my students strive to be better and learn more when given the opportunity to use technology in the classroom. I have seen throughout different projects and assignments, technology “level the playing field” for my special needs students to shine along-side those who are gifted and talented. With each course, my goal changed from becoming not just a master teacher but becoming a teacher who strives to use technology to support every student to be successful in my classroom and beyond. In the last four years, I have seen technology evolve in my school district and have seen students who have struggled academically,emotionally, behaviorally, or all the above, change with the introduction of different technologies into their everyday classroom. I have come to the conclusion that the old “multiple intelligences,” teachers learned of in undergraduate school have been replace by students who are “multiply intelligent.” My goals have changed to learning how to support these students in 21st century learning, so that even the special education students are successful learners. I need to make sure they learn skills and strategies to help them to continue to be lifelong learners. While my goals have not changed much since that day, four years ago, I have changed as a student and as a teacher. I believe I will continue to strive for new depths in my goals and my want to continue to succeed in the dream of being a master teacher, a lifetime learner, and to continue to grow as a professional educator.
Below are a few links that have helped me begin to reach these goals: