GOAL REFLECTION
The Evolution of Goals: Thinking Back and Looking Ahead
In the fall of 2016, I joined the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. In joining a distinguished faculty at such a large school, I quickly realized the importance of building a legacy. I asked myself, “What do you want to be known for as a teacher and colleague?” I recognized my talent and expertise for technology was something I could offer my school, students, and colleagues. I decided to advance my own professional development and pursued my Certificate in Educational Technology from Michigan State University. The three-course certification program flew by and affirmed my interest in pursuing an advanced degree.
When I began my journey to earn a Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET), my goal was to receive the training necessary to transition from being a technology savvy elementary classroom teacher to a school technology coach. I, somewhat naively, thought being a technology coach would be ​easy​ for a teacher who was a quick learner and full of creative ideas. My goals for the MAET program mainly consisted of learning new and exciting technologies for my teaching practice and sharing the momentum with my colleagues. However, shortly after beginning the MAET program, I accepted a split role as University of Chicago Laboratory Schools’ Lower School Technology Integration Specialist and Computer Science Teacher. This pushed me to expand my professional goals.
As the Technology Integration Specialist, I have learned there are more barriers to technology integration than I ever imagined. From technical issues to time constraints to teacher hesitation or even resistance, it is far more complicated than simply learning new and exciting technologies. For example, while I thought maintaining a blog would ignite my colleagues’ curiosity for technology and spark ideas, I have found that to be true for only a handful of teachers. The majority of teachers prefer face-to-face collaboration time. For this reason, one of my goals has expanded from attending grade level meetings and creating blog posts supporting technology integration in existing classroom curriculum to in the future carving out one-on-one face time with my colleagues to collaborate and brainstorm, shifting the blog posts to secondary support. Another goal of mine was to research, learn about, and provide more tools for teachers to use in their classrooms (i.e. Google Drive accounts for all Lower School students), but this has proven to not be enough, as many teachers have been reluctant to use tools without individualized instruction beforehand. Therefore, my goal has expanded from researching, learning about, and providing tools, to designing relevant, in-person professional development before providing tools.
As I reflect on the simple goals I first had when I joined the MAET program to the more thoroughly developed goals I now have professionally, it makes me proud of my growth as an educator. While my simple goals of learning and sharing new technologies have remained, they have also evolved and expanded based on my own reflections and the needs of my colleagues. To me, committing to lifelong learning and goal-evolution are two of the most important traits to have as a technology leader and traits I continually strive to embrace.