As I am about to begin my last semester of the Instructional Technology Master's program at KSU, I find myself reflecting on the semester that has ended and making resolutions for the year to come.
This semester, I again took two classes. The class for the Instructional Technology MEd program was ITEC 7305, Data Analysis and School Improvement. I began the semester by thinking that the class content would be very dry, difficult to understand, and somewhat unengaging. I continued this train of thought up until we began work on our larger projects, where the lightbulb finally came on and everything that we had studied clicked and came together for me. In this class, we learned many ways of using Excel that had escaped my grasp previously. For someone who is not "a math person," I am continuously amazed at all the ways that I use Excel as part of my daily responsibilities and by how excited I am to learn new ways to use it. I think that the Data Overview was most valuable project completed because of the timeliness of our need as a school for data to support our grant study. Over the next year, I hope to continue applying this learning in my school by working closely with the administration and the ELA and Math departments as we collect and analyze the data needed to meet the goals of our i3 grant.
The other class that I took this semester was for my Leadership Endorsement, EDL 7500, Education Leadership and Ethics. This was another course that I initially approached with great trepidation. We were asked to "think like lawyers" and my first response was, "Wait! But I'm not a lawyer and I never wanted to be one! How can I possibly think like one?!" However, the course ended up being was of the best courses that I've taken throughout the entire program. While the information presented was challenging and the application of law, as well as all of the exceptions, were sometimes difficult to follow, the course was intellectually stimulating and caused me to evaluate all of my actions, as well as the actions of those around me throughout the entire semester. In fact, despite my initial misgivings, I enjoyed the course so much that I am considering options for the future that would enable me to take other similar courses. I just need to discover what degree track they would follow.
Now that our new semester is about to begin, I also have begun to make resolutions for the upcoming year, as one does,
What are your resolutions, goals, or aspirations for this year? Share below in the comments! Happy New Year!
This semester, I again took two classes. The class for the Instructional Technology MEd program was ITEC 7305, Data Analysis and School Improvement. I began the semester by thinking that the class content would be very dry, difficult to understand, and somewhat unengaging. I continued this train of thought up until we began work on our larger projects, where the lightbulb finally came on and everything that we had studied clicked and came together for me. In this class, we learned many ways of using Excel that had escaped my grasp previously. For someone who is not "a math person," I am continuously amazed at all the ways that I use Excel as part of my daily responsibilities and by how excited I am to learn new ways to use it. I think that the Data Overview was most valuable project completed because of the timeliness of our need as a school for data to support our grant study. Over the next year, I hope to continue applying this learning in my school by working closely with the administration and the ELA and Math departments as we collect and analyze the data needed to meet the goals of our i3 grant.
The other class that I took this semester was for my Leadership Endorsement, EDL 7500, Education Leadership and Ethics. This was another course that I initially approached with great trepidation. We were asked to "think like lawyers" and my first response was, "Wait! But I'm not a lawyer and I never wanted to be one! How can I possibly think like one?!" However, the course ended up being was of the best courses that I've taken throughout the entire program. While the information presented was challenging and the application of law, as well as all of the exceptions, were sometimes difficult to follow, the course was intellectually stimulating and caused me to evaluate all of my actions, as well as the actions of those around me throughout the entire semester. In fact, despite my initial misgivings, I enjoyed the course so much that I am considering options for the future that would enable me to take other similar courses. I just need to discover what degree track they would follow.
Now that our new semester is about to begin, I also have begun to make resolutions for the upcoming year, as one does,
- I will not fall behind this semester. This is my last semester and I will not only finish on time, but feeling good about the effort put forth throughout the entire semester.
- I will apply my learning on a daily basis. As I begin the culmination of my master's program, I will work to apply something that I learned through the program to my daily job activities,
- I will relish my free time. When the program is complete, I will spend my newly-free time with my family and friends to make up for the time that I have missed with them over the past two years (instead of "wasting it" on TV shows, movies, books, and Pinterest).
- I will continue to be a lifelong learner, even when not in school. We can always learn new things. I will continue learning from my PLN on Twitter and Pinterest and will attempt to try new things in my responsibilities, even when the program is complete.
What are your resolutions, goals, or aspirations for this year? Share below in the comments! Happy New Year!
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