Running head: PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT

My Personal Growth Assessment James Guerra Azusa Pacific University

PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT History of Course Work Course Title EDTC 572: Advanced Educational Psychology Term Summer, 2012 Professor Dr. Jim Brown Key Learnings

EDTC 511: Foundations in Educational Technology

Fall I, 2012

Dr. K. Bacer

EDTC 571: Curriculum Foundations EDTC 517: Digital Telecommunications EDTC 527: Special Projects in Educational Technology EDTC 573: History and Philosophy of Education EDTC 518: Global Learning/ Cross-Cultural Classroom EDTC 524: Instructional Design and Development EDTC 523: Educational Applications of Information Design Hypermedia EDTC 515: Emerging Trends in Technology EDTC 520: Managing TechSupported Curricular Tools EDTC 526: Practicum in Educational Uses of Technology

Fall I, 2012 Fall II, 2012

Ms.Valerie Suffern Mr. Joe Bruzzese Mr. Barry Bettger Ms.Valerie Suffern Dr. K. Bacer Dr. Bruce Simmerock Ms. Laura Silva Dr. Jim Brown Ms. Elisabeth Silver Dr. K. Bacer

Fall II, 2012 Spring, 2013

Summer, 2013 Summer, 2013 Fall I, 2013

Fall II, 2013

Fall II, 2013

Spring 2014

Teaching to different learning styles and applying educational psychology does affect the motivation of 21st century digital natives. I learned Adobe Acrobat, how to avoid plagiarism; aspects of APA style, the importance of collaboration, and how to use Sakai. I learned about constructivism and its application in a Web 2.0 world. I created two blogs, collaborated on Google docs and Google Hangouts, built a web page, and Skyped. I learned to use new web 2.0 tools like wikis, blogs, and create podcasts. By analyzing many different educational theories, I developed my own philosophy of education paper. I learned to develop a Global Learning Project and what projects already exist to participate in. Begin with the big ideas, create the assessments, and design backward to teach those understandings. I learned to design and build the website for my global learning project. I learned more about social issues concerning privacy, safety, cost, and trends of technology. I examined our district's technology plan and learned how to become a technology leader at school. I applied all our tools to create my ePortfolio, cadre web page, and my personal growth assessment.

PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT Personal Growth Learning online takes special skills that you must develop if you are going to complete

the course. You cannot be a quitter, a procrastinator, or an isolated individual. Throughout this program, I have learned to face challenges and not give up so easily. I have had some valleys and times of discouragement, but I have learned how that persistence and hard work can help me achieve more than I think possible. Before this program, when faced with a challenge, I would often avoid it. Scanning medical receipts and uploading them to a website for reimbursement? Forget it! I would rather copy them and send them through snail mail. Building a website? It was too much work for me to do alone so I did not try. My habit of mind was not to persist or ask questions until I succeeded. That has changed. I see it now as monumental mental laziness not to persevere; I now persist in challenges until I am successful. Being given tasks and left alone to accomplish them, forcing me to sweat and scramble, has made me realize I can do more than I thought possible; my confidence has increased tremendously. Spiritually, I came into the program as a long time believer, but I found the emphasis of the Faith in Action Bible (Zondervan, 2005) to force me to consider what I was doing with my faith. It is easy in Protestant circles to let church life substitute for social action, but the topics we covered, especially poverty, awakened me to ways we can apply the Bible to our lives in meaningful ways. I have since sponsored a child, contributed to digging a well in Africa, and gotten active in feeding the homeless. Bigger, though, is the paradigm shift that we Christians are supposed to be improving the lives of the disadvantaged and poor, not just being religious, going to church, and serving our communities. The interaction with my cadre and their love

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and support throughout the program has given me a special appreciation of how much we need each other. Professional Growth Before entering the Master of Arts in Educational Technology, I was like many teachers who have been in the profession for two or more decades: I had my teaching philosophy figured out; I largely worked independently, and did what I have always done, regardless of my students' success. If students were not learning that was because they were not listening, not working hard enough, or did not have the God-given ability to learn math. I was a frustrated Lone Ranger, using sources without attribution, and passive in my approach to my job. My set patterns needed change. I often worked without a plan or clear objectives. This program taught me I need to collaborate, use sources ethically, plan effectively, and actively pursue the training I needed to grow as an educator. Although my students collaborated and helped each other, I worked alone in my classroom, frustrated with my results, rarely talking shop with my colleagues. I have learned that even teachers have a "zone of proximal development", where we grow by learning from a teacher who is more advanced than we are. (Atherton, 2013). Wenger encourages communities of practice that are, ". . . groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly." (Wenger, n.d., para. 3). Teachers in our district complain that there is little quality professional development. I joined no professional associations, read no journals, and had no idea of how tech-savvy teachers used technology in American classrooms. This program has introduced me to RSS feeds of internet resources, and technology educator's groups that effectively implement

PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT technology in the classroom, and shown me my need to network to grow as an educator. My school district is not responsible for my growth; I am, through my Personal Learning Network, Twitter, RSS feeds, and other online resources. For years, I have been using internet resources for brochures, handouts, online presentations, and curriculum, but I have not been attributing my sources. I did not know that

this was unethical until I learned about copyright, creative commons licensing, and plagiarism. I did not know that rewriting my child's term paper was plagiarism. My professors have drilled into me the need to thoroughly evaluate and credit my sources. I respect a person's intellectual property rights and know it is wrong to use graphics, images and ideas without crediting their creators, something I can teach my students when doing projects. Finally, the concept of "Backward Design" has revolutionized my approach to planning. I finally understand what understanding is. (Wiggins & McTighe, 2011, p.3). I have the tools to create powerful lessons and units because I start with the assessments and work backwards. This book has done more to shape my understanding of what teaching and learning really is, so I no longer focus just on the skills, but even more on the application and transfer of the big ideas of mathematics. Technical Growth I came into the program with moderate skills using technology, but I have blossomed as I have become aware of the myriad of Web 2.0 tools that are available. I have learned to design and build websites. I can make and edit videos, use Animoto, make a blog, record a Voice Thread, use Skype and Google Hangouts, create documents from web pages using Acrobat, combine files in Acrobat, annotate and comment on them, create internal and external links,

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and bookmark a document. I have made podcasts, animated videos with Go Animate, and used Jing to screen capture and to record live videos. I have created videos using my iPad for my flipped classroom, and collaborated on a document using Google Docs. I have also learned how to use Dropbox and Google Drive for cloud storage. Besides learning these tools myself, I have learned to implement them into my classroom to create better presentations and to encourage students to use them for their work. I now have students who have created websites, used Prezi for math projects, created Animoto presentations and hybrid presentations using a combination of these tools. We are beyond PowerPoint in my classroom! My personal favorite has been learning to use Adobe Acrobat. I especially love the ability to combine documents to create a project that pulls from various sources including webpages, previously finished documents, and other sources. Beyond that, I love to organize projects with bookmarks and active tables of contents. Already I have created e-workbooks for the teachers to use containing worksheets from a variety of sources and they have found them very helpful. Above all, I have become fluent in technology use and no longer feel overwhelmed at creating documents and presentations. I have learned how to search for and inspect internet material using a variety of search engines. I have learned to use netiquette and how to participate properly in a forum. Overall, I have grown powerfully in my use of technology and Web 2.0 tools.

PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT Life Long Learning Plan As technology continues to evolve and our students come to us as digital natives with different tools than previous generations of students, I must continue to grow to meet their needs. I will continue to build my Personal Learning Network of teachers and tech-savvy

friends to learn from them. I use Twitter, follow several educational technology gurus, and will continue to seek out mentors through Twitter and participate in relevant Nings. I use Flipboard as an RSS feed and I link to numerous tech site and blogs. I will continue to implement the technology I have in different ways and will reflect on my outcomes through journaling and selfreflection. I will become a member of Computer-Using Educators, and will subscribe to online journals for educational technology. I want to continue to learn to use technology to create students who understand digital citizenship, who love to collaborate and create projects that reflect their unique creativity and construction of knowledge. My goal is to make mathematics interesting and concrete to my students through technology, transforming my classroom into a fun learning environment where every student get the support they need to be successfully prepared for the jobs of the future. Eventually I would like to serve as a curriculum and technology resource to the teachers of my school for implementation of the Common Core State Standards in mathematics. As for my obtaining personal mentors, my district has a mentoring program for teachers through two Teachers on Special Assignment. I will work with them to implement new technology and new teaching practices in my classroom. With district support, I will attend conventions and workshops to keep myself current. I will also seek out my APU professors and cadre members at times when I need extra enlightenment!

PERSONAL GROWTH ASSESSMENT Conclusion This program has matured me spiritually, forced me to reexamine my paradigms of teaching and learning, equipped me with some great twenty-first century technology tools, educated me about their use and abuse, made me more ethical in the use of copyrighted work

and more careful to attribute my sources, and excited about integrating technology into all that I do in my classroom. I feel prepared to deal with a new generation of multi-tasking learners using their tools to reach them. I understand my role as a teacher who structures tasks so that students can use the Web 2.0 tools to construct knowledge and publish their learnings. I came into the program as a traditional teacher who spent a majority of his time in lecture and worksheets; I leave as a teacher who understands that real learning and understanding comes when students are motivated to learn and to contribute to the body of knowledge. I now have the tools to do my own professional development, but not as an isolated teachers, but as part of a Professional Learning Network. Part of my task is to better my colleagues and serve as a mentor to them, especially in the area of technology. I am equipped to help them now because of the expertise I have received in this program. I am familiar with the I.S.T.E. standards, digital citizenship, fair use and copyright laws, issues with safety and literacy, and how to integrate technology into the curriculum to enhance engagement and learning. I am stronger and more confident with technology, and feel that my time in the Educational Technology Program will make a difference in my classroom and in my district, and most importantly, in the lives of my students.

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References Atherton, J. (2013) Learning and teaching; situated learning. Retrieved from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/situated.htm Bacer, K., Bettger, B., Brown, J., Bruzzese, J., Silva, L., Silver, E., & Suffern, V. (2012-2014). Online Master of Arts in Educational Technology. School of Education and Behavioral Studies, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA. Retrieved from www.sakai.apu.edu Wenger-Trayner, E. (n.d.). Intro to communities of practice. Retrieved from http://wenger-trayner.com/theory/ Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2011). The understanding by design guide to creating high quality units. Alexandria, Virgina: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Zondervan (2005). Faith in action study bible: living God's word in a changing world.
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.