Despite it being only two years since I started my masters program, I am amazed at how my goals have evolved and grown. My main goal upon entering the program was to learn new ways to integrate literacy and technology in my teaching and to transform my classroom with all the digital tools and resources that would maximize students’ learning. As someone who came into teaching from another career, I had also felt that I was also lacking in the basic educational theories and my secondary goal was to deepen my understanding of educational theories. A third personal goal was to enhance myself as a learner and teacher through acquiring new ways of doing things.

 

With greater learning comes greater balance and understanding. My first goal has changed from its focus on using the best technology resources across my lessons to focusing on maximizing students’ learning in all areas whether through digital tools or other methods. My graduate work has helped me understand how to continuously evaluate the tools I am using and to question the efficiency and value of using various tools. This questioning lens has helped me stay focused on enhancing students’ learning and has shown me that not all digital tools and resources have equal value. Not only that but there may be times when digital tools are not needed or more traditional tools may be used to better meet lesson objectives. Placing students’ learning and not technology use at the center of my planning and teaching has now become my goal.

 

My secondary goal has not only been achieved but has taken me beyond what I expected to learn in this program. My knowledge in the area of literacy has equipped me with a deep understanding of how students’ learning develops and has helped me become more sensitive to addressing their needs and differentiating their instruction. This goal has evolved from wanting to understand the basic theories that underpin students’ literacy learning to appreciating the value of applying research-based practices. My goal now is to continuously seek out the latest research in all the areas that affect my teaching and to bring more research based practices into my classroom.

 

My third goal is a goal that will perhaps stay the same for life. It is a goal that reflects my drive to continuously learn and upgrade my knowledge and to always find better ways of doing things. During my Masters program, I frequently challenged myself to try new ways of approaching tasks and to use tools that I was unfamiliar with. Although the learning curve was sometimes steep, I found that by doing so I was able to add to my tool case of resources as well as achieve the satisfaction and confidence that comes from learning new things. An improved version of this goal is to challenge myself to take on new roles within my school setting and to assume more leadership positions where I would be able to transfer my learning to colleagues.