Future Learning Goals

Looking Forward: My Future Learning Goals

One of my favorite things about teaching is that there are always new things to learn that can better your practice and make an even greater difference in the lives of your students. For the past three years, earning my Master of Arts in Education degree has been at the center of my professional goals. Now that I am near the conclusion of my graduate program, it is time to set new goals in areas I am passionate about so that I can continue to pursue excellence. The three goals I would like to aim for as I begin the next phase of my teaching career are as follows:

1. Become a literacy advocate within my school

2. Pursue a role as a technology leader among my peers

3. Seek opportunities for broader professional development

These three areas--literacy, professional development, and technology--represent my passions as an educator. I will work toward these goals not to check items off a list, but because they genuinely excite me as I think about how they will help me become a better educator. Thanks to my graduate courses, I have identified specific resources that will aid me in pursuit of these goals, and I know exactly what my first steps will be to continue my professional growth.

First and foremost, I want to pursue a future as a literacy advocate within my school. Teaching in a small town in rural northern Michigan with little cultural diversity makes it even more vital that my students are exposed to high quality literature that authentically portrays the lives of people different from them. Throughout my Master of Arts in Education program, I took courses that exposed me to an array of such literature and equipped me with the tools to support my students in reading those works with a thoughtful and critical eye. Resources like We Need Diverse Books™ make me feel more confident about finding and teaching diverse literature effectively, and I hope to be a leader in this area within my school where so many staff and students come from such similar cultures.

A second goal I have for myself is to become a technology leader in my district. Since I teach in an area where our students have limited access to technology both at home and in school, I know that it is especially important that I incorporate technology into my classroom whenever possible and support students in acquiring the digital literacy skills they need to be successful in the 21st century. To push myself in this area, I want to step outside my comfort zone and be viewed by my peers as a valuable resource in discovering new ways to use technology in our practice. Since our school uses Chromebooks and utilizes the Google suite, a good place for me to begin on this path is to become a Google Certified Educator. Going through this training and achieving this certification will allow me to lead my peers by being a resource for Google-related questions, presenting at staff meetings, and being a mentor for new teachers trying to become more familiar with the technology. Finding opportunities to both improve my usage of technology and take on more of a leadership role in this area are ways I can continue my path of being a lifelong learner in education.

Just as literacy and technology are two passions of mine, being a lifelong learner is something that will always be at the heart of my practice. While I have always participated in and enjoyed professional development opportunities, this is an area I would like to focus on in order to continue to learn about best practices and to stay informed on the latest research. Most of my professional development experience thus far has been limited to that provided by my school and intermediate school district. To push myself further, I would like to pursue learning opportunities on a larger scale, such as the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) Conference or the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention. I try to stay as informed as possible on educational leaders through the Internet, but I am sure that attending these events would be an even more effective way of learning new ideas to implement into my teaching.

Being passionate about what I do truly drives my teaching. I never want to be a teacher who becomes complacent in her practice, so by stretching myself to becoming a literacy advocate, a technology leader, and a seeker of new learning opportunities, I know that I will continue to work toward becoming a better teacher.

April 2018

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