6.3 Field Experiences
Candidates engage in appropriate field experiences to synthesize and apply the content and professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions identified in these standards
Candidates engage in appropriate field experiences to synthesize and apply the content and professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions identified in these standards
I completed many field experiences throughout my studies, and they helped me synthesize and apply what I learned throughout my course of study. All of these field experiences have been linked to this website under the Field Experiences tab. The one on which I will focus for this reflection is the coaching journal field experience I created for ITEC 7460, Professional Learning and Technology Innovation. For this field experience, I was required to coach an individual teacher on ways to improve technology integration to enhance student learning.
Using the principles learned from our text and other readings, I applied the partnership approach with great success. Over the course of the semester, my collaborating teacher and I worked together to introduce students to Google Drive in order to enable them to collaborate on documents and to provide access to productivity tools for those students who did not have access to them at home. As a result of this field experience, my collaborating teacher now runs a completely paperless classroom through Google Drive. Next, my teacher wanted to find ways to facilitate communication with parents and as a result, I discovered the Messenger module in our Infinite Campus Gradebook which allowed teachers to easily send emails to individual parents or to groups of parents whose students matched the criteria the teacher selected (for example, students those whose grades were below 70). It was this partnership which led to Messenger being implemented across the school system to improve communication among all stakeholders. Being a catalyst for change is fundamental to being an instructional technology coach and doing so at the system level is very fulfilling.
I learned during the creation of this artifact that the partnership approach is an excellent model for introducing and spreading technology. I felt very comfortable with my collaborating teacher. I believe we both felt we could make mistakes and learn without judgment. Our success encouraged us both to not only continue to work with each other, but to spread what we had learned to others on our staff. Technology facilitators need dispositions that value professional development, continuous learning, reflection, and the need to share their vision with their peers. I improved my knowledge and skills in all of these areas as I began my first coaching experience during this field experience.
The creation of this artifact impacted professional development by providing a learning opportunity for myself and my collaborating teacher. The unexpected result was that it also impacted professional development for all teachers in the system as they were trained on how to use Infinite Campus Messenger. School improvement was impacted through improved communication among all stakeholders. Student learning was impacted as students learned to use new tools to collaborate, improving their digital citizen skills and knowledge along the way. The impact can be assessed through tracking of communication data and through observation inclusion of technology in the classrooms and by climate survey data.
Using the principles learned from our text and other readings, I applied the partnership approach with great success. Over the course of the semester, my collaborating teacher and I worked together to introduce students to Google Drive in order to enable them to collaborate on documents and to provide access to productivity tools for those students who did not have access to them at home. As a result of this field experience, my collaborating teacher now runs a completely paperless classroom through Google Drive. Next, my teacher wanted to find ways to facilitate communication with parents and as a result, I discovered the Messenger module in our Infinite Campus Gradebook which allowed teachers to easily send emails to individual parents or to groups of parents whose students matched the criteria the teacher selected (for example, students those whose grades were below 70). It was this partnership which led to Messenger being implemented across the school system to improve communication among all stakeholders. Being a catalyst for change is fundamental to being an instructional technology coach and doing so at the system level is very fulfilling.
I learned during the creation of this artifact that the partnership approach is an excellent model for introducing and spreading technology. I felt very comfortable with my collaborating teacher. I believe we both felt we could make mistakes and learn without judgment. Our success encouraged us both to not only continue to work with each other, but to spread what we had learned to others on our staff. Technology facilitators need dispositions that value professional development, continuous learning, reflection, and the need to share their vision with their peers. I improved my knowledge and skills in all of these areas as I began my first coaching experience during this field experience.
The creation of this artifact impacted professional development by providing a learning opportunity for myself and my collaborating teacher. The unexpected result was that it also impacted professional development for all teachers in the system as they were trained on how to use Infinite Campus Messenger. School improvement was impacted through improved communication among all stakeholders. Student learning was impacted as students learned to use new tools to collaborate, improving their digital citizen skills and knowledge along the way. The impact can be assessed through tracking of communication data and through observation inclusion of technology in the classrooms and by climate survey data.