Yay! I see the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter with each passing day! I can’t believe we are at the end of this course and the entire program. I am excited beyond words about finishing the Master’s program! This trimester has definitely been intense. I feel like this entire year has been a roller coaster ride for me. Trying to juggle being a mommy of two boys under 5 years, a wife, a professional and excel as a graduate student has proven to be quite the task. There were times when I questioned what I was thinking when I enrolled in the program, but then I would feel like, “I can do this!” and I was back in the game. This program pushed me outside of my comfort zone many times, but I feel like it was then that I learned the most! I feel like I have improved not only as an educator but as an individual. I have new knowledge that I can take back to my classroom and my school sight to share with my colleagues. After teaching for many years at the same school sight, it is easy to fall into a cycles in which you are not learning new things as a professional. This program was the spark I needed to allow me to begin new cycles. New cycles of inquire in which my students benefit and I continue learning new things. I am thankful that I was able to experience this with the members of Cohort 14. We worked so well together that I feel their words of encouragement and feedback with assignments during this last trimester really aided me in my journey.
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As I sit here reflecting on this entire journey, I am glad to see the end in sight. I realize how difficult, yet rewarding it has been to be a part of Cohort 14 and complete my Master’s work through the Innovative Program at Touro University. As I think of Touro’s values and my own, I can see the connection, particularly with the values of intellectual inquiry, discovery, and passion for life-long learning. I truly believe that as educators awe are given the task of instilling in our students a passion for learning because things are easier when you love and have a passion for what you do. In order to be able to effectively complete the task we must have a passion for education and have the desire to be life-long learners ourselves.
I can also see a particular connection with student-centered education, collaboration and sense of community. I am a strong believer of the idea that students learn more and better through student-centered activities and collaboration with peers. Not only do I find this to be true in my own classroom, but also in my personal experience as a Graduate student. There is plenty to learn and teach each other. I also see a strong connection in the values of acceptance and appreciation of diversity. Not only in my classroom, but also in my every-day life, I am an advocate for acceptance and appreciate diversity. I strongly believe that every individual carries an important piece of the puzzle of life. We each bring our own unique experiences to the table and as a result can help others group. Now what? Now that I have accumulated a wealth of knowledge from professors and cohort members, I plan to use it in my classroom. There are so many tools I would like to continue working with to assist my students. I also plan to share my research finding with my administrators and the RTI coordinator at our site. They are the ones who can make decisions about new curriculum and continued use of guided reading curriculum. My capstone will also be shared with them, as well as with colleagues at my school site that will be implementing the Guided Reading curriculum. I think my capstone will assist them in navigating through the new curriculum. As I sit here reflecting on the past few months in the Innovative Master's Program, I can vividly remember when my colleague, Stephanie, mentioned attending an informational meeting for a Master's program, through Touro University. I could not have possibly imagined, back then, the roller coaster ride I was stepping into. Yet, I am glad I did! I have learned and grown immensely as an educator. Throughout the program, I have been introduced to a variety of technological tools and with the focus of TPACK, I have been able to utilize this technology to address each of my students’ unique academic needs. I have been more vigilant of actively incorporating pedagogy with content knowledge and pairing it with the appropriate technology, in order to set up my students for success when it comes to academic excellence. This has also helped me to cultivate 21st Century skills in my students. These skills are essential for their success in the ever-changing future.
When I began my first round of research, I knew that my audience would be my colleagues, particularly teachers in first and second grade who were being asked to utilize this guided reading curriculum. As my research continued and evolved, I realized my audience continued to be my fellow teachers, but now I would be focusing on teachers from Kinder to Second Grade who use this curriculum at some point in the school year. (There could be a possibility of teachers from other grade levels utilizing the curriculum in the future.) I think my audience now, is also administrators and RTI coaches who are looking to introduce a new guided reading curriculum to their teachers. I think the above mentioned are my audience because my research includes data collected from the initial use of a fairly new guided reading curriculum, as well as, other components of introducing a guided reading program.
Looking into the “Learn More” pages, I think I will need pages that include data which display improvement in reading comprehension. I will also need links to demo lessons, as well as, other teachers delivering these lessons. I think I will also need to incorporate links to the actual curriculum being researched. I feel like over the course of the last two trimesters, one of my goals has been to learn new skills, especially in relation to technology and its use in the classroom. I believe that I strive to become a better teacher and to provide my students with the tools needed to become better learners. I think this program has similar goals. To provide teachers with tools that we can then turn around and assist our students with, as well as, to produce 21st century learners.
I think our cohort has worked extremely well together. We encourage each other and are respectful in our feedback. I believe hope we continue being so supportive and encourage each other to continue on step by step in this difficult journey. I look forward to reading all of the comments left on my Weebly pages because I truly feel like they assist me in reflecting and growing as a student at Touro and as a professional as well. I feel like we all value each other’s comments and gain the ability to see things from a different perspective or on the other hand feel the support and encouragement of others that we know are struggling with the same journey we are. I strongly believe that if we continue working together and bouncing ideas off of each other we can continue having the positive interactions we have been experiencing. We work well together even though we are all on different points in our professional careers, we are united in our journey which leads me to one of the group norms I hold highly. We all respect each other and we all take into account that we all started the same journey and have the same end goal, yet we began at very distinct points in our professional careers, especially with regards to our knowledge of 21st Century learning and technology. Another group norm I appreciate is the opportunity to ask questions and receive clarification during each session. |