From an early start in my career, I found reflection and learning essential in progressing my teaching practices.  I valued the time I spent reflecting on practices that worked well in the classroom, the practices that did not work, and how I could improve my teaching overall.  This reflection highlighted my need for further learning in educational strategies.  Cue entering the Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program.  When I entered this program, my goals featured generic statements such as staying current with the best educational practices.  Although this will always be a goal of mine, I have shifted my goals moving forward to reflect the practices and educational beliefs learned throughout the past year and a half.  I have now narrowed the focus of my goals significantly to focus on specific improvements related to these newly learned teaching practices.  My first goal is to foster 21st-century learning skills.  My second goal is to implement project-based learning.  The third and final goal is to implement the NGSS science standards.  

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Literacy and math instruction are deemed two of the most important competencies in school necessary for success.  This has led to a focus on these skills while other skills have been pushed to the wayside.  As we re-examine what is important in the 21st-century society, a new highlight on learning skills, life skills, and literacy skills has made an impact on what is important in a classroom.  No more should the focus be on rote mathematics and literacy learning.  The value of creativity, collaboration, flexibility, leadership, media literacy, initiative, and more have become a focus of instruction in the classroom.  I plan to create lessons that embed these 21st-century learning skills into core curriculum instruction.  To do this I will partake in school-run professional developments on implementing 21st-century learning skills.  I will continue to collaborate with colleagues and complete research on my own through various teaching blogs and websites. 

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We often hear about the importance of showcasing the relevance of our teaching to real-life examples so that students understand the importance of their learning. Often these real-life examples and topics show some relevance, but the actual learning is still isolated to school-based tasks.  This leaves students with a lack of motivation as many do not see the need to complete tasks with little purpose.  Project-based learning is a way to teach the skills of reading in writing embedded in a purposeful project.  While completing a project that is directly connected to real life, students complete and are given lessons directly needed to complete their work.  This gives the learning of reading and writing strategies meaning and while providing direct application for students to practice.  I will work on implementing one project-based learning unit to start.  I will pull ideas and examples from books such as Inside Information by Nell Duke.  I will also continue my learning about project-based learning in literacy and in other subjects to help drive my instruction.       

  

 

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Following with the theme of project-based learning is implementing the NGSS science standards.  Before the MAED program, I would have told you I knew what the NGSS science standards were and that I followed them in the classroom.  Fast forward to now and I have a completely different understanding of how science should be taught.  Similarly, to project-based learning, the NGSS standards allow for students to gain an understanding of the process used in real-world applications.  This is because the NGSS science standards take students through the scientific process.  This is not a fully prescribed science experiment where students follow directions, but rather students learn to ask questions about the world around them, conjecture reasons, develop plans to gather evidence, and draw conclusions based on these plans.  Following the same plan as my other goals, I hope to continue taking classes through the Los Angeles Public Schools, collaborate and work with colleagues, and conduct research of my own to keep improving my implementation of the NGSS science standards.     

  

 

As an educator, it is always necessary to keep learning.  I will always keep up to date with new strategies and best practices.  But it is also important to set short-term, specific goals that will directly help in the classroom.  I plan to continue my learning of these three key educational strategies in order to refine and expand on my ability to implement them in the classroom.  Through the implementation of these strategies, I hope to have students who are not only proficient in reading and math but who are creative and become leaders in the classroom and in society.  I hope to have students who are motivated due to their direct understanding of how their learning can affect their outcomes.