1.4 Diffusion of Innovations & Change
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Candidates research, recommend, and implement strategies for initiating and sustaining technology innovations and for managing the change process in schools. (PSC 1.4/ISTE 1d)
This artifact encompasses the strongest reasons why I wish to be an Educational Technology Specialist - working with teachers to make their job easier. If I am able to assist teachers with educational technology, I am able to affect change not just in one classroom, but an endless amount of classrooms. The individual Coaching Journal (ITEC 7460) documents the work completed with a colleague at my school, Kim, who happens to be my team teacher and was previously a student teacher of mine. Full disclosure, she is awesome.
As we are on the same teaching team (Kim = Math and Science, Me = English and Social Studies), we already spend many planning minutes together each day. This allowed for us to slide into a coaching and learning role, respectively, without any hesitation or discomfort. She is always eager to learn anything that will help her day run more efficiently and we both were ready to begin this coaching experience the first time I mentioned this assignment to her.
We started off with Kim taking two surveys (LoTi and Adopter Level) about her current comfort levels with technology. The surveys were used to asses her current understandings and level of technology integration within her classroom. Once the results were collected, I was able to create a plan of attack for our coaching sessions. Overall, we decided we would use our coaching sessions on specific needs that I might see she needs along with specific school needs she needs to improve upon for her students and administrators.
This class offered many different coaching strategies that I could utilize, and as we both are completely comfortable working with one another, the peer coaching model was a natural fit. As we continued through the coaching sessions, I needed to research strategies for technology innovation for her specific requests. This occurred multiple times throughout the coaching sessions which allowed for me to meet all requirements for this standard. After the solutions were found, I recommended specific changes for Kim as she maneuvered through the stages of change that was occurring within her thoughts, understanding, and practice within the classroom.
I learned that sometimes the best solution, in my head, is not always the best solution for the other teacher. I had a solution in mind for a particular request that Kim had, however, she wanted to try another (less complicated) route, which turned out to work as well. This is when working as a team works for the team. In the end, learning occurred, for the both of us, and the overall experience was great! To improve the experience, I would have documented the solutions that came together in audio or video formats so that these solutions would be easily shared when needed by other educators. This also would show evidence of the coaching journal by authenticating the step by step problem to solution process.
All coaching sessions directly related to changes in Kim's classroom, and for her/our students. These sessions provided Kim with one-on-one personalized coaching opportunities for self-improvement and professional development (even though some other teachers stole time as they joined in some sessions). The impact can be assessed by observation of students using technology and the teacher using technology to make learning relevant, rigorous, and meaningful for her students.
As we are on the same teaching team (Kim = Math and Science, Me = English and Social Studies), we already spend many planning minutes together each day. This allowed for us to slide into a coaching and learning role, respectively, without any hesitation or discomfort. She is always eager to learn anything that will help her day run more efficiently and we both were ready to begin this coaching experience the first time I mentioned this assignment to her.
We started off with Kim taking two surveys (LoTi and Adopter Level) about her current comfort levels with technology. The surveys were used to asses her current understandings and level of technology integration within her classroom. Once the results were collected, I was able to create a plan of attack for our coaching sessions. Overall, we decided we would use our coaching sessions on specific needs that I might see she needs along with specific school needs she needs to improve upon for her students and administrators.
This class offered many different coaching strategies that I could utilize, and as we both are completely comfortable working with one another, the peer coaching model was a natural fit. As we continued through the coaching sessions, I needed to research strategies for technology innovation for her specific requests. This occurred multiple times throughout the coaching sessions which allowed for me to meet all requirements for this standard. After the solutions were found, I recommended specific changes for Kim as she maneuvered through the stages of change that was occurring within her thoughts, understanding, and practice within the classroom.
I learned that sometimes the best solution, in my head, is not always the best solution for the other teacher. I had a solution in mind for a particular request that Kim had, however, she wanted to try another (less complicated) route, which turned out to work as well. This is when working as a team works for the team. In the end, learning occurred, for the both of us, and the overall experience was great! To improve the experience, I would have documented the solutions that came together in audio or video formats so that these solutions would be easily shared when needed by other educators. This also would show evidence of the coaching journal by authenticating the step by step problem to solution process.
All coaching sessions directly related to changes in Kim's classroom, and for her/our students. These sessions provided Kim with one-on-one personalized coaching opportunities for self-improvement and professional development (even though some other teachers stole time as they joined in some sessions). The impact can be assessed by observation of students using technology and the teacher using technology to make learning relevant, rigorous, and meaningful for her students.