Candidates regularly evaluate and reflect on their professional practice and dispositions to improve and strengthen their ability to effectively model and facilitate technology-enhanced learning experiences. (PSC 6.2/ISTE 6c)
My Weebly blog has been an excellent platform for organizing all of the artifacts that I've created throughout my journey through the Instructional Technology program. I have created and reflected upon artifacts for each standard, and throughout the process of writing my reflections, I was reminded of the purpose of each artifact and was able to take time to review each one and think about how I could use them going forward in my career as a future instructional technology coach. My Weebly blog demonstrates mastery of standard 6.2 because throughout each descriptor, I was able to reflect upon the professional practices demonstrated throughout the creation of each artifact. I was also able to discuss how I could improve, and going forward, when I utilize each artifact, I hope to implement the improvements discussed within my reflections. Also, I was able to showcase many of the digital tools and resources that I learned about and implemented in my classes along with reflections for improvements. Through the reflections in my blog, I learned that there are certain characteristics that are needed to become an effective and respected technology coach. The first factor is to be empathetic. Being able to put yourself in a teacher's position and examine the current realities of their classrooms will help a coach to make the best decisions when planning strategies to address issues in classrooms and incorporate appropriated forms of technology. I also learned that a coach has to be approachable to others. Technology can be intimidating to many educators, and if an instructional technology leader delivers information and professional learnings in a manner that can be perceived as unattainable and unrealistic, there will not be buy in from teachers, and therefore the coach will not be an effective resource for the school. Finally, I realized that coaches have to be reflective. They have to be able to admit that sometimes things don't work for everyone and that adjustments will be needed, and that is part of the process of being an effective leader. I learned that coaches should always consider the needs of the students and teachers before making decisions and that all decisions should directly benefit them both. If I were to make any changes to my Weebly blog, I would have liked to create video blogs to supplement the written blogs. This artifact supports our school’s improvement plan, faculty development, and student achievement by the implementation of many of the research- based digital tools and resources that I learned to utilize and implement throughout my coursework in the iITEC program. These tools and resources directly support the technology improvement section of our school’s improvement plan. Their impact can be assessed by student products and teacher feedback at the conclusion of the implementation of these tools and resources.