Contribution to my Learning and the Learning Community
By: Veronica Balli
EDLD 5313: Creating a Significant Learning Environment 94
EDLD 5389: Developing Effective Professional Learning 94
Planning is taking shape
The chapter to my Second spring semester is ending, but my book is still not complete. Oh, what a journey the ADL program has been so far. To say I am proud of the learner I am evolving into is an understatement. This program has reignited my passion for learning, for wanting to achieve more, and most importantly to advocate for education, students, and educators. Since last October I continue to reflect on how began as a contributor to my Learning Community , to then being an investor in my Learning Community to the present and constant restructuring of myself and my beliefs. My WHY has always led my passion, but when I decided to pursue a Masters’s in Applied Digital Technology, it is because I felt stuck and was no longer as passionate. There was never a doubt I would continue in education but I needed to form a new path. The ADL program continues to provide me with the opportunity to refine my craft, strengthen my skills, and reflect on the type of learner I am. My beliefs have been challenged and my philosophy has been identified. As I embrace the new roles I am shifting into I revisite my Growth mindset and learned how to better serve our staff and students when leading them to grow. I believe teaching and learning can not be stagnant. I understand that if my expectation is to advocate for lifelong learning with my students, I needed to change my actions and find my grit. My ultimate goal has always been equitable learning for all students and since starting the ADL program, I am now gaining the tools to effectively connect and engage learners in a blended learning model and instill sustainable change. Reflecting on my first semester I stayed in the shadows, and learned, but rarely engaged. I can positively say I am closer to not only being an empowered learner but helping others within my organization become empowered. This semester Erika Pena, Ileana Reyna and I were able to connect our Innovation plan to develop and create highly engaging lessons to deliver during our alternative Professional Learning for administrators, K-5 Reading teachers, and students.
Reflection on 5313 and 5389
My weekdays are dedicated to teaching, my son, his extracurricular activities, and my family so continuing with the 8-week Accelerated ADL program continues to be a decision we make as a family. We understand there will be adjustments to schedules and some sacrifices with outings but this journey has been a journey of growth. This semester I was not to attend all live classes in EDLD 5313 Creating Significant Learning Environments and EDLD 5389 Developing Effective Professional Developmen, but I appreciate how this program is set up for the opportunity to act on a blended learning model. Watching the recorded sessions allowed me the flexibility to meet with my colleagues and discuss weekly topics. Keeping up with discussions was a challenge for me this semester. Although I completed all assignments on time and read and commented on discussions, discussions was my challenge. I knew I could have benefited from delving deeper and branching out to further discuss. I made sure all assignments were turned in on time and I reflected in my blog posts, I continue to update and revise my e-Portfolio, and implement all revision on assignments based on feedforward. This semester guided my self-growth as an educator, a colleague and as the leader I strive to be.
EDLD 5313: Creating Significant Learning Environments
EDLD 5313 Creating Significant Learning Environments taught me to reexamin the current spaces and practices our educators and students learn in. We had to restructues the parts that were hindering our students from evolving into 21st-century learners. After reading A New Culture of Learning by Thomas & Brown (2011) I was more in tune with the importance
cultivating creativity, imagination in the classroom. This book also helped me with wanting to further research and advocate for providing students the chance to learn from play. This course not only allowed me to guide in planning for others but assisted me in identifying who I am as an educator by creating my learning philosophy. The chance to grow and reevaluate and restructure myself from the inside out by revisiting and updating my growth mindset truly helped me invest in myself. These important assignments guided me and my colleagues to collaboratively create significant learning environments with aligning outcomes, activities, and assessments, incorporating and understanding the power of using a backward design to create engaging lessons with the end in mind.
EDLD 5389: Developing Effective Professional Learning
This course EDLD 5389 Developing Effective Professional Development, allowed us to restructure how we deliver our innovation plan, Blended Learning: Personalizing the future of education. This semester Erika Pena, Ileana Reyna and I were able to connect our Innovation plan in order to develop and create an alternative PL while incorporating the 3 step process. Step 1 of our Professional Learning Plan was to promote a call to action plan using a Go & Show model with professional learning. Step 2 was to develop a Professional Learning Outline to make sure we deliver an alternative PL plan to our Administration and K-5th Reading teachers and ensure to align with the goals of our Innovation Plan. Step 3 was to fully develop one PL session to present blended learning to our administration and K-5 Reading teachers. The time and preparation when developing our PL ignited collaboration to fully prepare each session with anticipation of what is to come. We believe we can reach and grow more teachers with our alternative PL, and in turn more students with succeed because their teachers are better equipped.
Collaboration and BLIT
The collaborative cohort on GroupMe continues to be a solid foundation for assistance and clarification. Everyone is extremely helpful and supportive. I am a part of a core collaborative group that consists of Erika Peña and Ileana Reyna, who are also my coworkers at Victor Fields Elementary. Dr. Harapnuik has allowed us to pursue our plan as a collaborative team and I can say the creativity, passion, and group cohesiveness are phenomenal. Our, Blended Learning Implementation Team (BLIT). Our group, in my opinion, is a dynamic blend of all the ADL is teaching us. We are invested in creating an equitable learning environment for our students, and share the same goal and passion for our campus. Together we make a cohesive and synergistic team.
What does the next chapter hold…
As I begin to prepare for my 4th block in Graduate school, I am looking forward to the next block in the ADL program map. I'm ecstatic to continue this learning journey. I am still in transition and may never completely be done, but I am on a mission to meet some goals. The power of YET, has taught me to find that grit and put it into action. Next semester I want to reach out to different blended learning groups with similar plans, including blogs that reflect my daily lessons and personal work, and redesign my e-Portfolio. The disruption within me continues to strive for a better quality of work, and more self-reflection on lessons. The classroom culture of our classroom has shifted to a more positive and motivational shared space. The environment students are currently working in is transforming month to month into a blended learning area. I am certain our students will benefit from choice, ownership, voice, and authentic learning opportunities in a blended learning environment. We must effectively influence behaviors and cause change for our students because all students deserve an equitable learning environment.
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