Jaclyn Scott - Web Portfolio

I’m not a coward… I swear.

            That said, I could see how someone looking at me two years ago might have confused me with a teacher who was terrified to push the limits of her kindergarten classroom.  Prior to going back to school I had been teaching for four years and was finally comfortable as a teacher.  I understood the curriculum, I knew ways to help students who were struggling or needed a challenge, I was implementing our limited technology in ways I deemed meaningful.  All I had to do was maintain the status quo and everything would be fine.  Of course, keeping the boat from rocking is nearly impossible in education and I soon realized that the status quo is the enemy of personal and professional growth.  I decided that if I was to avoid becoming set in my ways as I established myself in my profession I would have to do something drastic… like go back to school.    

          When I first began looking into working towards my master’s degree I had vague, lofty, and idealistic goals that looked good on paper but were too ambiguous to be meaningful.  I knew that there was still learning to be done and growth to be made, but I was unclear on what that actually meant for me.  Looking back on the past two years I can see that I had no idea where I was headed as a teacher.  If I’ve learned nothing else through this program, I have figured out where I fit in to the education world. 

          It’s uncomfortable to say out loud but I feel like this program has made me a leader within my school.  Through studying technology and its relationship with education I have become confident in my understanding of things like TPACK and current educational technology.  I speak out in meetings (something that is unheard of for me) and have teachers coming to me for my opinions on ways to implement technology in their classrooms.  This program helped me to become comfortable trying new things within my own classroom.  Some assignments have been complete successes and have inspired me to continue to try new things while others have been utter failures and have reminded me that technology does not necessarily make a lesson effective.

          Through these successes and failures fostered by the Master of Arts in Eucation program I have become more aware of my own strengths and weaknesses.  I am now more courageous in the things I attempt and am more knowledgeable about how to attempt them.  Looking back at my vague attempts at goal setting two years ago I cannot honestly say that I have achieved my goals.  What I can say is that I have become clearer in what my actual professional goals are and how I can go about realizing them.