Professional Learning Plan

Professional Learning Plan

“Get Busy Livin’ (with Technology) or Get Busy Dyin’ (without Technology)”

                I consider myself a digital immigrant.  I am at that in between time period where when I graduated many of the incoming freshman had cell phones and other various modes of technology that when I started college most students did not have.  Cell phones were very large and expensive when I started college and when I finished they were much more affordable.  I also remember going to the lab to type up a paper and send an email.  The first email I ever sent was when I was a freshman in college.  It was in dos format.  We had a black screen and the coolest thing you could do was change the color of the type form green to blue to white.

                When I got my first teaching job, I bought my first cell phone and in those five years since I started college to when I graduated, you could now send pictures and documents via email and many individuals were sending messages to one another through phones.  It was crazy to me to think how much technology changed in that short amount of time and I often would go to students with technology questions.  It seemed that many teachers were not that tech savvy.

                I left teaching after 5 years.  I could not decide on how I wanted my career to progress and I was interested in what the private sector might have to offer.   I spent a year in the private sector and quickly realized that I belonged in education.  I spent the following year after that going to school at Eastern Michigan University to earn enough credits to attain major status in mathematics (I graduated with a minor in math).  I felt this would make me more marketable to employers.    After getting hired in at my current school I had a renewed passion but realized quickly how much has changed in my two year absence from the classroom. 

                Cell phones had taken over and laptops were everywhere.  It seemed almost every student had a phone and could send text messages and pictures and call via their cell.  In the past couple of years this has changed even more with the fact that many of my students have internet capability through their phone and many of them can make their phone into a Wi-Fi hot spot.  I realized I was light years behind my students with technology and was a little intimidated by this feeling.  I knew something had to be done action needed to be taken and I remembered the quote from the movie the Shawshank Redemption, “Get Busy Livin’, or Get Busy Dyin’.”  I felt this same way with how I taught and my lack of use and knowledge of technology.  I did and do not want to be a teacher that isn’t engaging for students and many of them are wired in at all times, whether it is through their phone or computer or video game system; I need to be wired in as well or each year I will become less and less effective. 

                I have also seen a consistent rising interest in online education.  Many of the districts in the state are having funding issues and an increase of online classes where students can earn credits will cut district costs and still provide the opportunities for students to grow in knowledge.  I see this as the future of some education. 

                After speaking with another colleague of mine, I found that he was taking some classes in educational technology and going to work towards his master’s.  I checked it out and since then I have gotten busy livin’.  I am taking this class concurrently with the mathematics technology course (CEP 805).   I have found throughout how much I did not know about technology and how much I can use in my classes and also how much I can help my wife out in her work.  I will finish this course and am already enrolled in the Master’s program and want to continue my work towards this. 

                My specific area of interest is currently in technological design.  I see much of the future of education in online and hybrid learning.  I have been inspired on what can be done through online learning and I also see need in face-to-face learning.  With districts cutting costs left and right there are going to be opportunities to teach students and other teachers how to learn and teach online.  I see this as a definite growth area in education and have been inspired by what technology is available and how it can help. 

                I observe some of my fellow teachers, some getting close to retirement and some close to my age, and their non-interest in technology.  I often here how students should be able to learn just like they did when they were in the classroom; and I am a little discouraged.   Students are different now and need to be treated as such.  We are probably a few years behind where we should be as teachers.  We should have integrated more technology in education and different online activities.  Our learners are different and we should be educating differently. 

                I am inspired by what technology brings to the table.  There are so many opportunities to learn and also to be misinformed.  It is the job of the educator to help students filter through everything that is out there to understand what is legitimate and what is not.  I want to be on the cutting edge and progressive.  I DO NOT WANT TO BE A REACTIONARY.  So I am going to “GET BUSY LIVIN!”