As the final two courses of the Spring semester come to a close I have to sit back and reflect on everything I have learned at this time and what more is to come in this program. This second half of spring semester has tested me tremendously as I try to navigate balancing being a wife, mom, student, and unfortunately begin taking on a caretaker role for my mother. As I mentioned last half of the semester my mother became very ill and spent a little over a week in the hospital which was quickly followed by a severe head injury in a playground accident that resulted in a lot of specialist visits for my daughter. Pair that with high demands STAAR testing season and I feel that I let my role of student become a back burner priority. On top of all this my husband was assigned a major project out of state and I had to become a single parent for several weeks during this half of the semester. I focused on survival throughout this period of time and it showed in my work and the limited contributions I could make.
Starting with what I need to work on as I possibly take on the next round of courses, I need to work on engagement management. While I expertly managed my time and managed to get all of my coursework done, I was not able to attend meetings because I had to prioritize my daughter so I wasn't able to contribute much to my learning community and peers through that social connection aspect to the courses I took this semester. I have never been what I consider a leader because I am typically very shy, so I did not reach out in the Teams group that my peers set up. Overall, I think that I missed a huge part of the social learning component of 5303 and 5313 because I had to make some difficult decisions prioritizing my time.
Not everything was terrible for me though and I do want to take some time to show myself some grace as I come out of a very difficult period. I always watched the recorded videos of the class meetings and often played it a few times to really understand the message and information that was being exchanged, especially in 5313. Being able to watch the recorded meetings on the weekend or after my daughter went to bed really helped keep me on the path towards my degree and is a huge part of why I didn't just give up completely (believe me I thought about it a few times). Even though I missed a lot of the social connection, I found some comfort in the recorded meetings and felt that I was supported by my peers and facilitators, which helped me a lot. I was able to complete my work and found myself to become even more passionate about my implementation plan as I can finally see the various pieces coming together. My rotational blended learning unit plan is not seeming like a huge overwhelming pipe dream anymore. I can see my project taking shape and I am passionate about implementing it and transforming my classroom and my students.
I turned in assignments on time including all discussion board posts for both 5303 and 5313. I was able to actively engage with peers through the discussion board and I learned several ideas from my peers that helped me with my STAAR small group lessons. The insight from these discussion boards were crucial to building connections and I feel that my participation helped to enrich those discussions. Even though the reading for 5313 seemed daunting at times I was able to tackle it and I actually learned a lot from both the UbD text and Carol Dweck's book about growth mindset.
I used all feedback I received on my assignments to improve upon my work as I built my ePortfolio. I did misunderstand some directions along the way especially in my ePortfolio check-in assignment, but with the feedback I received I was able to improve the functionality of my ePortfolio and document my learning in a way that is easier to follow. Not only did the feedback on this assignment help me with improving my work for the 5303 course, it gave me a clearer vision for what features would work best for me as I continue to build out my ePortfolio for my other courses as I move through the program. I was able to apply the feedback I received in 5303 to create a page for 5313: Creating a Significant Learning Environment that I am really proud of. I have gone back through many of my pages and blog posts to correct the mistakes I originally made. Overall, I think I made huge strides in solidifying the design and content within my ePortfolio and I have become so comfortable with creating posts, pages, and other design elements without the apprehension I had at the beginning of this half of the semester.
In conclusion, this half of the semester has taught me so much about education, about creating authentic learning and effective learning environments, ePortfolio design, and even a lot about myself. I have learned a lot and while my course work may not have had 100% of my attention and focus, I know that I tried my absolute best and I have great content in my ePortfolio to show for all that effort. My ePortfolio has helped me put all my effort and struggling into perspective and it is one major reason I didn't throw the towel in on my degree seeking journey. Spring 2 has shown me that while growth mindset can be helpful it isn't enough alone and I relied heavily on self-reflection and looking objectively at my work and how far I've come. This helped me come to the conclusion that it was worth the struggle I was going through and I am learning many important skills that are worth seeing out. The 3-column table assignment and the UbD Design Template assignment made my implementation plan ideas come to life and I know that I can do this and it will be worthwhile. I think the most important lessons I learned this semester are the lessons I learned about myself as a learner and an educator.
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