Finalizing in the Fall

While I am ending this chapter of my graduate program, I am reflecting on just how far I have come in a short amount of time. When I started this program with thoughts of how long a year's commitment to bettering myself in the midst of all life can throw at me I never imagined that I would basically blink, deep breathe, panic for a minute, blink once more and be at the end of the program. The passion I felt for what I was creating and all the positive benefits I was seeing throughout the program made each course and each assignment just breeze right on by. It felt so natural that it barely felt like any time had passed. I guess it just proved why that old saying "time flies when you're having fun" has withstood the test of time, because I definitely feel like that was the case here. Now that I am here I have realized how fully I have changed I am seeking more from all aspects of life from wanting to change my career, to how I am going to parent, and even the desire to move across the country from Houston, Texas to Boston, Massachusetts after my experiences there during the first half of this second fall semester.

This is truly a bittersweet moment as I write my last reflection blog post because I am so very proud of what I have accomplished, but I am sad to see this chapter close. I have built up such a wonderful sense of comradery with my peers that I moved through the entirety of this program with. I feel that I have watched the seeds of some incredible project ideas bloom into these amazing and beautiful projects that have helped so many students improve and succeed in ways they have never been able to before.

I am grateful that this program had so many opportunities to engage with my peers, collaborate, brainstorm, and give each other feedback to build one another up. I feel that in some courses the only way I made it through successfully is because of the support I had from my peers in the discussion boards. I noticed that the discussions I participated in helped build a better final product and I honestly am so glad that I always participated in them. I never missed a chance to share my ideas and refine them through the discussion that I was able to participate in.

While I found the discussions to be the most helpful resource in this program, I can't deny how helpful each and every reading (both required and supplemental), video resource, and recorded (or live when I could make it) lecture/class meeting was. There was never a resource that I didn't read or view because every single one was purposeful and useful to not only my coursework, but my professional teaching and I always learned something new to make me a better teacher or parent.

This final half semester I took 5320 (the capstone project - program synthesis) and 5315 (assessing digital learning and instruction) and all that I have talked about applies here. I read, watched, and participated in every learning opportunity I could. I found the discussion boards particularly interesting and useful and I am going to genuinely miss them and my peers moving forward. I think my active engagement and applying myself 100% is why I was able to learn so much in such a short time, but I feel as if I can't take the credit because the program was designed in such a way that it felt natural to me and I couldn't get enough of the information and ideas I was being exposed to.

In 5315 I learned so much about action research and it really made me realize that I had so much potential to create long-lasting and widespread change. I intend to put everything I have learned in this class to use by combining it with the educational technology publishing skills and knowledge I learned previously to publish my findings. I think that by using my unique humor and creative way I describe things to others with my evidence-based research I will be able to influence many other educators to utilize blended project-based learning to increase their effectiveness in their own classrooms. I am very excited for the future after learning as much as I have about action research.

5320 was incredible because I was able to slow down and intentionally reflect on the entire process I just went through. I was able to look at how much my style has become my own on my ePortfolio. I feel that this course has allowed me to refine my ideas and make my project feel cohesive and organized. My ADHD gives me the tendency to ramble or present information in disorganized ways when I am excited about what I am doing or talking about. I was able to find a process to keep this from happening with my ePortfolio using Dr. Harapnuick's input and feedback. It wasn't until he pointed out where exactly my ePortfolio synthesis got disorganized to others that I realized that I do have a tendency to overexplain information that is not directly tied to what I am talking about. I now learned that instead of explaining everything in great detail, I need to direct my readers on a side quest to the work that I already explained. I now have a line of questioning that will prevent me from becoming a rambling mess in the future -the most important life skill I have gained from this experience honestly.

To all my peers, professors, and my personal support group of friends and family; thank you. You have transformed my life in ways that I will never be able to fully put into words. I have never felt so supported in such a scary venture as I have while in this program and I have evolved so completely as a person and professional that I truly feel that this is officially the end of an era for me. I am ready for bigger and better things and I can thank this program for preparing me for that entirely.