Give 100%, No Matter How It May Look

The past eight weeks taught me that giving 100% does not look the same every day. This summer was a huge transitional period for me. I took on two ADL courses, accepted a new job five hours away from my hometown, had to begin learning a new curriculum for a different state, and dealt with personal matters. Some days I could give my all to my ADL work, and some days I could not give as much. As the semester progressed, I became increasingly disappointed in myself because I was not as focused as I usually am, and I felt like I was regressing instead of progressing as I had been over my first four courses. Although, as I sat back and reflected upon the true meaning of having a growth mindset. I realized I needed to give myself grace, considering everything transpiring in my life at once. So, I told myself that no matter what it looks like, every day I would give 100% of what I had in me. Once I changed my mindset, the assignments felt less like a chore, and I was enjoying my learning once again.

The 5318 course was very informative and acted as a guide for my innovation plan. Now that we have utilized the Fink’s 3-column table, I have a better understanding of why our curriculum is set up the way it is. Even though my district provides the vast majority of our content, the 3-column table provided me the knowledge to pinpoint areas I can have autonomy. While I did enjoy the content, I did endure struggles during the course. I have collaboratively worked with some of my peers since the beginning of the ADL program. I built a sense of community with these ladies and foolishly did not expect us to have differing schedules. So, when I received my schedule for the summer courses and I was alone in 5318, I immediately became frantic. One of my favorite things about switching from Ed Tech Leadership to Applied Digital Learning was the substantially smaller class sizes. Although now that Ed Tech Leadership students are filtering back in, I feel myself getting lost in the shuffle. I was a part of both GroupMe and Facebook groups, and they each had twenty-five members or more. With there being so many members in the groups, it was difficult to keep up with so many messages and for my schedule to align with theirs, for Zoom meetings. I was able to make one Zoom call and complete surveys for my peers when I could. Although I was unable to collaborate as much as I could with my peers. With our next set of courses, I will ensure I find a smaller group of peers to collaborate with.

5313 was also a very critical course in our ADL; I gained a variety of knowledge to best help my students succeed. To create successful learners, we must set them up with a CSLE. This ensures we are meeting their needs and engaging them in a manner that is beneficial to the students. Course 5313 was more familiar territory regarding collaboration; I was able to work with my usual group of Maria Lopez, Mikeela Pittman, Valerie Regalado, and Lakesha Smith. Within our group, we share ideas, provide feed-forward on assignments, share resources, and most importantly exchange advice and support through our ADL journey. During this course, I did not submit all discussion posts in a timely manner for my peers to respond to me. Although, I did read the necessary materials and watch the assigned videos. These resources have allowed me to expand my knowledge and support ideas I developed independently before this course.

For course 5318 I grade myself a 78/100. This score is mainly based on my lack of collaboration with a focus group of peers. For course 5313 I grade myself a 78/100 as well, but this score is due to not completing discussion boards in the proper time frame and submitting an assignment late because of an issue with my textbook that should have been taken care of sooner. Although I feel as though I went backward from the progress I have made so far in the ADL program, I am proud of myself for not giving up and continuing this journey when I felt I could not weather the storm anymore. The growth mindset that the ADL program has exposed me to, has taught me to face adversities head-on and welcome challenges with an open mind and determination. I will take the knowledge I have accumulated in these two courses and create an even better learning experience for my students in the upcoming school year and beyond.