What is the why to your change?

In my senior year of high school, I was involved in a program by the name of AmeriCorps; with this program, we provided academic assistance to students at Title I schools. This program made me fall in love with teaching and gave me the desire to want to change the world of education. Since I have started teaching, that fire has sizzled out, being that education has become hyper-focused on data and test scores, instead of actual student learning. The ADL program at Lamar has reignited this fire and shown me that change is possible and that I can make a difference in the world of education, one student at a time.

The students on my campus are not provided a choice in many things. For instance, they do not get to choose if they will watch their younger siblings while their parents are at work (even if they are only in elementary themselves), they do not get to choose if they will come home to an empty fridge, and they certainly do not get to choose all the other difficult challenges life throws at them. But, with blended learning, we can offer them the opportunity to choose how, when, and where they learn. Giving students the tools to independently learn will motivate them to want to succeed and make themselves proud of their hard work. Once students are self-motivated, engaged, and taking ownership of their learning, the gaps will slowly close on their own. Closing these gaps for our students will create a plethora of opportunities for them in the real world; they can take these qualities and characteristics of lifelong learners to obtain the ability to adjust to any situation around them. My proposal will prompt students to take back the responsibility for their learning and ensure they are learning in the way that best fits them with the support of their instructor to remediate and step in when necessary. We must act now to ensure our students have a fair chance to be awarded the same opportunities as their counterparts who may have more "choices" in life than they do. The possibilities are endless for our students, but we must first provide them with the effective tools to get them there.