Reflection

I really enjoyed creating my blog for this course. I was interested in creating a blog for personal use, but hadn’t. Now knowing how easy it is I feel like it something I can use to share with family about home life and in my classroom to communicate with students. Aside from creating the blog I liked using the blog in this course because of the feedback I received from peers on ways to improve my plan. For the most part it was words of encouragement but 2 classmates left great feedback and I was able to make adaptations to my action research plan. I will say that the way I got my blog out there and received comments was through a facebook group that another Lamar student created. I wonder how those not in our facebook group advertised their blog and got people to comment on their posts. Lastly I liked the fact that we actually used our blog in this course. In other classes I have created technology pieces that then I do not use nor where peers given the opportunity to view. I learned a lot through other blogs and I feel more valued if something I spend time creating is then shared.

I also appreciated Dr. Abshire communication. She updated weekly overviews and shared them in emails and on a google site. She kept us informed when she received assignments like blog urls and TK20 updates. This was very reassuring because often you follow the directions and then just hope for the best, but she let us know that she had received the material. Also frontloading her communication seemed to really help with the web conferences. For the most part people came well prepared with questions and it wasn’t things that they could have just read on the assignment page.

The readings that were assigned in this course seemed very applicable to not only the assignments but also professionally. In addition the readings were quick reads and easy to apply.

Lastly in this course I very much enjoyed meeting with my field supervisor. Dr. Preston was extremely encouraging and seemed like he truly was there to help. He took the time to talk with each of us and asked insightful questions. I also like the group that I was placed in because it is very diverse so it was interesting listening to their internship plans and action research topics.  To conclude our conference he encouraged that we become involved in our budgeting and finical meetings at our campus. Not only did this show me that he was an attentive listener but also was great advice because this is definitely an area that I need to understand more about. I left the conference wondering how I could get more involved and then made a plan. This is exactly what we should get out of meetings. We should feel encouraged but also leave challenged and asking how we can continue to grow as professionals.

Overall I would say that I have learned a lot in this course, enjoyed hearing from my peers, and looking forward to working with my field supervisor.