Cedu 521

This course was fast paced and covered a large amount of content. Thankfully I was familiar with most of the concepts prior to taking the course. The thing that was great for me is that the course allowed me to solidify my understanding of all of the information and begin to work on ways to apply this to my teaching and collaborative efforts. So often my head is filled with new ideas and then I'm on to the next thing without time to process anything. (This is my personal bias against accelerated Master's programs.)

The strength of this course is clearly the instructors. (I mean it. I'm not trying to impress.) Suzy and Connie, you both worked hard to show your enthusiasm for the topic and you clearly wanted everyone to succeed. I also love the opportunity to talk with other professionals to support each other, get ideas, and hear what is going on other places.

You can be assured that I will be trying out my unit next year, along with the Intel tools we learned.

Professional Development

When I was a new teacher I remember feeling that mabe after five years I would have a good grasp on what was involved in quality teaching and successful learning. I changed my view to ten years, and then after my Master's degree I realized how very little I really knew. Well, if teaching and learning never changed, perhaps it would be possible to know it all, but as research progresses, "best practice" evolves. Ongoing professional development is essential for all teachers, and probably more is needed than a school district can offer. Can you imagine going to a doctor who never studied research or learned new treatments?
New advances in brain research continue to tell us more about how students learn. Ongoing professional development in this area, and it's influences on new instructional methods is an important topic. Continual professional development in technology integration and "new tools" is a given. This will always change and evolve. One of my colleagues once said that now that she was a teacher, she was done being a student. Was she ever wrong...