When I was reading about the different Empowered Educator anatomies presented by Extend, I felt that the Teacher, Curator, and Experimenter categories are reflective and correlate to my own teaching practices. For instance, the teacher’s anatomy is where I feel most comfortable. I know what motivates my students, how they learn best, and I’m always modifying lessons and activities to put individualized learning at the forefront of my planning. I also feel I’ve become a seasoned curator in the sense that I’ve become a bit of a hunter/gatherer of noteworthy resources with meaningful content as I hop around grade levels and seek to familiarize myself with the curriculum. The experimenter badge is one I feel I’m almost ready to receive. I’m proud of the fact that I’m always willing to change the way I teach in order for my students to better understand concepts that are being taught. I feel that teachers have to be willing to be an ‘experimenter’ if they intend on moving forward in education as it is constantly changing as we speed into the future. I think because I proactively try out new tools, ask questions, learn about different teaching strategies, then I’m actively experimenting, therefore it continues to be an area of growth. When I look at the Extend framework, the anatomies that I feel I need to develop in are the technologist, collaborator, and scholar areas. I continue to work on my level of patience when technical difficulties arise. I also feel that I need to do a better job of justifying why I choose the different tech tools and applications in the classroom that I implement. I want to learn more about what’s available to me, how to effectively implement and teach digital literacy skills at the primary level. I want to learn more about what’s considered appropriate and manageable, which tools and platforms have proven to be successful in the classroom and why.
When reflecting on how the Extend anatomies relate to my teaching practices, I would have to say that Teacher, Curator, and Experimenter align with my credo. I am a sponge when it comes to curating resources, listening in on discussions, piggy backing on workshops, and collaborating with, and learning from master teachers. I’m also a ‘yes’ person (sometimes to a fault) and because I’ve moved around and taught at different grade levels, I think it’s important to volunteer, and relish any opportunity to explore new things.
My project idea is still in the works, and I don’t like things to be undecided. I like to know what I have to do, as soon as possible. However, right now my CCQ is around promoting ePortfolios, moving forward with formative assessment being the primary type of assessment, and partnering with parents. When I look at the Extend framework, the anatomy that fits well with my CCQ is the collaboration, scholar, and technologist pieces. Not quite sure which one to go forward with at the moment. I feel that the collaboration piece of the Extend framework would be a good place for me to start as I want to grow my personal and professional learning and teaching networks in order to further develop and explore my ideas around a critical challenge question.
Resources: https://extend.ecampusontario.ca/