3rd Year Practicum Goals

 My specific goals for each of the 5 competencies: 

1. Planning for Learning: P6 - Develops varied activities and assignments that are relevant, clearly aligned with learning goals, require deep thinking and support student engagement, collaboration, and choice (TQS 3a)  
2. Facilitating Learning: F7 - Engages in discussions and inquiry that invite high level thinking and engagement of all students (TQS 3b)
3. Assessment: A3 - Develops learner understanding of learning goals and achievement expectations to promote self-monitoring
4. Inclusive Environment: IE4 - Creates a respectful and ethical learning community that encourages learners to take risks, build trust, embrace diversity, increase self-confidence, and show leadership
5. Professional Responsibilities: PR5 - Establishes professional and ethical relationships (TQS 1a, 1b)

As of currently, I do not have much experience in educational technology. In previous field placement, I would struggle at times when trying to navigate the SMART board, and I'm making it my goal to be proficient in using it! I am also actively trying to build a "tech toolkit" by gathering engaging tech resources for me to use in my future classrooms. I'm passionate about the integration of tech within classrooms and the teaching community, and am excited to learn more during this course!

Digital technology is a large part of today's world – and there is no doubt to how important it is to teach students how to become tech savvy and how to build their technological skills for success. My burning question is how do us educators (and future educators) ensure that the technology that we're presenting in our classrooms is accessible to every student, regardless of their (socioeconomic, cultural, etc.,) backgrounds and individual strengths and challenges as learners of technology.

This question is important to me because growing up in school, I didn't have access to the fancy laptops, and the treasure chest of crafts and resources that my classmates did, and because of that I felt set apart from my peers. It gave me greater motivation to work hard in school, but also affected my self-confidence and how I saw myself as a learner. As a future educator, I want to "level the playing field" for all of my students. I want to ensure that my classroom environment supports diversity and account for each and every students' success.