I think it is safe to say that I am in “that” part of my doctoral studies -- three years in, past the point of no return, and exhausted -- and I can’t help but think that where I would like to be in five years is on a beach somewhere with a drink in my hand. But self-indulgent thinking aside, I do have a professional endgame in mind, which I will gladly share.
I love being a classroom teacher, and five years from now, I still plan on being one. When I started grad school, a number of my colleagues asked me if I really wanted to be out of the classroom… so soon. I was 28 when I started at USF, and thirty-something seemed awfully young to “retire” from teaching. Honestly, I was a bit frustrated hearing, person after person, that a doctorate would make me over-qualified to be a classroom teacher. (There’s such a larger conversation to be had about teacher preparation and standards for teaching and public perception of the qualifications required to teach, but I’ll leave that for another day.) So much has changed since I was last in graduate school. LCD projectors have replaced overheads, student laptops and tablets have dated the single computer lab, and tools for online communication and collaboration have liberated teachers from lesson planning for students working together in a face-to-face only environment. When the whole world of the classroom looks and feels differently than it did in 2008 when I last graduated, it would seem that it makes sense to re-consider what teaching and learning can -- and should -- look like. I’m back at USF in large part to undertake that process of investigation, to reconsider my own pedagogy and help push along others in the field toward more relevant curriculum design. If that’s part of my aim, then the classroom is the exact place I should be in five years. Plus, it’s where my professional heart is. I just can’t get enough of those teenage rapscallions.
And, although I struggle to imagine working entirely outside of the classroom, I also struggle to imagine my professional life existing solely within the four walls of the classroom. For the past few years, some other intellectual need has been drawing me out. Early on in my teaching career, I was introduced to the moniker “reflective practitioner,” and since then, I have aspired to become one, and a good one at that. I know I want to have one foot in the classroom, in practice; but, I also know that I would like one foot in spaces of reflection and research where I can refine my own teaching and promote best practices in our profession, especially around multimedia design and learning. So far, that has taken the form of writing for a practitioner audience around technology integration in the curriculum, and supporting teachers at my own school and others who are making the transition into 1:1 teaching and learning. I anticipate in the not-too-distant future that the “reflective” part of reflective practitioner will also include teaching about digital pedagogy and multimedia design at the graduate level and writing for other researchers as well as for teachers.
And don’t tell my husband, but I already have an idea brewing for the next book...
I love being a classroom teacher, and five years from now, I still plan on being one. When I started grad school, a number of my colleagues asked me if I really wanted to be out of the classroom… so soon. I was 28 when I started at USF, and thirty-something seemed awfully young to “retire” from teaching. Honestly, I was a bit frustrated hearing, person after person, that a doctorate would make me over-qualified to be a classroom teacher. (There’s such a larger conversation to be had about teacher preparation and standards for teaching and public perception of the qualifications required to teach, but I’ll leave that for another day.) So much has changed since I was last in graduate school. LCD projectors have replaced overheads, student laptops and tablets have dated the single computer lab, and tools for online communication and collaboration have liberated teachers from lesson planning for students working together in a face-to-face only environment. When the whole world of the classroom looks and feels differently than it did in 2008 when I last graduated, it would seem that it makes sense to re-consider what teaching and learning can -- and should -- look like. I’m back at USF in large part to undertake that process of investigation, to reconsider my own pedagogy and help push along others in the field toward more relevant curriculum design. If that’s part of my aim, then the classroom is the exact place I should be in five years. Plus, it’s where my professional heart is. I just can’t get enough of those teenage rapscallions.
And, although I struggle to imagine working entirely outside of the classroom, I also struggle to imagine my professional life existing solely within the four walls of the classroom. For the past few years, some other intellectual need has been drawing me out. Early on in my teaching career, I was introduced to the moniker “reflective practitioner,” and since then, I have aspired to become one, and a good one at that. I know I want to have one foot in the classroom, in practice; but, I also know that I would like one foot in spaces of reflection and research where I can refine my own teaching and promote best practices in our profession, especially around multimedia design and learning. So far, that has taken the form of writing for a practitioner audience around technology integration in the curriculum, and supporting teachers at my own school and others who are making the transition into 1:1 teaching and learning. I anticipate in the not-too-distant future that the “reflective” part of reflective practitioner will also include teaching about digital pedagogy and multimedia design at the graduate level and writing for other researchers as well as for teachers.
And don’t tell my husband, but I already have an idea brewing for the next book...
RSS Feed
