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Ashley Mendoza

Meyer

ED 199

13 November 2020

Matt Miller Study Trip

One asset I brought to the trip is my excitement. I really enjoyed watching his video and

listening to his podcast, so getting to meet him in person was truly a memorable experience. It

was so interesting to learn that he is from Indiana and that someone with that much of a

following and popularity within our field is so close to us feels very special. He was exactly the

same as he was in his videos; upbeat, quick, fun. He was very interesting to hear from and we

even got to take a first look at the cover art for his upcoming book. That was such a cool moment

and knowing that we are the firsts to see it outside of him and his team is so special.

My favorite part of his presentation was when we described his educational journey.

Learning that he originally went into journaling but then realized that wasn’t his passion only to

see his wife and what she was doing as a teacher inspired him and, in turn, inspired me. He

mentioned how he got an emergency license to be able to teach at a school that desperately

needed a teacher and was thrown into being a high school Spanish teacher with no previous

knowledge or experience with teaching. This made me feel a lot more comfortable and less

nervous for when I have to begin teaching. I worry if I’ll be prepared enough and know what to

do, but if Matt can do it with no experience, I know I will be okay.

The CoE Core Value that this visit best connects to is “Technology Proficiencies.” More

specifically, how educators should be able to “employ consistent and creative use of technology

to enhance instruction.” I feel like the reasoning behind this choosing is very self-explanatory.
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Matt Miller’s entire “brand” revolves around technology and how to best integrate it into the

classroom to enhance your teaching and your student’s learning. The need for technology

proficiency is at an even higher demand than ever before with COVID-19 and the pandemic

closing down schools. Teachers without much experience with technology struggled a lot more

than teachers who already had some experience.

I am very much looking forward to integrating technology into my own classroom in the

future. Not only will this help me make my classroom more inclusive and accessible, but it will

also become so much more fun. With my generation being the first to grow up completely

surrounded by modern technology, we are already at an advantage in the field of incorporating

technology into our classrooms. I think we are going to be wonderful teachers who teach

wonderful students.

A photo from our

visit with Matt Miller

on 11/11/20

A photo from our first look of the cover art

of Matt Miller’s newest book