Rebecca Hyman Reflection Paper 1

NYIT EDIT 603

My school, P.S. 33 Chelsea Prep is dedicated to achieving excellence in education for

every student. Our mission is to deliver a rigorous standards-based curriculum which promotes

analytical thinking, content knowledge and independence. Students are engaged in a balanced

literacy program and use a problem solving approach in order to become lifelong problem

solvers and readers.

I work hard to align my teaching practices to my school’s vision each and every day. In

my Gifted and Talented classroom, I teach content at a fast pace. In my classroom, I teach

literacy with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project and I teach math with

EngageNY’s curriculum. Being said, I believe that I am not a teacher of a specific curriculum but

rather of standards. My goal is to get my scholars to learn, and I will supplement as needed in

order to meet this objective! My students work autonomously and also engage in collaborative

group settings throughout the year. I often run strategy groups and confer with my learners to

support them in accessing content, excelling their understandings, and to help them work

towards their individual aspirations.

Although I am proud of my practices and feel that they meet the mission of my school, I

do not believe this mission is observed or enforced school-wide. As an effort to get educators to

stop complaining about inconsistent mathematical practices, my administrators made, what

seemed like, an impulsive purchase. They bought Investigations 3 math curriculum. To say

more, they only bought some of the resources and left teachers with a heavy load of

responsibility. For example, we needed to reinvent the wheel by creating exit tickets,

homeworks, worksheets and assessments as they did not purchase the student workbooks or

assessment books for teachers. “Effective school change happens when all stakeholders-

administrators, faculty, parents, counselors, and students- come together to identify problems

and work on solutions. This is not a revolutionary concept, but how often have we seen reform
efforts superimposed on schools with little student or teacher voice or input, and how often have

we watched them fail? School reform experts agree: When schools work with a team of

stakeholders in a focused way, they can make real progress toward improving policies and

practice (Pope, Brown and Miles, 2015, p. 9).” I think that our school may have been able to

launch this curriculum with greater success had we had more support from administration.

The majority of our school, General Education and Gifted and Talented classrooms alike,

felt that this curriculum was far from rigorous, provided no opportunity for analytical thinking or

extension work, and overall did not prepare students for success. On top of it all, teachers

received little to no professional development to help us roll the curriculum out successfully. At

this point in the year, almost all teachers have dropped their usage of this program and returned

to other systems.

Technology and digital practices have been cumbersome this academic year. This year, I

received a new SMARTBoard and teacher laptop. Unfortunately, in the shuffle of my classroom

move, my technology did not get set up effectively. Some days the connection was successful

and some days it was not. Due to our inconsistent access to these tools, we have not developed

efficient digital practices. As explained in Enhancing Professional Development for Teachers:

Potential Uses of Information Technology, Report of a Workshop, “Even if teachers have access

to computers, those computers don’t necessarily work well. Without a technology support

person who can provide a quick response to a problem, the frustrations of getting computers

and software to function may negate the value” of 21st Century learning tools (National

Research Council (U.S.), 2007, p.18).”

Fortunately, we just received support from an IT company and are up and running as of

this week! It has been a tedious process to get to this point. I had to submit tickets to request

support from the department of education’s help desk. To no avail, I had to seek out further

support from administration on four separate occasions. This caused frustration as I felt the

issue should have been rectified within the first month of school and it was put on the
backburner. One of my professional goals I set with my principal in September was to

incorporate more technology into my classroom. Her assistance in solving these technology

issues would have provided me with the right support to help my scholars learn more. “You

cannot improve a school if the administrators are spending an excessive amount of time in their

offices. They should be out on the campus and inside classrooms, working with students and

supporting teachers. (Thompson, 2016, Ch. 42).” I look forward to meeting the digital needs of

my scholars from this point out. This being said, I have made efforts to compensate for these

obstacles. For example, I utilized a “Bring Your Own Device” contract which allows learners and

their families to bring in their device of choice to use in the classroom. This promoted student

choices as they were able to pick tools they prefered. Students are encouraged to use their

devices in writing workshop, social studies, and in nonfiction research! I look forward to

discovering new ways to make my classroom a 21st Century learning environment. I hope to run

a “smart classroom” next year that will help meet digital needs of my students and their parents!

Works Cited:

National Research Council (U.S.). (2007). Enhancing Professional Development for

Teachers : Potential Uses of Information Technology, Report of a Workshop. Washington, D.C.:

National Academies Press.

Pope, D. C., Brown, M., & Miles, S. B. (2015). Overloaded and underprepared:

Strategies for stronger schools and healthy, successful kids. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Thompson, R. (2016). Fall down, stand up: Advice for aspiring principals. Lanham:

Rowman & Littlefield.

Rebecca Hyman Reflection Paper 2

NYIT EDIT 603

My greatest area of focus in my educational philosophy and practice is that of Social

Emotional Learning. I truly believe that all children must learn and practice appropriate reactions

and responses, kindness, empathy, respect, and learn to take ownership over their actions.

Additionally, we must teach our young learners tolerance, inclusion, acceptance, and how to

celebrate our unique differences. We cannot assume that children learn positive values at

home, and it is our job to teach them these behaviors and consistently model through

demonstration. Afterall, “schools provide windows into the lives of students in ways that do not

exist otherwise.” Educators see their students sometimes more often than the student’s own

parents. We must make time to differentiate and shift instruction to meet students where they

are emotionally and lift them up (Cross & Cross, 2018). Without a balanced social-emotional

well being, children tend to struggle academically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and more.

I am on the board for the Social Emotional Learning Committee at my school. Over the

summer, I sat through trainings for different programs that I later turn-keyed to my coworkers.

These trainings were for Sanford Harmony, Choose Love Movement, Riley’s Way Foundation,

and Responsive Classrooms. Additionally, I worked in a small cohort to synthesize and create a

Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum for grades Pre-K through five. I often peer through the

lense of Social Emotional Learning to help me differentiate instruction based on student

readiness. Doing this does not always look like modifications to instructional content. Rather,

this looks like frequent check ins to gage my students’ emotional wellness.

Often times, students bring trauma into the classroom and return from recess or cluster

classes feeling distressed. A social conflict can flow into a child’s perception of him or herself,

too. To me, it is imperative that my scholars are feeling safe and balanced before engaging in a

lesson. If a child is emotionally and/or mentally consumed, the instruction will fall flat and be lost

on them altogether. Therefore, I incorporate time to hear my students, greet them into the

classroom each time they transition back, and provide guidance in problem solving. This
demonstrates the ways in which I creatively and collectively work to form an “emotional zone” to

help my students transform their situations. As Martinez explains on page 81, these practices

help establish an appropriate zone of emotional development (Martinez, J. E. 2011).

In my classroom, I’ve set up a CALM Corner where students can initiate structured

breaks to regulate their emotions. In the CALM Corner are stress relieving fidget toys, and a

device in which students can utilize instructional technology apps to help guide them to a

comfortable state. Some of the apps include Calm, Insight Timer, GoNoodle, digital coloring

books, and more. These apps provide resources to help students gather the tools they need to

appropriately access a regulated state of mind. These tools help facilitate guided meditations,

breathing exercises, positive self talk, gentle music and more. While this may not necessarily be

considered a typical way to differentiate, it ultimately helps students access new content and

learning in a stronger way because they feel secure and confident when engaging in instruction.

Resources:

Cross, T. L., & Cross, J. R. (2018). Suicide among gifted children and adolescents:

Understanding the suicidal mind. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.

Martinez, J. E. (2011). "Performatory Approach to Teaching, Learning and Technology"

Rebecca Hyman Reflection Paper 3

Professor Tromblee EDIT 603

Throughout the course of this semester, I have gained a strong understanding of the

philosophy behind educational technology. As we approach the end of this course, I reflect on

my efforts towards achieving the learning outcomes. Proudly, I perceive that I’ve succeeded in

accessing the content and in deepening my overall understanding on how to incorporate

technology into my instruction in meaningful ways.

One of my favorite sayings is, “we may not have it together, but together we have it all!” I

share this because I believe that at the heart of success in the field of pedagogy lies

communication and collaboration. Afterall, it does take a village. We must come together and

share our expertise, develop trust, consider one another’s perspectives in order to learn and

grow. One way that I used technology platforms to communicate and collaborate was through

Blackboard reply comments. Another way this occurred was on Zoom sessions for other

courses in the program. Personally, I seek out collaborative opportunities at work, and genuinely

enjoy participating in group projects. Utilizing digital learning platforms to collaborate is

absolutely a task I hope to continue incorporating into my practice as a lifelong learner, teacher,

and for home-school communication.

The setting I teach in is with gifted and talented elementary school students. My students

each demonstrate a unique set of gifts and talents. For examples, I have students who are

spatially, mathematically, linguistically, artistically, and musically gifted. As with any other setting,

it is imperative that we find ways to help all students learn. To do this, we must differentiate and

provide different points of entry so that students can access content and eventually reach

mastery. I feel that educational technology is a pivotal platform that will allow me to meet the

needs of my students’ different abilities and learning styles. Through digital learning tools, I can

customize assigned lesson content for each student, track their progress, and provide

interventions and support to help them grow along the way! Throughout the remainder of my

time at NYIT, I plan to broaden my “toolbox” and depth of knowledge so that I can be the best
teacher I can be. I am confident that engaging in my course content and working collaboratively

with my professors and colleagues will help me develop professionally so that I can truly make a

difference in each of my students’ lives.

In many of my assignments and projects, growth in professional practice is evident. I

used feedback from my professor to improve the quality of my work as well as to increase the

quantity of interactions with my colleagues and fellow classmates. My E-portfolio demonstrates

my perspective and philosophy on educational technology. Additionally, it is a platform on which

I have developed and shared a plan for my professional development moving forward. I do

intend to utilize all that I learn during my time at NYIT to act as a technology liaison to support

my school and district. This path likely will lead me to attend many professional development

workshops, but also to facilitate my own! Lastly, my E-portfolio contains evidence of my

expertise, which is reflected in both the teacher and student work samples provided.

Throughout this journey as well as post-graduation, I intend to attend and facilitate

professional development opportunities. I can utilize my expertise to help support my school and

district in implementing instructional technology in productive and meaningful ways. Instructional

technology, devices with internet and digital learning tools “are catalysts, enabling change in

education (Higgins, 2019).” Some goals that I’ve set for myself are to learn and practice using

Google Classroom. Google for Education shares their philosophy that rings true to my beliefs as

a pedagogue. The team shares that their goal is to enable “learning for everyone, anywhere.”

They constantly strive to “create tools that are useful in all corners of the globe and that are

accessible by anyone. [Google] Classroom helps students become more active global citizens.

It removes the boundaries that the four walls of a classroom instill (Marinello & McCloud, 2014).”

I hope to attend PD on IO Classroom and act as the liaison to help transfer and turnkey what I

learn to my colleagues and support staff so that we can all engage with the platform

successfully. My research on IO Classroom indicates that the software would help our school

and/or district concisely track patterns in attendance, communicate between home and school,
document anecdotal notes, record grades and generate progress reports, report cards, and

more! Additionally, I have proposed to my administration that we pursue a school-wide

subscription for MobyMax next academic year. I will be attending professional developments for

this learning site so that I can help it be facilitated with success by all teachers.

As a lifelong learner, I will never stop seeking out opportunities to grow. My path

at NYIT is leading me closer to being a 21st Century educator. My students are my motivation

and I intend to continue working towards my goals, to help them achieve their own!

Resources:

Introducing classroom, a new tool in Google Apps for Education. Marinello, N., &

McCloud, M. (2014). District Administration, (8), 52. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.arktos.nyit.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.379

429032&site=eds-live&scope=site

Jack, C., & Higgins, S. (2019). Embedding educational technologies in early years

education. Research in Learning Technology, 27, 1–17.

https://doi-org.arktos.nyit.edu/10.25304/rlt.v27.2033