My journey as a teacher and learner has been a continual one, with a pace that slows and accelerates as I grow and learn. There have been times in my life when my growth accelerated and I felt inspired to learn, create, and grow. I am currently in one of those phases, and it makes me feel alive, confident, excited, and motivated. We should always be striving to push ourselves to grow. This requires that we place ourselves in situations that are new and at times, uncomfortable. The Zone of Proximal Development is not a comfortable and easy place to be, as we can be uncertain, confused, and frustrated with our new learning.

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My main goals for the future of my learning are to keep growing, keep challenging myself, and keep creating. I want to continue to be inspired, and I want to continue to create with technology. In order to do this, I have identified three specific future goals that I would like to accomplish in the years ahead: build a professional learning community online and in-person, begin a photography business, and learn more about creating digital learning portfolios.

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I want to continue to build a professional learning community around myself that inspires me to learn and grow into a better teacher and artist. I live in rural Iowa, and as a natural introvert, I have the tendency to isolate myself. I have learned that I need to make an active effort to seek out a community of friends and colleagues that inspire me to create, learn, and improve. New people and new experiences will push me to grow in ways that I may not predict. My goal is to reach out to others and embrace new relationships and experiences, so that I can learn from others, be challenged by others, and most importantly, be inspired.

I have enjoyed using Twitter to develop an online professional learning community. I would like to continue to use Twitter, but I also want to develop relationships in-person. This will require me to attend conferences, introduce myself to new people, network, and maintain those connections. I think networking will open up new opportunities and experiences for me. My hope is that if I reach out, and put myself in new situations, new learning opportunities will arise for me.

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While working towards my Masters in Educational Technology, I decided to begin building a photography business. It is important for me to pursue my own interests and passions. I want to show my son and students that if they have a passion for something, they need to pursue it, and seek to learn more about it. I want to pursue my passion for photography, design, website creation, and technology by creating a photography business. This venture will require me to learn many new skills: client management, budgeting, providing services like online proofing, and digital editing. I have begun to explore Lightroom and Photoshop, but I know I have much to learn about these programs. I would also like to learn more about HDR photography, low-light photography, portrait photography, and video editing. So far, every photography session has taught me something new. I love the challenge, and I find the final creations extremely rewarding.

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Finally, a professional goal that I have for myself and my students is to build online learning portfolios. I believe online portfolios are a great way to share work, elicit feedback, and foster reflection. I want to explore tools for developing online portfolios that students can use to share their writings, videos, pictures, and projects throughout the year. I specifically am interested in learning and using SeeSaw to build learning portfolios in my classroom. My students have one-to-one Chromebooks. Last year I had students share their work by screencasting. This required them to talk through their project, and explain their thinking and process. I loved using screencasting with students, but I want to incorporate those videos into a larger portfolio for students to share with one another, and with parents.

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I hope to use these portfolios to involve parents in student learning. Students can create screencasts that walks through a mathematical problem step-by-step. If they forget how to multiply with multi-digit numbers later in the year, they can refer back to their video. They can also show their video to their parents, who may gain insight into their child’s learning and thinking.

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Learning is a lifelong process, and I believe new experiences and new learning make life exciting and worthwhile. I can’t imagine feeling fulfilled and fully alive if I wasn’t learning something and pursuing something new. I strive to be a person who asks questions, who is willing to put myself in uncomfortable situations. I was a bit nervous about beginning a Masters program, but the experience has enriched my life with new knowledge, ideas, and relationships. New challenges offer new rewards, and we should shy away from them.