Theresa Kamara

EDIT 6960 Internship and Capstone

it was not clear who could be asked to be my mentor for the program, and how I would be able to gain the

needed hours for experience. After I managed to gain my mentor and began communication with them I

quickly realized that I would need to take the lead to earn the hours needed. I checked in with my mentor

throughout the semester, but it was clear that having a mentor in a high position in the district was a very

busy lady. Though my mentor was the director of instructional technology, I was able to work with her as

well as the five Instructional Technology Specialists (ITS) for our district. This opportunity allowed me to

work closely with six individuals who work in the field that I would like to one day be a part of.

Working with the ITS team was directly aligned with the ISTE-E 2.1 standard as a learner.

Joining the ITS meetings were aligned with 2.1a,b, & c. During the meetings, the team members

collaborated on the planning of a Summer Tech Conference they would be hosting. They discussed what

the schedule would be, the type of presentation they wanted (workshop style), and the technology

platforms that would be taught (Canva, Adobe Creative Cloud). Another discussion they had was for

newly hired teachers to the district. They planned what they would need to present to the new teachers

and discussed how they could help teachers hired later in the school year. This discussion led the team to

plan and create a new teacher toolkit. In the toolkit, new teacher would find the important information

they need to know such as how to operate Infinite Campus, Launchpad, MyDocs, and

HenryConnects(district website). A final discussion the team members had was on a data report for the

apps used in the district LaunchPad. The report showed how many times various websites and apps were

used through the LaunchPad. The team discussed which apps they recommend deleting or keeping. Some

apps had millions of uses and were clear that they needed to keep them (Google Classroom, Illuminate,

HMH). Other apps in the LaunchPad needed a team discussion on what others thought. Reflecting back

on the meetings that I joined, I see how much these meetings aligned with all of the ISTE standards. I am,

however, the learner in those meetings. I was able to a) set professional learning goals to explore and

apply pedagogical approaches made possible by technology and reflect on their effectiveness, b)
participate in the local learning networks, and b) stay current with research that supports improved

learning outcomes.

This semester I stepped out of my comfort zone and became a collaborator with more than just

my team. Though I have done some presentations, it was different this time as I built relationships with

other grade level teachers and worked more closely with them in a small group. Initially, I met with

teachers to introduce Reading A-Z, help them get started, and align reading groups with upcoming

standards. A few of the teachers requested more assistance which led to a weekly meeting with a small

group of teachers. I met with them for an hour each week on Wednesdays to help them plan their guided

reading groups using Reading A-Z. At first, I prepared the upcoming standards and help them search for

leveled books that met the targeted standards and reading strategies. After a few weeks, teachers were

coming to our meeting with their standards ready and became more independent in their search. We have

continued to meet to help hold each other accountable and the meetings have become a time that we look

forward to during the week. Another collaborative planning practice that occurred this semester is weekly

data meetings with my grade level teachers in first grade. This is a practice that has been in place, but I

was able to lead the meetings and used Illuminate to assist with the data analysis. Upon analyzing the

grade level data, the team collaborated to discuss the next steps to reteach the necessary materials. Often

times, we agreed to assign IXL practice for students to complete independently, and we worked with

Reading A-Z during small groups. These sessions align directly with my goal for ISTE-C: Collaborator,

4.3a. I was able to build relationships with teachers and encouraged them to explore new instructional

strategies. While reflecting on these experiences, I understand that sometimes being a coach and

collaborating with teachers is not hosting an elaborate professional development school wide. Coaching

can be a one-on-one session or with a few teachers who have the same needs. Coaching is sitting down

with teachers, having a conversation, and building an understanding on what is needed and how I can

help.
 My final goal for this internship was to become a professional learning facilitator. With this goal I

wanted to be able to offer information for teachers to view when it best suits them. For this reason, I

chose to create a self-paced module with tutorials on how to use Canva. The first step in creating the

module was to send out a needs assessment for k-12 teachers to let me know what their learning needs

were for Canva. Once I evaluated the feedback, I determined that a lot of my audience did not know what

Canva was and I determined which areas they were interested in. I then spent a lot of time creating and

learning more about the platform myself. Once I was comfortable, I started making small tutorial videos

for each desired area. Once all materials were created and uploaded into Google Classroom, I invited all

of the teachers who completed the needs assessment. I was met with a hiccup when I noticed that not

many teachers were joining my classroom. This was due to me using my personal Google account to

make the module instead of my school account. Teachers joining from the school organization could not

join with the school account. Once this was discovered, those who had personal Google accounts joined

using those. The self-paced module received great feedback from the teachers who participated. I will

make improvements with my communication on the type of account to join with, or I could have made it

with the organization account. During my reflection of the outcome from the module, I am understanding

the ISTE-C: 4.5 standard more and how being a professional development facilitator takes practice and

evaluation from all aspects in order to have success with the presentations. I’m will absolutely make

changes next time I consider creating materials like this again.