Personal+Growth+Plan

After the commencement of this program, I plan to take some time to focus on my solely on my classroom instruction. I am also going to be taking an extended maternity leave starting towards the end of October and through almost the end of April this year. With this in mind, my professional studies are going to take a hiatus this year. As far as a longer term plan for where I would like to be, I plan to stay in the classroom for at least a couple more years because I feel that it is important for anyone who takes a higher administration position to have that experience to rely on to make better informed decisions. During this time I will continue to be involved in blog reading and online communities to stay connected to the instruction technology world. I will also continue to serve as an "expert" in my grade level team in the way of instructional technology. Our Instructional Technology Coordinator is close to retirement, and I have considered applying for her position when she decides to leave. I think I will focus some additional graduate courses on advanced Microsoft Office skills, because I know there are skills that are foreign to me which would be helpful, perhaps essential, to fulfilling that position effectively. I plan to determine other skill sets that are necessary for that position and either take graduate courses to gain the knowledge or seek out webinars that would serve the same purpose. Additionally, provided that the budget issues are alleviated, I would like to attend more conferences to broaden my knowledge about instructional technology.