Future Goals Essay
Tustin's Future Goals
I love learning and it’s my main goal moving forward.
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There’s so much to learn - both an exhilarating and an overwhelming truth.
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With that, I will focus on three particular areas I want to learn more about.
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Educational technology and application with multilingual students
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How to be a quality resource to others
These areas of focus are at the forefront of mind currently (July 2023) in light of my current and future roles as an educator. In the Fall I begin a role as the head of the English as a Second Language Department at a high school where I’ll also be coaching other staff for a majority of my day. In a year from now, I will be teaching at an American curriculum K-12 boarding school in Kenya where my students will be Third Culture Kids. The goals I’ve chosen will support me in these roles.
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Goal 1: Stay up to date on educational technologies and their applications in the classroom, particularly with multilingual learners.
My Master’s in Educational Technology has transformed how I understand the role of technology in education and the classroom. I want to continue to stay informed about new innovations in the space and how to creatively use them to support learners. I plan to keep up to date with technology by following blogs such as Free Technology for Teachers and Lisa Nielson The Innovative Educator as well as subscribing to EdTech Update, an online newsletter, to send new ideas in Educational technology directly to my inbox. Educational technology isn’t a domain to master but one to continue to creatively innovate within as technology and education both evolve. Within the domain of educational technology, its application to multilingual learners is especially important to my current and future contexts. A resource like Colorín Colorado supports me as I seek to best support multilingual learners in the spaces I’m in.
Goal 2: Understand Third Culture Kids as a population better in order to better come alongside and support the TCKs in my current and future classrooms.
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A value of mine as an educator is to meet students where they are at. As I look ahead to the school I’ll teach at in Kenya, it's a population of students I’m unfamiliar with. I have worked with few third culture kids who are growing up in the ways these students are. From what I’ve learned so far, these mosaics of culture within each of these students lead to some complex identities. No only will it take some serious work on my end both to understand Third Culture Kids (TCKs) broadly but also to individually come alongside and get to know each of these students individually. I was inspired to create this goal after reading Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Between Worlds (what’s considered the “TCK Bible” in understanding them) as well as a chapter in a reading for my master’s program, Chapter 12 Culture and Context, Theory and Practice in Adult Learning from the book Adult Learning: Linking Theory and Practice. I plan to tap into the knowledge of these students who are Third Culture Kids as well as my coworkers who have spent years working with this population. Additionally I will tap into resources like Kaleidoscope and blogs like this one, 10 Ways Teachers Can Support Third Culture Kids.
Goal 3: Continue to develop how to be a quality resource to others in any educational context
Part of my role in the coming school year is coaching other staff members and I want to do that well in ways that honor and support my colleagues. An aspect of this role ties into my first goal of staying up to date with educational technology and its application. Another aspect of this role is how to communicate what I have learned and know well with others. I want to be a collaborator, someone who skillfully uses questions and relationships to build up my coworkers' strengths and help them find solutions that work for them to issues that arise in their practice. Edutopia has been an incredible resource to me in this process. I have learned about coaching and supporting other staff members from this resource and will continue to use it.
All of these goals are ongoing and life-long, just like learning is. As I endeavor to be a life-long learner, I’m eager to focus on the areas of educational technology and its application, third culture kids and developing my skills as a resource to others. This quest for knowledge and eagerness to learn will create safe and creative environments both in my classroom and in my schools for learning. My hope with these goals is to serve my students and fellow staff well with the tools and skills I have.
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Curious about Third Culture Kids?
Here's a fun song written by a TCK about her experience and identify