Hello!
My
name is Natalie Egan, and I reside in Reno, Nevada. I am originally from the
beautiful state of Montana and moved to Nevada 8 years ago. Teaching and family
ultimately drew me to Reno. My twin sister lives near Chico, California, a
3-hour drive from Reno. I just entered my 9th year of teaching at
the elementary level, having taught various grades, ranging from 3rd
to 6th grade. Ultimately, I would like to transition into teaching
at either the middle or high school level.
Continuing
my education has always been a goal of mine. The field of education is continuously
growing, and I must do the same for the benefit of my students. My
teaching background gives me an advantage in learning design and technologies.
According to Wagner (2021), “design is describing an activity or set of
activities that result in a documented set of specifications for creating a
lesson or a course” (p.10). Instructional design is like lesson planning; this
experience with creating lessons will support the future development and
delivery of instructional materials with my students.
My
school district requires teachers to complete Student Learning Objectives (SLO)
each year. View this as monitoring lesson planning more closely for one
specific unit. Many teachers do not enjoy completing the SLO because of how
closely the planning and implementation process is monitored. However, I enjoy
it to an extent. The SLO process reminds me to be more thoughtful, strategic,
and methodical in lesson planning. I often feel constrained to a scripted
curriculum that the district requires me to teach and not given enough autonomy
to teach how I know it will benefit my students. The SLO provides an
opportunity to design engaging, student-centered, and practical lessons with
the goal of student learning at the forefront.
I
participate regularly in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) in multiple
capacities. One is with my fellow grade-level teachers, one as an entire school
community, and another focusing on student success. A PLC is like the Working
Out Loud (WOL) concept because it has a goal/purpose and relies on
relationships to achieve that goal. Often, we will explore new topics or brainstorm
ideas collectively, drawing on our own experiences and knowledge.
All
these teaching components drew me to the field of learning design and
technologies, this cycle of facilitating learning effectively and engagingly. This
cycle of enabling is like one school of thought, the Rational Model. According
to Wagner (2021), the Rational Model is an approach to problem-solving
involving a series of stages. My teaching experiences make me uniquely
qualified because I already engage in this practice, but I believe the lens and
perspective of a teacher stand out. As educators, we can design and deliver the
best thought-out lesson with excellent results, but if our students are not
engaged and excited, the content is not as meaningful. I hope to gain the
skills and knowledge to design engaging and impactful lessons with the addition
of a technological component. This is one area of learning design and
technology I am the most excited to explore and learn from.
Additionally,
teachers are often described as wearing “multiple hats.” Our role in the
classroom extends beyond just being a teacher but also a parent, counselor,
coach, cheerleader, and nurse, to name a few. We are often tasked with more
than our job description entails, requiring skills not traditionally affiliated
with teaching. Similarly described by Bozarth (2019), the title instructional
designer becomes the overarching term for any job related to facilitating
instruction in any capacity involving designing learning materials. The skills
required of instructional designers are lengthy and overlap with many job
positions, making it difficult to determine what an instructional designer
precisely does. Understanding the many roles and skills educators are expected
to carry beyond teaching will help with the expectations of duties and skills
instructional designers are often tasked with.
Another area of growth and improvement I hope to gain from this
program is the technological component. My mother purchased our first computer
home in 2000. She is self-taught and far more knowledgeable on computers and
software than I am. Her motivation stems from her career. She was forced to
learn to meet the demands required by her job. I hope to gain similar knowledge
and understanding to improve my instructional design and learning. Educators must
often use specific technological programs for progress monitoring and
assessment. This does not leave much time for other technological uses,
especially with my lack of knowledge. However, I can incorporate more
practical, real-life technology applications in the classroom by becoming more
competent with technology and building my tool kit.
Ultimately, if I decide to leave the classroom, ideally, I would
like to become either an instructional coach or mentor. Becoming an
instructional coach has been a passion of mine since my first year of teaching.
I was fortunate enough to work in a district that assigned mentors to
first-year teachers. If it hadn’t been for my mentor’s guidance and support, I would
have drowned my first year. I hope to give back to fellow teachers by applying
what I have learned over my eight years of teaching and what I will gain from
this program, particularly by supporting them in designing, delivering, and
assessing instructional materials. As Wilson (2024) advised, familiarizing
myself with instructional design principles and models, such as ADDIE, would
provide adequate support and guidance for guiding educators in lesson design.
Additionally, I envision myself contributing to the learning design
community on a broader scale by working for an educational company that designs
and creates curricula. Reflecting on the current curricula I am required to use
in the classroom, I find a few elements that do not support exciting and engaged
learning. At the root, interest, and engagement are the best motivators for
student learning. Joining a company that encourages those two essential
elements while applying the learning design skills would allow me to impact students
nationwide.
Bozarth, J. (2019, April
2). Nuts and Bolts: The ID (Job Description) Bucket Overfloweth. The
Learning Guild.
https://www.learningguild.com/articles/nuts-and-bolts-the-id-job-description-bucket-overfloweth/
Wagner, E. D. (2021).
Becoming a Learning Designer. In Design for Learning: Principles, Processes,
and Praxis (pp. 9–18).
Wilson, M. (2024, August
29). ChatGPT. https://chatgpt.com/c/5b3f3095-c673-4b88-9341-72ecbc87f40d
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