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When I dug up my application for my master’s program, dated March of 2017, I couldn’t help but smile and roll my eyes at the same time. In the March of 2017, I had recently moved back to Michigan from Chicago and had started a new job teaching second grade that fall. I was in the middle of my second year of teaching and was simultaneously naïve yet optimistic. A year and a half later, I am at the start of my fourth year of teaching, I have gone through two summers of Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) hybrid classes, am not as naïve but still optimistic, and know a little more than I did then, but still have much more to learn.

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One of the application questions was to explain the personal and professional goals that you will meet through the MAET degree program. I was excited about “discovering new ways to use technology to spark excitement, conversation, and most importantly… learning. My ultimate goal in completing the program is to learn different tools, strategies and methods to keep up with the latest technology so that I can carry the latest technological advancements directly into my classroom.” When I wrote my response, I thought that a 21st century learner was solely a learner that used technology to aide in their learning. Through my experiences in MAET, I can now confidently say that there is much more than that. I am still a firm believer that technology is here to stay and I am still passionate about finding new ways to effectively integrate it in my daily instruction. Using technology helps me to better see my students’ thinking, share their learning with their families, and keep my students excited about what they are learning. I do still agree with my original goal and wouldn’t completely change it, I would however, add more.

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One of the biggest differences that I’ve noticed since I began the MAET program is a change in my mindset personally and professionally. Not only has the program been about technology, it has also been about getting in the mindset of asking questions, being creative, and seeing failures as a positive part of learning. As I think about myself, I am much more comfortable with all three of those ideas in personally and as an educator. Although I feel strongly about the technology integration piece, I feel equally as strong with the mindset piece of the 21st century learner. I wish that someone had taught me at a young age the importance of asking questions, being creative, and failing as a learner. I believe that a lot of my stress in my schooling would have been alleviated had I been comfortable with those ideas. With that being said, the addition to my goal is that students walk away from my class with that exact mindset: feeling confident in the questions they ask, that creativity is something that can be learned, and that failure one of the most important parts of learning. With this mindset coupled with the integration of technology, I feel that my students will be ready to take on anything that comes their way.