Running Head: GROWTH ASSESSMENT 1

Growth Assessment

Christina Espadas

Azusa Pacific University

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History of Coursework

Table 1

History of Coursework

Course # Term Instructor Key Learning Reflections

EDUC 511 Spring Kristi In Essentials in Learning and Technology I

2/2017 Hernandez was introduced to LiveBinder. Professor
Hernandez, introduced me live google
classroom as well and I think it is the best
site ever invented.

EDTC 517 Spring Kristi Digital Communication introduced me to

1/2017 Hernandez flipped classrooms and tech resources to use
in my classroom and how they can
accommodate my special need students in
my class.

EDTC 527 Spring Jennifer In Special Topics in Technology, Professor

1/2017 Courduff Courduff encourages us to work with our
peers and find new tools in the technology
world that we would be able to implement
in our classroom.

EDUC 526 Fall Jennifer In Capstone, I am creating my own

2/2018 Courduff ePortfolio to demonstrate all of my prior
and ongoing knowledge from my classes. In
order to prepare for my future.
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Personal Growth

Azusa Pacific University’s Master of Arts in Education: Learning and Technology

(LRNT) has helped and shaped me into the woman that I am now. Currently I am a woman

with many disguises for instance I am a mother, a wife, a student, a teacher, a sister, a daughter,

and granddaughter. Earlier this year I had the honor to serve as a Special Education Specialist at

Perris Elementary School District on a Internship Credential. I feel so blessed that I have been on

this journey with support and guidance through peers and professors that I have met at Azusa

Pacific University. As I reflect back to the first time that I wanted to become a teacher and

coming into the program never did I imagine how it would affect me as a person, spiritually, and

professionally.

As a person I have seen myself grow and realize what my life is about. Coming into the

program I knew what I wanted to become, but did not realize the changes that were going to

happen in my life through this journey. Coming into the program I was a happy camper the first

month and life changed. I had found out that my parents where separating and that affected me in

many ways as a student and I had lost my best friend. I was scared knowing that I did not have

my support the first month going into the program and I am thankful for my husband who was

always there to help and encourage me to keep going. It was a rough patch, and I think the

hardest part was holding my disguise in class and showing everyone that I was still a happy

camper. Until the moment when I realized I was not able to hold it in and during our prayers in

class did I finally get the courage to speak up and ask for prayers. I felt that I was finally able to

breath in that moment, I realized and questioned myself why did I hold it in? I learned that it is

much easier to ask for prayers than to hold it in. Through this lesson I shared with others that it is
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okay to open up to others and that we are all brother and sisters and we need to pray together and

more prayers are better than one.

Overall, I love my job, there is nothing else that I would. I love working with the special

needs community and being able to collaborate with teachers. According to Schmoker (2011),

“The real path to greatness, it turns out, requires simplicity and diligence. It requires clarity, not

instant illumination. It demands each of us to focus on what is vital and to eliminate all of the

extraneous distraction ” (p.1). This has helped to focus on real time and what I need now and

learning to eliminate all other distractions that can hold me back.

Professional Growth

Professionally I have grown so much with the support of APU. When I came into LRNT

I started off as a paraeducator in a Special Day Class. After applying to LRNT I was able to

successfully pass my state exams and become a substitute teacher. With APU’s support I was

able to follow the correct steps in order to fulfill my dreams as a professional. During my first

year I was able to successfully network within my community of schools and experiences

different school sites and getting to know students and realizing where I wanted to be and what I

wanted to teach. Based off my experience I knew that I would love being a Special Education

Specialist, but I would have to complete and pass all state exams, including my classes all while

trying to balance my life as well. According to Brock and Hundley (2016), “People who have

worked hard, refused to give up, and succeed against all odds” (p.11).

According to Brock and Hundley (2016), “Growth mindset can be seen in individuals

stories, as well groundbreaking people who worked hard to turn dreams into realities” (p.11). At

this point in my professional life, I have been able to see my dream become my reality. I can't

imagine my life being different. I did have to overcome some obstacles, but I was able to
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successfully succeed as a professional. When I first got my position as a Special Education

Specialist I did not have a deep understanding of what the job entailed. Now being in the position

for a few months I have been able to adjust myself to understanding what my role is as Special

Education Specialist. This best part of this journey and overcoming my obstacles is showing my

students that we can overcome obstacles and still become successful.

At this time knowing that I am nearing the end of LRNT, I feel proud that I was able to

learn and adopt new ways of practice professionally. I have learned and gained knowledge

through courses and being in contact with professors. Professors have been able to help me with

their knowledge based on their experiences within the field. The most important growth as a

professional is being able to uses the resources from LRNT and being able to implement the

technology into a classroom.

Technology

Students enjoy being able to use technology tools and if I am able to adopt them in my

classroom shows me how proud I am to effectively use them on a daily basis. Coming into

LRNT I had the basic knowledge of how to login and retrieve my email and was not aware of

how many resources were available as tools to use in the classroom environment. Now that I am

towards the end of LRNT, I now know how to find resources and how to implement them

correctly in class. Every day is a new learning opportunity and I hope gain knowledge along the

way to better serve my students.

Being in LRNT I have gained knowledge in technology tools. Some of the tools that I

found most beneficial is Google Classroom. Google classroom is one of the most user friendly

tools that I have been able to use, knowing that I was not very tech savvy coming into LRNT.

One of my go to on Google, is Google Forms. I love everything about Google Forms. I currently
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use it as a present levels form for my students that I share with my general education teachers in

order to get feedback. Google forms is one of the tools that I helped introduce at my school site

amongst teachers to use. Some of the teachers loved using it and the feedback was instant. I

made it user friendly to check boxes at where the student was in class based on their abilities and

at the end of the survey they are able to add other comments. It has been a very successful

technology tool that I constantly use.

According to Johnson (2012), “Much as Maslow theorizes that physiological needs come

before psychological needs, a school district must meet its infrastructure needs before it can

reach its goal of using technology to empower students” (p.19). I think this was very important

not only as a teacher should I be able to bring technology to the class, the district as a whole

needs to be able to meet the infrastructure in order to empower our students to be technology

savvy. Overall, LRNT has left me in a place that I feel comfortable with the knowledge that I

have in technology. LRNT has taught me how to find resources in order to expand my continued

learning in technology.

Life Long Learning Plan

My lifelong learning plan is to be able to help my students succeed. Be there as their mentor and

support. My dreams are to become the best that I can be as a Special Education Specialist. I

would love to have all the knowledge I need in order to become a Special Education Program

Specialist or even a Director in Special Education. I plan to keep networking with others at my

surrounding school districts that I previously worked and be able to experience different school

districts. I would also love to experience teaching in all grade levels.

Conclusion
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Overall, I feel beyond bless that I have been able to succeed in LRNT. I am beyond proud that I

was able to finish the program and continue my life with the many disguises that I currently hold.

It was stressful and at times I thought I was not going to be able to succeed. However, with the

support that I have received from family, friends, peers and professors I am able to see the light

at the end of tunnel. I plan to further my education and add a Moderate Severe credential and I

am so happy that I love what I am doing and maybe in the future pursue a Doctorate!
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Reference

Schmoker, M. (2011). Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning.

(Alexandria, VA): ASCD

Brock, A. & Hundley, H. (2016). The Growth Mindset Coach:A Teacher’s Month-to-Month

Handbook for Empowering Students to Achieve. (Berkeley, CA): Ulysess Press

Johnson, D. (2012). The Classroom Teacher’s Technology Survival Guide. (San Francisco, CA):

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.