My first semester of the DLL program was very challenging for me; however, I must admit that my way of learning has been altered…In a good way that is!

Not having a background as an educator was a major set-back for me mentally. Noticing that all of my fellow classmates are teachers really had me doubting if I had chosen the proper higher educational path. I felt as though all of my peers understood and had a lead way with all the “lingo” when attending zoom calls and I was left to figure it all out. As you can tell, there is an extreme lack in self-confidence.

After reading and attempting to learn all the information in this particular session, I was challenged to experience learning using the COVA approach. This allowed me to determine how I would develop my innovation plan and focus on gaining knowledge of how to implement the plan. Just to add, I will be using the COVA approach to provide training to implement my plan with the professional learning that I will eventually create.

Initially, I went through struggling with being insecure about my knowledge of teaching literacy. Personally, I have no background in instruction at all and felt inadequate in my ability to understand it enough to create a curriculum for instruction. During this course, we were given an assignment to prepare a literature review that contained researched-based resources that had content that could be used in helping to create our innovation plan. After examining these resources, my insecurities swiftly turned into curiosity and innovation.

Taking ownership of my innovation plan was a bit difficult, but as long as I stay focus on my implantation outline, I believe I’ll continue on a good path forward.

The challenges that I think I face within my organization are more along the lines of lack of knowledge at this stage in the program to implement my plan. Continued focused on the learning and the learner is another challenge I may face. I recognize the administrators are important, especially because it’s my line of expertise, but my goal is to present some of the personal results we will have students in the ISD that have participated in this project. This will be presented to my organization to obtain full support. I have learned through this course of instruction that promoting change in any organization is a process not a one-time event. My innovation plan is authentic and is something that is a personal goal of mine.

In conclusion, throughout this session (despite all the setbacks), I was able to attend all zoom conferences as well as contribute to and provide feedback on classroom discussions. Course readings and videos were all viewed, and learning did occur. All assignments were completed and submitted as directed and revisions were made. My only downfall was that I was not in a group in which I was able to consistently collaborate. Because of this, I would evaluate myself and give a score of 39.5.

 I do understand that this rode will be a long and tedious one, but my goal is to embody change, leadership, and learning within my organization.