Reflection Letter
PDF Version
April 13, 2009
M. Ed. in Educational Technology ePortfolio Evaluation Committee,
I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks in advance for reviewing and evaluating my ePortfolio. My ePortfolio will show a progression of my technology skills throughout my pursuit of a Master's Degree in Educational Technology.
Let me begin by explaining to you my reasons for pursuing this degree from your institution. Ever since my graduation with B.S. degree from the University of Texas at Brownsville, I've been employed as a secondary mathematics instructor for the Brownsville Independent School District. During the first few years of teaching, I was struggling with reaching my students. My students expressed no desire or willingness to learn the mathematics that I was attempting to teach them. I had to try a different approach. I have always maintained a proactive attitude towards my teaching and have never hesitated to experiment with new ideas and concepts. It is during this time that I began experimenting with creating my math lessons on MS PowerPoint. Using an LCD Projector and a laptop computer, I would project my lessons onto a dry erase board. This would allow me to teach at my own pace, maintain eye contact with most of my students, and solve the math problems in my lessons by "writing" the steps on the dry erase board for the students to follow. This technique was more effective than my traditional teachings. Students were engaged, attentive and receptive. I also used humor to retain their attention for the duration of the lesson.
The experience of creating my math lesson on MS PowerPoint sparked my interest in incorporating more technology into my math classroom. I have since incorporated the use of graphing calculators, TI Navigator, the Internet, digital cameras, Promithian Boards (smart board), Interwrite SmartPad, and have also introduced a brand new type of graphing handheld called the TI Nspire. I participated in a Fast-Track training by Texas Instruments in the summer of 2007 and have presented on this new technology numerous occasions. (see resume). I have also introduced video-lessons that I created by using Camtasia as well as ProShow Producer. Several years back, I led my students through web-based lessons created by Agile Mind. It is evident that we live in an age of technology and even though most teachers have incorporated some sort of technology into their lessons, no teacher at my school has embraced technology in the fashion that I have. With a Master's Degree in Educational Technology, I hope to encourage and assist other teachers in any capacity in their infusion of technology into their lessons. I hope to become more of an innovator in my classroom in finding new technologies to use in my mathematics classroom.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank several people that were instrumental in my pursuit of my Master's Degree. First and foremost, I'd like to thank my family (wife, two daughters, and son) because they have had to sacrifice much during my three years of studies. To a certain extent, I've neglected to provide my daughters and son the attention that they deserve. I cannot express in words the support that my wife has given me during my three years of studies. She has always been and forever will be the pillar of support that we all lean to in times of difficulties. I would also like to thank Dr. Sam Pan for his invaluable feedback. Dr. Pan always pushed me to the limits of my abilities with his constructive feedback. I would also like to thank Dr. Janice Butler for her compassion and understanding throughout my studies. Dr. Butler is a fountain of knowledge that we all benefited from. She has kept herself abreast of the cutting edge technological innovations that are currently available and her patience with us while we prepare for the MTT Exam is something that I will be eternally grateful for. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Michael Sullivan for his continued compassion and guidance throughout the last three years. Dr. Sullivan provided me with a wealth of knowledge about a variety of subjects including technological advancements in education. Dr. Sullivan has become someone whom I admire very much and has served as my inspiration throughout my pursuit of this degree. I am eternally grateful for everything (guidance, counseling, etc) that Dr. Sullivan has done for me. My debt to him is something that I will never be able to repay with just gratitude. Dr. Sullivan had proven to be an invaluable asset to the Edtech program at the University of Texas at Brownsville.
Respectfully,
Marco A. Gonzalez