The Best at Getting Better

Toby Gusman
EDUC 526 Capstone Experience in Digital Teaching and Learning
Dr. Joanne Gilbreath
APU Inland Empire Campus
My LiveBinder
Date submitted: October 26, 2014










Introduction
The way of the world has significantly changed over the last few years. Technology has
revolutionized the way we communicate with each other, the way we process, store and obtain
data - in such a way that requires little to no effort on our part. Recognizing the recent trend in
people of all ages using and involving social media and numerous other technology in their day-
to-day lives I decided to enroll in the Digital Teaching and Learning Program. I enrolled in this
remarkable program in an effort to engage students in my classroom, at the same time, address
todays 21
st
century learning needs.
On weekdays, I spend six and a half (6 ) hours a day teaching fifteen (15) moderate-to-
severe handicapped high school students, ages seventeen (17) to twenty-one (21). I find the
opportunity of educating a diverse group of children, including those diagnosed with, Autism,
students with speech impairments, and students with learning and physical disabilities to be a
very rewarding experience. My experiences with our students have inspired me to be a
compassionate person, who values each and every students unique goals and efforts, and wants
nothing more but to provide what students, including ones with disabilities, need quality
education. Part of my responsibilities is to teach life skills curriculum to my students, as well as
promote and practice the districts strategic plan which involves promoting learning beyond the
boundaries of classroom, the clock, and the calendar. Beyond the six and a half hours, I search
for other ways to be creative in the classroom I connect with colleagues to exchange ideas with
or do book studies to continually learn on how to be better.
Technology in the classroom is an effective learning strategy that allows students to
connect to the outside world. Since common core has been implemented in California, I feel that
it is my responsibility to be an enthusiast of learning, and that includes helping students evolve,
not only academically, but evolve with the technological advances. One of my goals were to be
the best at getting better while offering students choices that will help them advance and achieve
their goals for the future. I want to entice them and get them excited about their education. My
other goal is to creatively find means of getting students engaged in the classroom by using
technology and to promote student learning beyond the four walls of the classroom. As education
is transforming right before our eyes, we need to re-evaluate our goals and processes without
forgetting the evolution of the individual learner.
Personal Growth
Everyone his/her own learning style and study habits. Some people might learn best with music
playing in the background as a distraction, while some may learn best in complete silence. Some may
learn best studying with a group of peers at a coffeehouse and others may learn best sitting in a library by
himself. Having been in school for what seems like forever, I came to realization that I learn best under
pressure. Some may call it procrastination. But personally, I learn best when I have music playing and
when time is of the essence. The classes I took at APU has also taught me coping skills when Im pressed
for time and am in a rush to meet a deadline. Over the years, I have learned that I prefer to study where
there is a table and I can spread my writing and reading materials, my laptop, and some brain-power
snacks, preferably salted almonds. I also realize that my brain functions better when Im not in a place
that is overly cold or the opposite; a perfect room temperature is the ideal place to study in for me!
Throughout my learning journey at APU, I have been very blessed to have the support of my
family, friends and loved ones. While my wife and three-year-old son relax on the couch and watch
television, most nights, I would be sitting in front of a computer either doing my homework or grading
papers and doing my lesson plans. A lot of quality time with my family had been sacrificed for a very
worthwhile reward. The late nights of reading and writing appeared as though it would never end and a
lot of times, I found myself trying to catch a proper amount of sleep before the next challenge. I truly am
where I am right now because of the foundation and the backbone, the solid support system that I have.
As I a grew personally, I made connections with some of the most amazing colleagues I have, whom have
served as my mentors as a result, I grew professionally.
APU has strengthened my faith and has brought me closer to God. The weekly bible entries
refreshed my memory and gave me many opportunities to have meaningful conversations with my wife.
She encouraged me and walked alongside me throughout this journey. The assignments also helped me
connect and re-calibrate my moral and ethical values. As I reflected on the bible verses and different
healthy discussions among my peers, it provided me a roadmap of where I want to be and which path I
want to take, especially when dealing with challenges.
My entire learning journey at APU has been one of my most memorable personal achievement.
The completion of this degree signifies all the hard work that I did over the course of three years. It also
signifies how important my wife and son are to me and how I would do everything to better myself so
they can have a good and comfortable life.

Professional Growth
Through my study at APU, I am very grateful for having developed essential skills that have been
assisting me every day in my profession. I benefited greatly from the discussions that took place with my
peers and instructors, and learned that one of the most important things you can do for your students to be
successful is to recognize, learn and understand how your students learn, that way you can teach them in
the way they learn best. I value the different multiple intelligence that EDUC 522 has taught me, thus
helping me realize that I needed to adjust my teaching style to accommodate and address the different
learning styles of my students.
My goal for obtaining my degree in digital teaching and learning is to provide an
excellent technology based curriculum for my students; being comfortable using technology and
learning to adapt to new technology. Having the confidence to use technology also changes the
way teachers teach, offering educators effective ways to reach different types of learners and
assess student understanding through multiple means; to learn comprehensive strategy in place to
implement technology into the school. There are quite a number of reasons why obtaining a
degree is important to some people. I am a true believer that life is short, therefore, you have to
do what you love, in life, and not just settle for something that you are not passionate about. To
me, obtaining this degree is very meaningful because it is an opportunity for me to learn about,
and do something I truly feel passionate about. This degree that Im passionate about will also
enable me to share my enthusiasm and knowledge to many, many students who I am thrilled to
expose to the technology world.
Since I began the masters program, I have made significant changes in my professional life that
have tremendously helped me be more efficient both in the classroom and at home when planning for
lessons. First and foremost, I have learned that time management is key to being successful. Time has
taught me to prioritize my tasks on the important and urgent ones rather than try to accomplish every
single thing at once and end up unhappy with the results. I also made a simple change to my personal life
that affects my professional life I learned that it is okay to take a break and spend time with your family.
Most importantly, through this program, I have made sure that I spend time with God every single day,
for He guides me in everything I do. Having faith in God to get me through the different obstacles in my
personal and professional life, has kept me going and has strengthened me in my profession.
The various courses I have taken at APU, have no doubt, left me with a myriad of strategies that I
can use in my classroom, as well as in my everyday life. Some of my favorites have been incorporating
Keynote presentations in my teaching and guiding students on how to create their own presentations. I
learned how to use Keynote in my EDUC 512 Instructional Applications of Productivity Software class,
and this is one of the activities that my students and I have always enjoyed doing. My EDUC 522 Scope
and Sequence class has been very significant when planning for my students. Because of this course, I
was able to really pay attention and identify each of my students multiple intelligence and work my
lessons around their individual learning needs.
For this project, I decided to do my Action Research Study on using praise versus using treats as
a classroom behavior reinforcement. The research question that I will be using is, Is Praise More
Effective than Using Treats as Rewards for Students? Students, regardless of their age or intellectual
level, need some sort of motivation when it comes to their class performance. I wanted to find means of
motivating my students to behave appropriately and keep them engaged in the classroom without using
treats to entice them. In order to conduct my research, I will need to observe six (6) students over the
course of two (2) weeks. The first half will be rewarded by treats for every time they complete an
assigned task or when they exhibit a positive behavior, while the other half will be rewarded by praise. I
will be using a log to study their reaction to the rewards given to them and how it affects their future
behavior or class performance.

Technical Growth
Personally, I have always been fond of technology and have always felt the need to keep abreast
on the latest technology available. However, when I started teaching, I also felt the need to learn the
different technology that I wasnt proficient in, try to get better at it and then implement it into my
teaching strategies in ways that my students can also learn to use them. EDUC 512 has been one of the
most valuable course Ive taken. Other than the Keynote presentations, I learned and mastered Pages and
Numbers, the Mac version for Microsoft Word and Excel, respectively. Before this course, I have always
been comfortable using Microsoft-based software only. After learning how to navigate through these
programs, I learned that it is very important to step outside your comfort zone and be open to learn the
different technology that are available, as it helps your grow and advance your skills. I have also exposed
my students to blogging something that I never used to. This truly excites the students and allows them
to use their imagination, and thus improving their writing skills.


Life Long Learning Plan
My goal in life is to be the best at getting better. The district where I work at encourages this
belief and wants to make hope happen for every student and employee that works there. I feel that I am
privileged to be a part of an organization whose goal is to keep students in school, help them graduate and
make hope happen for them. The courses that I took at APU supports my professional goal and
encourages personal and professional growth. Putting in practice what the courses have taught you really
excites me as you see the fruits of your labor in action. To continually grow, both personally and
professionally, I have made a point to always do an after-action review as a means of checking myself
and to see if there needs to be an improvement on whatever action I took. This practice is highly
encouraged at my district. I find it helpful because it allows you to reflect on what happened, what we
learned, and what the next steps are. Doing the after-action review enables me to better myself and keep
me on track.
During my program of study, I have become conscious of how to implement and integrate
technology into my lesson planning and teaching. I have learned to not plan my lessons around the
technology but rather integrate technology to enhance my teaching. For instance, I would often wonder
how I could use the iPad to support my lesson and not make the application as the focus of the lesson.
After completion of my educational journey with APU, I plan on signing up for different trainings
and professional development workshops at my district. My classes at APU also helped me realize the
importance of having discussions with both like-minded people, as well as people who dont share the
same thoughts, just to have healthy and open discussions and to get to know the different perspectives. In
addition to having discussions with people, I plan to continually collaborate with my peers who have been
instrumental in my teaching career. I also sought a mentor in the vice principal of the school where I work
at. He coaches me and allows me to shadow him to get a sense of how it is like to be an administrator of a
high school.
One of the areas that I want to continue to develop is to be comfortable integrating technology
into my lessons without foreshadowing the lesson itself. Id also like to use available technology in my
class to teach my lesson without having the need to have technology for every student in the class for the
lesson to be successful.
In five years, I see myself more comfortable and having the confidence to provide technology-
based curriculum to my students. I am hopeful that there will be newer and more-advanced technology
that will continue to enrich the learning environment of my students; I am hopeful that in five (5) years, I
will be able to develop strategies for using technology to improve student learning and to enhance and
engaged students. Lastly, I am hopeful that in ten (10) years, I will be on the front side of the room
presenting to my peers about technology use, instead of attending a workshop on how to use technology.,
I would like to see myself considered an expert teacher who had mastered my craft on teaching
technology, not only to students, but my colleagues as well.

History of Coursework and Course Evaluation
Course Course Title &
Instructor Name
Term
Completed
Key Skills Acquired Comments
EDUC 511 Essentials in
Educational
Technology and
Learning
Instructor: Joanne
Gilbreath
Spring 2014 Livebinders
Wordle
Powepoints
My first class that
introduced me to
my chosen degree
path.
EDUC 512 Instructional
Applications of
Productivity
Software
Instructor: Kristi
Hernandez
Spring 2014 iPad
Office
WebQuest
Keynote
This class
influenced me to
think outside the
box to complete
my Webquest.
EDUC 514 Digital Video in
the Classroom
Instructor:
Timothy McKean
Summer 2014 iPad
iMovie
Lighting
Storyboards
YouTube
My most
influential class.
It showed me the
importance of
lighting and
proper use of
iPad software.
EDUC 515 Evolving
Educational
Technologies
Instructor: Jason
Seliskar
Fall 2014 Blogs
Website
Technology
awareness
Showed me how
to write my first
blog and
introduced me to
the flipped
classroom.
EDUC 522 Learning in the
21st Century
Instructor:
Richard Geib
Spring 2014 Blooms
Taxonomy
Multiple
Intelligence
First time I
thought about
how to teach
people differently
and to pay
attention to
everyones needs.
EDUC 526 Capstone
Experience in
Digital Teaching
and Learning
Instructor: Joanne
Gilbreath
Fall 2014 Growth
Assessments
Website
Planning
Help me tie all
my classes
together and have
me reflect on
what I learned
over the course of
my time in the
program.

Evaluation of the impact of the Digital Teaching and Learning Program
As a result of taking EDUC 515 Evolving Educational Technologies, I have implemented the
use of blogs in my classroom. I find that this really promotes writing and exercises their creativity. The
registration piece helps my students know what key information are needed to complete registration
which I find is a good practice for them to know what filling up a job application entails. Once they have
their account set up, they are free to have their own specific design and layout this helps them express
their creativity. Afterwards, they would write their entries based on the instructions and topics I would
assign to them. Having my students write their blogs about certain topics helps them improve their
writing skills, as well as search for relevant information and illustrations that they can use for their blogs.
I also urge my students to read their peers blogs to see the different writing styles and designs that each
student uses in their respective pages. This activity allows them to have a healthy dialogue about their
own blogs. One strategy that I would love to integrate into my class is my students learning how to
navigate and use forums to communicate with others.
Program Evaluation
My overall experience at APU has been pleasant and a good experience. Through my courses, I
came in contact with several people who were key to my success and who were very helpful to me along
the way. When I began my program, my credential analyst Ann Plum had been very patient with me and
helped me obtain an extension of my deadlines. During that difficult time, I lost my brother and knowing
there are people out there who will help you makes the journey a little easier. Another person who was
very instrumental in my success, was Dr. Contrucci. She guided me, helped me stay on task so I can
complete my credential work. It is people like her who make hope happen for students like me.
I have been lucky to have taken this journey at APU. My courses were very accessible and
professors were easy to get a hold of. Majority of the teachers were very accommodating and were there
to work with you; this program made me realize that although there were some teachers who werent too
helpful with the courses, gave vague instructions and expect you to just do the work, many of the teachers
actually do care and want to see you succeed in their class.