CEDO 555 Blog #3

As I continue to work on my portfolio, I think about how fast and how long this journey has been. I am deeply thankful for the people I have met and for all that I have learned throughout this process. Attempting to choose appropriate artifacts that accurately document what I have learned has been a challenge, but one that has been like a walk down memory lane. Like new mothers who experience labor pains, then forget about the pain after their new baby arrives, I had forgotten about my pain. I had forgotten about the pains of late nights, pressures of deadlines and due dates for both work and school, and the discoveries of how much I could learn and do. What I had also forgotten was the feeling of anticipation of what was to come.

In CEDO 501 I started out by experiencing new technologies that I had never known about until I received a video message from instructor. Wow, I wanted to learn how to do that and guess what? I did. In CEDO 510 I was told that I had to take apart a computer hard drive and I thought, "ugh, me take apart a computer and put it back together again? Yeah right!?!?!" Well, I did that too and it was a completely liberating experience. None of my friends or family would have believed me, but I had pictures to prove it. Talk about confidence building.

As I ask myself what my portfolio means for me and for my students, the answer is simple. It means that as an educator, when I teach my students I stand before them understanding the fear that some of them may feel when they are about to learn something new and outside of their comfort zone. For my students it means that I can instruct them from a place with deeper perspective of how empowering it can be to force oneself to move beyond one's comfort zone. It means that I am going to continue to push them, encourage and cheer them on toward accomplishing their dreams.

As I move closer to the end of this journey and closer to my dreams, I think about how special it has been because of what I have learned about myself and because of the fun I have had doing it, I do so knowing that I still have plenty to do. I still have more projects, more due dates and more late nights. I always knew how powerful learning could be, but I never knew how powerful it would be for me to be back on this side of it.