LANA GARNER
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
It is not a particularly unique story. Student graduates high school, goes to college unsure of what she wants to do with her life, but knows she has a passion and just can’t quite put her finger on what it is. This was me as an undergraduate college student. I started one major of study that inspired me in one of my general studies courses as a freshman. However, after a few more semesters of digging further into that program, I realized that it was not really what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
All my friends and peers seemed to know exactly what they wanted from their career paths and how they wanted to pursue that trajectory. I had many friends who, from the time they were small children, said they wanted to be elementary school teachers one day, and that is exactly what they did. I always loved kids, but that just didn’t seem to be the right fit for me. Fortunately, after spending a summer volunteering with high school students in Mexico, I felt I had a calling that I could pursue and put all my passion and work into. I quickly changed my major to Spanish Education and never looked back. It may have taken me a little longer than some of my peers, but 15 years later, I am so thankful that I did. Immediately after graduating from Lipscomb University I found myself in a position of having multiple job offers in several great school districts both in Atlanta and Nashville. Although I loved Nashville and even took my first teaching job there, family relationships called me back to Atlanta soon afterward where I have been a Spanish teacher at Greater Atlanta Christian School ever since.
Fast-forward 15 years. I am well established and have made many professional and personal connections with colleagues, students, and their parents. Over the years I have continued to learn all that I can about language acquisition and how to teach Spanish to young adults. Through the classes I teach and the work I do both in the local community and Mexico, I have continued to develop my own skills as a Spanish speaker. I know how to do this on my own. However, I recognized that there was still room for growth with which I needed guidance and support. I began exploring graduate programs. I knew that what I needed related to development, not only how to develop educational materials for my own students, but also a refresher in the best way to do so according to instructional practices. After all, it had been 15 years since I had taken an education course. I also recognized that the workload of graduate school would be really difficult to juggle with full time teaching and family responsibilities. I did not want to choose a program that was just checking off a box to get a pay raise. Honestly, I wasn’t even that concerned about the pay raise as much as I was about keeping up with the expectations set upon teachers these days.
After much exploration, I was pleased to find the IDD program at UGA. Researching the curriculum, faculty and reputation of the program, I felt confident that the program would fulfill my goals of becoming a more effective educator. Although I recognize that technology is always changing and will continue to do so, I was confident that the emphasis on using technological tools in instructional design would also help me to become more aware of current trends. This has come to fruition and has also helped me to realize that no matter how much progress happens with educational tools, I still have the problem solving skills to sit down and figure out how to use new tools for the betterment of my students and myself. One of the ways this program helped me achieve that goal was through the use of Articulate Storyline in many of our projects. Each time I embarked on a new design or idea, I really pushed myself to do something different, something more difficult, or simply something that I had not previously done with the program.
As for the future, I continue to love what I currently do. Helping young learners acquire a language that they can use to better their future and to be better citizens in their own communities is an exciting challenge that I feel inspired to always continue improving. A unique benefit of this program is that I now feel much more confident to use both synchronous and asynchronous tools to facilitate this process. As many students these days have access to multiple devices and schools continue to look for unique ways to reach learners, these skills will, and already have helped me to stay relevant and effective in the field. Not only did I learn from the content in the curriculum, but my professors were excellent models to me of how to be creative, interactive and compassionate professionals. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that online learning does not have to be a stale, anti-social process. I often felt that I received more care and guidance from these professors than the ones I had in undergraduate so many years ago. Through class time, discussion boards, and feedback the professors all made it clear that they were as concerned about my learning as I was and wanted to see me succeed. One suggestion I would make for the future has to do with the LMS. It would be extremely valuable to learners if they were able to continue to have access to materials even after a semester is over. For example, if a student in a summer class was able to go back into the resources from a class the previous fall, it would be a great benefit.
Finally, my personal philosophy of what Instructional Design is has evolved over the past couple of years. It was interesting to be in classes with students who worked in the corporate world and students who were elementary school teachers as we were all learning together about what it means to go through the process of analyzing, designing, developing, implementing and evaluating. Although a couple of these steps are not as inspiring to me personally, I do appreciated that I am more prepared to be an effective teacher because I have a better understanding of the process. Instructional Design is about more than just checking off a list while producing curriculum and materials. It is about creating a learning environment that is the most effective for all students. With the skills I have cultivated in this program, I feel confident that no matter what trends and tools come and go, I can continue to grow as a professional and keep the learners and their needs at the center of it all.
© 2016 by Lana Garner. Proudly created with Wix.com