MY CREATIONS
Throughout my masters' courses, I have created different presentations and projects that portray my ideal twenty-first century learning. I want to showcase the works that have guided me and have changed my mindset as a teacher. Please enjoy, starting with my research and report on technology integration along with a video created to bring attention to and resolve issues that come with technology integration. The next three works discuss the importance of students being makers and asking questions leading into failure as a learning mode. Lastly, I explain my passion for teaching and show the importance of building and learning from my professional networks.
TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION
SMALL SCHOOL, BIG TECHNOLOGY
My school was fortunate enough to go one-to-one technology in the seventh and eighth grades, along with one-to-two technology in the third and fourth and fifth and sixth grades. This means every seventh and eighth grader has their own, school-issued laptop. Our third and fourth graders share one set of laptops; our fifth and sixth graders also share laptops. I researched and compiled information from district-wide technology integration to small school technology integration. With all of the research, I was able to write a research paper that planned my schools technology integration program, from teacher training to technology use policies.
Please view the video explaining why integrating technology is difficult for teachers. This is a creative summary of Karen Brennan's "Beyond Right or Wrong: Challenges of Including Creative Design Activities in the Classroom".
EMBRACING FAILURE
WICKED GOOD SOLUTION >
WICKED PROBLEM
We learn from failure in everyday life. From a baby learning to walk, to a newly married couple learning what not to put down a garbage disposal; failure sometimes is the best teacher. One of education’s “Wicked Problems” is learning from failure. This project shows the benefits and how to integrate using failure as a learning mode.
FAILING FORWARD
There are a lot of stakeholders in a student’s education. When looking at failure as a learning mode, we had to dissect reasons why it could fail. We looked at each stakeholder: teachers, students, parents, and administration and where each would struggle with failure as a learning mode. This project finds the areas where one could run into difficulty while implementing failure as a learning mode in hopes of preventing difficulties.
CREATING MAKERS
MAKERS ARE CREATIVE LEARNERS
When looking at different occupational fields over the course of time, for example, the medical field or even the business field, technology has proven many great advances. Education is one area that still looks very similar to how it did fifty years ago. We are still teaching students the same way when training them to work in the factory. Students today need the opportunity to become makers. In this project, I explain the importance of creating makers.
MAKERS = LEARNERS
When students are given the opportunity to be makers, they expand from just memorizing facts to being creators. The MakerEd learning environment includes demonstration-lectures, students-at-work, critiques, and exhibitions. In this project, I explain what opportunities a maker student is provided and why students need to be fostered makers for their futures.
QUESTIONING STUDENTS > ROTE MACHINES
Warren Berger explained in A More Beautiful Question that putting the term “I” into our questions, gives us ownership. Although A More Beautiful Question was not written specifically for teachers, the lessons and ideas about what questions we need to ask have the ability to make us better teachers. When we as teachers can ask these important questions, we learn how to teach our students how to ask better questions. In this project, I ask and answer why it is important to promote, foster, and encourage my students to ask questions.
© Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images
LEARNING INTENTIONS
FOREVER A LEARNER
Every teacher has their own pedagogy. Mine includes practicing fostering creativity in my students. In my journey as a teacher, I am always a learner. In this project, I explain my beliefs on learning theories, how technology has a role in it. I explain my expectations for myself and my goal for my classroom.
PASSION INTO ACTION
I ask myself why and how. Why am I a teacher, once I figured that out, I am able to ask the how. How do I help my students become passionate about learning, take risks and fail, and create while working together? In this project, I ask myself why and how. I show how I put my passion for teaching into action.
NETWORKED LEARNING
Being a part of a smaller school, I found myself having less professional development opportunities than peers at the public school. Throughout my classes, we expanded our professional network. We followed peers and professionals on twitter. In this project, I learned how to expand my network and continue to learn from people with the same passion and different passions as me.
©NBC Parks and Rec