Introduction
This showcase organizes some of the key pieces of work that I have completed for the Masters of Arts and Technology (MAET) Program at Michigan State University. The program has done a wonderful job of illustrating the dynamic qualities needed for a 21st century educator, and these artifacts represent, what I feel, are cornerstones of MAET, Technology, Learning, and Teaching. Please click the images to see the complete work.
- Technology looks at the dynamic qualities needed of 21st century educators, and how we can practically engage with technology in our classrooms and throughout the planning process.
- Learning looks at the foundations and theories behind successful technology integration.
- Teaching is the implementation of the technology and learning categories in the classroom. This is where we look at how we “put it together” to ensure we are dynamic and flexible educators.
Technology
Technology in education is all about the flexibility to find the right tools to be effective, but sometimes it benefits us to challenge ourselves. In an attempt to illustrate my flexibility, I set out to bring 3D printing to the English Language Arts classroom in a way to reinforce the idea of symbolism and connect it, physically, to our world. There are elements of this idea that are impractical, but what started as a wild idea, found a conversation rooted in accessibility, collaboration, and the power of symbols in literature and our own lives.
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This reflection on 21st Century learning looks at ways I have used 21st century skills in my classroom through a critical lens. It illustrates my ability to use technology to honor my students contexts and interests It reminds me of the importance of choice, creativity, curiosity, and collaboration. It is our responsibility as educators to model dynamic learning and teaching where we consider the context of our students. Through choice and meaningful technology integration, students can filter material through their contexts, hobbies, and interests.
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One of the most often ignored elements of traditional classroom instruction is the physical space of the classroom. This blog post attempts to take a look at some changes, both big and small, that we can make to ensure our students are inspired, and not held back by, the physical space they spend their time learning. By empowering students with welcoming physical spaces, they recognize their role and agency in the learning process. A welcoming room invites them to be comfortable with the vulnerability needed to learn. While not always feasibly due to budgets, the goal was to illustrate how I can use technology to consider the possibilities, and ask myself, "What can I do with the limited pallet that I have?
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Learning
Failure is such an important part of the learning process, yet we have conditioned many young learners that it is something they are able to come back from. This looks at research that supports the idea of constructionism and learning by play while also illustrating my ability to adapt to my students needs, interests, and contexts. How can we rethink our curriculum to honor our students' interests and then let them choose assignment and assessment models? If we get students in the mindset that learning can be playful and engage their interests, it may remove some of the debilitating qualities from the occasional failure.
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Our first encounters with learning come in the form of questions, yet as we get older we often seek solutions to problems that have not been clearly defined by the questioning process. Even in the education space, students focus on finding the answers, and get frustrated when they feel ill prepared to do so. However, we prioritize the facts over ways to think critically, engage meaningfully with content by connecting it to our experiences, and ask appropriate questions. With the problem clearly defined, we can then begin to seek solutions. Reflecting on what works and how to adapt as an educator can only happen when I ask the right questions.
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Wicked problems are those that have ever changing and dynamic solutions. The goal of this was to understand why teachers feel exhausted, and what variables could be changed to help alleviate this. The wickedness of this problem is that the expectations of teachers change frequently and require dynamic solutions that are both in their direct control and outside of it. Even the amount of wicked problems that educators face within their classroom each day can lead to exhaustion. This artifact illustrates my ability to gather and analyze data, filter it for quality, and then present it in a clear and clean method. After a brief survey, I created a video analyzing the results, and then wrote a draft of a Letter of Agreement between an Education Association and administration to help remedy some contributors to burnout and exhaustion.
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Teaching
Board Game Design exemplifies constructionism and the theories of play as learning. Provided is a draft of a course framework that intends to teach Board Game design over the course of a semester. By design, this course works across the curriculum by requiring connections to history or english language arts, through theme development, math, through probability and statistics, and focused and succinct communication, through rule book design and teaching models. Students will consider the history and evolution of board game design, play with board game mechanisms, and see how they connect to real world and fantastical themes. After playing, editing, and playtesting ideas, the students will create a prototype board game for their final exam. This class illustrates some of my best attributes as a teacher, from a diversity of technology use, presentation skills, and a focus on student choice.
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Abstraction requires us to cut topics and ideas down to their most basic form thus focusing on one feature of importance. Within this blog post, I have included examples of projects exemplifying abstraction, and a rough draft of a lesson plan using AI generated art to abstract themes of Macbeth. Abstraction in the ELA classroom comes about in symbolism and other concepts, and it gives our students agency to make meaning and connections between the way they interpret the concepts, but also requires them to empathize. Through discussion of these abstract parts, we recognize the unique perspective of each of our students and reshape the ideas with their guidance and assistance. This demonstrates the power of creative thinking and my ability to show respect for my students' context allowing them to feel welcome and agents in their own learning.
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Romeo and Juliet in the Multiverse is a culmination of the ideas shared here. Students get the choice to use programming languages to make editorial changes to a scene from Romeo and Juliet. The assignment allows them to dabble with Micro:bit and Scratch before using their interests to change narrative elements of the play. Based in Constructionism and the ideas of play as education, edit sample code, work within established frameworks, break those frameworks, and fail forward. The final creation is a product that connects who they are, and their experiences with technology and programming, with classic literature. It illustrates my ability to utilize constructionist ideas and a variety of technology, as well as my desire to try new things to engage students. By design, teachers need to be ever changing, and by making connections between unexpected technologies and curriculum content teachers can lead students to wonderfully powerful moments.
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