Introduction
These three essays represent my parting thoughts as I finish the Master of Educational Technology (MAET) program at Michigan State University and continue to apply it to my professional role as a high school teacher. The first, titled Knowledge, synthesizes ideas learned from three core classes and illustrates how I have, or intend to, connect those ideas with my classroom. It truly feels like my MAET story. The second, A Wish for Waves, speaks to my past goals and how they led to my application to the MAET program. Finally, The Revolution Will Be Live, speaks to my future goals and how I intend to utilize what I have learned, and I what I have yet to learn, to achieve goals and solve problems that are not yet clearly defined.
Knowledge
Context
I am one of those teachers who knew from a young age that I wanted to work in the classroom. I enjoyed going to school and rarely missed days. What's curious is that I was an average student at best. I loved the social aspect of school. Not just seeing my friends, but class discussion, talking things out, getting to know my peers and teachers. The, often, repetitive tasks of homework assignments seemed like busy work, and I rarely felt they were worth it, hence the poor grades. Even if it was meaningful, it was often never presented in a way that my adolescent brain could see. Conversations, however, were dynamic and flexible. It felt like the students had some agency in the ways the conversations went and topics we focused on. Even as a young person, this style of teaching is why I rarely missed a day. So many of my current interests were forged in the classroom. I was inspired not just to do well on my World History test, but find new and exciting music, movies, and explore my hobbies and interests. My teacher’s enthusiasm about living and teaching made me enthusiastic about “things.” We never mentioned the curriculum and they weren't afraid to be “real.” It really felt like we were just there asking questions, talking, and learning. The curriculum was filtered through who my teachers were as people. In retrospect, it seems my experience may have been an exception to many people my age.
As a teacher, I try to run my classroom in a similar fashion. Sure, they occasionally have individual assignments and even sporadic homework, but I try to present all of that with intention and a clear understanding of why we are doing what we are doing, how it connects to the curriculum, the skills that are being practiced, and the success criteria. I am enthusiastic about the content, but more enthusiastic about how my students interpret it and what they share each day.
When considering a masters program, I wanted something that would honor this idea of flexible student led teaching. Technology, by design, is evolving, changing, and innovating, and I felt that a degree program centered around technology must promote these ideas. Additionally, there is no denying that having an understanding of contemporary technology and how to use them effectively is an essential skill in the 21st century. I applied to the Masters of Art in Education Technology (MAET) at Michigan State University to gain an understanding of the available technology to allow my students the most flexibility, agency, and ultimately, success in the classroom and beyond.
Here at the end of the program, I can summarize it through three major ideas that can both work for educators and students. Contemporary students are laser focused on finding the correct answers, but the first take away from MAET is asking the right questions. By questioning, we can discover the problem in its full breadth and depth, and with that knowledge, ideally, seek solutions. With the problem defined, we should design with intention. What, specifically, do you want your students to take from it? How can you provide them avenues to filter the concepts through their contexts and interests? With lessons designed, we must be open to creativity and failure. With a deeper understanding of a task or problem, experimenting and seeking creative solutions can lead to stunning conclusions or colossal failures, but those failures and revisions give you more insight and direction towards the eventual solution. Several courses taught, and reinforced, these themes.
I am one of those teachers who knew from a young age that I wanted to work in the classroom. I enjoyed going to school and rarely missed days. What's curious is that I was an average student at best. I loved the social aspect of school. Not just seeing my friends, but class discussion, talking things out, getting to know my peers and teachers. The, often, repetitive tasks of homework assignments seemed like busy work, and I rarely felt they were worth it, hence the poor grades. Even if it was meaningful, it was often never presented in a way that my adolescent brain could see. Conversations, however, were dynamic and flexible. It felt like the students had some agency in the ways the conversations went and topics we focused on. Even as a young person, this style of teaching is why I rarely missed a day. So many of my current interests were forged in the classroom. I was inspired not just to do well on my World History test, but find new and exciting music, movies, and explore my hobbies and interests. My teacher’s enthusiasm about living and teaching made me enthusiastic about “things.” We never mentioned the curriculum and they weren't afraid to be “real.” It really felt like we were just there asking questions, talking, and learning. The curriculum was filtered through who my teachers were as people. In retrospect, it seems my experience may have been an exception to many people my age.
As a teacher, I try to run my classroom in a similar fashion. Sure, they occasionally have individual assignments and even sporadic homework, but I try to present all of that with intention and a clear understanding of why we are doing what we are doing, how it connects to the curriculum, the skills that are being practiced, and the success criteria. I am enthusiastic about the content, but more enthusiastic about how my students interpret it and what they share each day.
When considering a masters program, I wanted something that would honor this idea of flexible student led teaching. Technology, by design, is evolving, changing, and innovating, and I felt that a degree program centered around technology must promote these ideas. Additionally, there is no denying that having an understanding of contemporary technology and how to use them effectively is an essential skill in the 21st century. I applied to the Masters of Art in Education Technology (MAET) at Michigan State University to gain an understanding of the available technology to allow my students the most flexibility, agency, and ultimately, success in the classroom and beyond.
Here at the end of the program, I can summarize it through three major ideas that can both work for educators and students. Contemporary students are laser focused on finding the correct answers, but the first take away from MAET is asking the right questions. By questioning, we can discover the problem in its full breadth and depth, and with that knowledge, ideally, seek solutions. With the problem defined, we should design with intention. What, specifically, do you want your students to take from it? How can you provide them avenues to filter the concepts through their contexts and interests? With lessons designed, we must be open to creativity and failure. With a deeper understanding of a task or problem, experimenting and seeking creative solutions can lead to stunning conclusions or colossal failures, but those failures and revisions give you more insight and direction towards the eventual solution. Several courses taught, and reinforced, these themes.
Ask the Right Questions
Applying Educational Technology to Issues of Practice (CEP 812) is centered around Warren Berger’s book A More Beautiful Question which illustrates how innovation is often based around questioning. Berger mentions that, “...the average four-year-old British girl asks her poor mum 390 questions a day” (pg. 4). While adults often ask questions to seek simple answers, Berger found that, “By age four, the lion’s share of the questions are seeking explanations, not just facts” (pg. 40). These questions are built around the personal understanding of children that adults know more than they do. It seems as we get older we stop asking for help. Maybe we think we are the smartest person in the room?
Our primary task for this course was to get to the bottom of a “wicked problem.” These problems have several, often moving, solutions. Beyond being a classroom teacher, I am our current union vice president. Working in my union role, I see first hand how exhausted teachers are. The job must be sustainable for educators to be as effective as possible. I started by asking, “Why are teachers overworked?” The complexity of this problem lies with the dynamic quality of our roles. For example, my job as a secondary high school teacher is vastly different from an elementary teacher in the same district.
Through surveying local teachers, it became clear that they felt their time was not respected. From professional development that often seemed to be thrown together at the last minute, to long evaluation processes, and a constant focus on standardized tests, the results of which were placed solely at the feet of teachers, teachers were responsible for so much with little time to prepare for it. By cutting tasks and providing appropriate planning time, teachers felt they would be more successful and effective. My final results can be viewed here. Teaching is a selfless career, but to be a successful teacher, we must consider self care, boundaries, and how to effectively prioritize all of the challenges of our job.
Beyond attempting to solve wicked problems, asking questions is at the foundation of designing and administering high quality lesson plans. I continued to think about how to get my students to detach from their near addictive desire to earn points and get the answers, to a more natural academic curiosity led by questions and discussion, and these thoughts would impart many of the decisions I would make as I continued with my masters program and still in my classroom.
Applying Educational Technology to Issues of Practice (CEP 812) is centered around Warren Berger’s book A More Beautiful Question which illustrates how innovation is often based around questioning. Berger mentions that, “...the average four-year-old British girl asks her poor mum 390 questions a day” (pg. 4). While adults often ask questions to seek simple answers, Berger found that, “By age four, the lion’s share of the questions are seeking explanations, not just facts” (pg. 40). These questions are built around the personal understanding of children that adults know more than they do. It seems as we get older we stop asking for help. Maybe we think we are the smartest person in the room?
Our primary task for this course was to get to the bottom of a “wicked problem.” These problems have several, often moving, solutions. Beyond being a classroom teacher, I am our current union vice president. Working in my union role, I see first hand how exhausted teachers are. The job must be sustainable for educators to be as effective as possible. I started by asking, “Why are teachers overworked?” The complexity of this problem lies with the dynamic quality of our roles. For example, my job as a secondary high school teacher is vastly different from an elementary teacher in the same district.
Through surveying local teachers, it became clear that they felt their time was not respected. From professional development that often seemed to be thrown together at the last minute, to long evaluation processes, and a constant focus on standardized tests, the results of which were placed solely at the feet of teachers, teachers were responsible for so much with little time to prepare for it. By cutting tasks and providing appropriate planning time, teachers felt they would be more successful and effective. My final results can be viewed here. Teaching is a selfless career, but to be a successful teacher, we must consider self care, boundaries, and how to effectively prioritize all of the challenges of our job.
Beyond attempting to solve wicked problems, asking questions is at the foundation of designing and administering high quality lesson plans. I continued to think about how to get my students to detach from their near addictive desire to earn points and get the answers, to a more natural academic curiosity led by questions and discussion, and these thoughts would impart many of the decisions I would make as I continued with my masters program and still in my classroom.
Design With Intentionality
Learning Technology by Design (CEP 817) focused on the iterative process of design. Following the Stanford Design School’s Design Thinking Bootleg, we must empathize with our audience and compromise with topics that question our contexts, define clear problems through questioning, experiment with creative ideas, and prototype and test those ideas until we find a conclusion. I was reminded of the process of writing that I teach in my English Language Arts course. Consider your audience, define the task, draft, revise, etc. These skills are so beneficial to real world problems, and this course continued my ongoing thinking about wicked problems and proper questioning. Ultimately, the course tasked us with creating a lesson that works through this process.
Continuing to think about this after CEP 812 made me want to try to rekindle the childhood curiosity mentioned in A More Beautiful Question. I felt that some of what hammers this out of students is the high stakes environment of the classroom. How could I limit the stress, invite experimentation, and increase engagement? Starting with an Independent Reading unit, I cut required book lists and allowed students to choose whichever book they were interested in. Once selected, we began by simply writing a couple questions about the book. Instead of having students tell me what they found interesting about the cover, they crafted questions to the author, such as, “Why did you choose include, X, Y, Z, etc.?” The intention was for the students to consider the author's choice and empathize with the human who created the work. Some students did use social media platforms to attempt engagement with the author, but that was not required. As they read the book, they would provide answers to their questions. Hopefully, promoting a deeper understanding of the text.
For assessment models, they were allowed to find a related piece of media. This media could be a film, video, podcast, song, playlist, TikTok video, etc. Once located, they had to write a brief argument explaining the connections and share it with the class. By allowing students to select their book and the media used to explain the book, they were more engaged. Additionally, the challenging nature of pairing media all but required the students to ask questions, speak up, and have a complex understanding of their selected book. Through a combination of a low stakes environment, student choice, and some fairly complex analysis, students were asking questions, engaging with reading, and experiencing cathartic “eureka” moments. Some of this analysis was difficult for its conceptual complexity, so I had to go back and revise to edit by providing models of successful analysis. There were also several more popular options because they were deemed “easier.” Students were more likely to analyze a piece of art that already existed than try to create something new. I made some edits to those options to ensure I got a wide variety of responses. Ultimately, I split the assignment into two. One where students had to find a paired text, and the other where they had to create some original paired media. While the analysis provided challenges, even those who were frustrated, confused, or overwhelmed at first were able to be successful through coaching and leading questions such as, “What are you interested in?” How does the feeling of that song fit with the conflict of your book?”, What music might the main character be interested in?”. The student choice stoked their interest, but these types of questions led to their understanding, and their understanding led to deeper analysis. Questions make concepts, curriculum, and success criteria clearer for the students, but creativity and eventual failure help achieve that success criteria.
Learning Technology by Design (CEP 817) focused on the iterative process of design. Following the Stanford Design School’s Design Thinking Bootleg, we must empathize with our audience and compromise with topics that question our contexts, define clear problems through questioning, experiment with creative ideas, and prototype and test those ideas until we find a conclusion. I was reminded of the process of writing that I teach in my English Language Arts course. Consider your audience, define the task, draft, revise, etc. These skills are so beneficial to real world problems, and this course continued my ongoing thinking about wicked problems and proper questioning. Ultimately, the course tasked us with creating a lesson that works through this process.
Continuing to think about this after CEP 812 made me want to try to rekindle the childhood curiosity mentioned in A More Beautiful Question. I felt that some of what hammers this out of students is the high stakes environment of the classroom. How could I limit the stress, invite experimentation, and increase engagement? Starting with an Independent Reading unit, I cut required book lists and allowed students to choose whichever book they were interested in. Once selected, we began by simply writing a couple questions about the book. Instead of having students tell me what they found interesting about the cover, they crafted questions to the author, such as, “Why did you choose include, X, Y, Z, etc.?” The intention was for the students to consider the author's choice and empathize with the human who created the work. Some students did use social media platforms to attempt engagement with the author, but that was not required. As they read the book, they would provide answers to their questions. Hopefully, promoting a deeper understanding of the text.
For assessment models, they were allowed to find a related piece of media. This media could be a film, video, podcast, song, playlist, TikTok video, etc. Once located, they had to write a brief argument explaining the connections and share it with the class. By allowing students to select their book and the media used to explain the book, they were more engaged. Additionally, the challenging nature of pairing media all but required the students to ask questions, speak up, and have a complex understanding of their selected book. Through a combination of a low stakes environment, student choice, and some fairly complex analysis, students were asking questions, engaging with reading, and experiencing cathartic “eureka” moments. Some of this analysis was difficult for its conceptual complexity, so I had to go back and revise to edit by providing models of successful analysis. There were also several more popular options because they were deemed “easier.” Students were more likely to analyze a piece of art that already existed than try to create something new. I made some edits to those options to ensure I got a wide variety of responses. Ultimately, I split the assignment into two. One where students had to find a paired text, and the other where they had to create some original paired media. While the analysis provided challenges, even those who were frustrated, confused, or overwhelmed at first were able to be successful through coaching and leading questions such as, “What are you interested in?” How does the feeling of that song fit with the conflict of your book?”, What music might the main character be interested in?”. The student choice stoked their interest, but these types of questions led to their understanding, and their understanding led to deeper analysis. Questions make concepts, curriculum, and success criteria clearer for the students, but creativity and eventual failure help achieve that success criteria.
Open Yourself to Creativity and Failure
The MAET Summer hybrid program consisted of two pathways, but I attended the pathway including, Learning in School and Other Settings (CEP 800), Creativity in Teaching and Learning (CEP 818), and Approaches to Education Research (CEP 822). These 9 credits were presented over 6 weeks that comprised both online and in person courses. While three distinct sets of concepts, they were weaved into one cohesive idea, of opening yourself to creativity and failure. Continuing the earlier concepts of questioning and iterative design, and adding theories of learning dynamic learning experiences, we were tasked with revising a unit plan. Being the penultimate courses before this capstone class, hybrid would be a culmination of the bulk of my graduate experience. I selected to revise the Macbeth unit in our English 11 course.I wanted to incorporate a wide variety of technology, including software for podcasts, vlogging, and coding. I wanted the lesson to honor my students' interests and who they are as learners. I wanted this lesson to potentially teach me something new about Macbeth.
The unit I inherited featured several assessments based around simple memorization. Students were simply regurgitating what happened in the story. Inspired by lessons I had created in earlier classes, I wanted to develop assignments and assessments where students had agency. From creating playlists to represent the characters, making art that captures mood or theme using AI generated art software, to considering the theme of fate vs. free will by looking at modern computer algorithms and how they influence our decision making, I wanted to illustrate how a text that is several centuries old can still be relevant.
Built around the idea of revision and failing forward, students would iterate on these projects, revise, and end exploring a variety of technologies and how they could present themes and ideas from Macbeth. The final draft can be viewed here. The Summer hybrid program reinforced all of the concepts of the MAET program and was built from the ground up in the spirit of experimentation, creativity, revision, and the vulnerability of learning. It was so nice to get back in the classroom, share ideas, and remember what it was like to be a classroom student. It was nice to be reminded that I am not the smartest person in the room, and I am only as knowledgeable as the conversations I am willing to engage in.
The MAET Summer hybrid program consisted of two pathways, but I attended the pathway including, Learning in School and Other Settings (CEP 800), Creativity in Teaching and Learning (CEP 818), and Approaches to Education Research (CEP 822). These 9 credits were presented over 6 weeks that comprised both online and in person courses. While three distinct sets of concepts, they were weaved into one cohesive idea, of opening yourself to creativity and failure. Continuing the earlier concepts of questioning and iterative design, and adding theories of learning dynamic learning experiences, we were tasked with revising a unit plan. Being the penultimate courses before this capstone class, hybrid would be a culmination of the bulk of my graduate experience. I selected to revise the Macbeth unit in our English 11 course.I wanted to incorporate a wide variety of technology, including software for podcasts, vlogging, and coding. I wanted the lesson to honor my students' interests and who they are as learners. I wanted this lesson to potentially teach me something new about Macbeth.
The unit I inherited featured several assessments based around simple memorization. Students were simply regurgitating what happened in the story. Inspired by lessons I had created in earlier classes, I wanted to develop assignments and assessments where students had agency. From creating playlists to represent the characters, making art that captures mood or theme using AI generated art software, to considering the theme of fate vs. free will by looking at modern computer algorithms and how they influence our decision making, I wanted to illustrate how a text that is several centuries old can still be relevant.
Built around the idea of revision and failing forward, students would iterate on these projects, revise, and end exploring a variety of technologies and how they could present themes and ideas from Macbeth. The final draft can be viewed here. The Summer hybrid program reinforced all of the concepts of the MAET program and was built from the ground up in the spirit of experimentation, creativity, revision, and the vulnerability of learning. It was so nice to get back in the classroom, share ideas, and remember what it was like to be a classroom student. It was nice to be reminded that I am not the smartest person in the room, and I am only as knowledgeable as the conversations I am willing to engage in.
Synthesis
The song Knowledge by Operation Ivy, said it best with, “All I know is that I don’t know nothing.” Filtered through the mind of a teenager desperately trying to “figure it all out,” it reminds me my students are young, curious, and inundated with content and media at a rate never seen in human history. The song reminds me that good educators are always learning. There is power in this mindset of accepting the manta of “knowing nothing” and craving the desire to, one day, get there. We educators are learning from our peers and fellow staff members, occasionally professional development, graduate classes, and most importantly, our students. Above all, my masters program has taught me to be flexible and recognize the importance of communal learning. Our students play a role in who we are as educators, how we present our lessons, and the way we adapt and change those lessons each day. When we all come together and accept the vulnerability of learning, it makes the process of learning more engaging, fun, and effective. Considering this, it is no surprise that my MAET story, and my mantra for one day “getting there,” was captured in the eloquence of a teenage punk rock band in 1988, “All I know is that I don’t know nothing, and that’s fine.”
The song Knowledge by Operation Ivy, said it best with, “All I know is that I don’t know nothing.” Filtered through the mind of a teenager desperately trying to “figure it all out,” it reminds me my students are young, curious, and inundated with content and media at a rate never seen in human history. The song reminds me that good educators are always learning. There is power in this mindset of accepting the manta of “knowing nothing” and craving the desire to, one day, get there. We educators are learning from our peers and fellow staff members, occasionally professional development, graduate classes, and most importantly, our students. Above all, my masters program has taught me to be flexible and recognize the importance of communal learning. Our students play a role in who we are as educators, how we present our lessons, and the way we adapt and change those lessons each day. When we all come together and accept the vulnerability of learning, it makes the process of learning more engaging, fun, and effective. Considering this, it is no surprise that my MAET story, and my mantra for one day “getting there,” was captured in the eloquence of a teenage punk rock band in 1988, “All I know is that I don’t know nothing, and that’s fine.”
References:
Berger, W. (2014). A More Beautiful Question. Bloomsbury.
Berger, W. (2014). A More Beautiful Question. Bloomsbury.
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A Wish For Waves
Good teaching is often defined by preparedness, and preparedness is often misidentified as inflexibility. When collaborating with colleagues, I often felt like I was doing something wrong. Where they had planned transitions to the minute, I had large scale concepts split, at most, to three ideas per hour. However, some of my best days came from moments of unpreparedness where I knew what I wanted to teach, but not the best method of delivery, and students' comments directed the conversation in unanticipated ways. Even when we didn’t get through the content I intended or the desired concept didn’t stick, I always felt these moments of failure came with a breakthrough that often saw students connect to the material and become more open to ideas. I refer to these moments in my classroom as “ridin’ the wave,” as in, “Whoa, we were really ridin’ the wave there.” I have no idea why it was these days that always seemed to get the students engaged, but I knew that they had to come about naturally. To try to prepare for these moments of improvisation or bring in current events to stoke the conversation may lead to a solid class, but never these moments of inspiration that were so powerful. I have always felt my teaching is defined by flexibility, and one thing was clear, the more I let my students talk, the more likely we were to have one of these moments to “catch a wave.” Over the past year it has become clear that “ridin’ the wave” sees us, my students and I, connecting the material to ourselves, the outside world, and our shared experiences.
When looking for a master’s program, I wanted to find something that seemed built around this idea of flexibility. I thought about the ever changing nature of technology, and figured the Masters of Education Technology (MAET) at Michigan State University would be suited for my needs. As I applied, I outlined my goals as simply gaining knowledge to leverage every tool available to ensure my students engage with, and enjoy, the content in my classroom. Technology would simply allow me to have more options and tools to allow my students to “ride the wave” and inspire more natural connections in my classroom.
As I near the end of my experience at Michigan State, I now know that this flexibility is empowering. This flexibility honors student’s contexts as learners and human beings with lives and experiences that have led them to that day, and that moment in my classroom. What I described as flexibility was me turning over the reins of my classroom to my students and showing them the respect they deserve as curious people. With this freedom, they can see that education isn’t a way-one street, but that we learn from each other.
My goals remain the same, though I would like to share this discovery with my colleagues. If we could just slow down, and allow students to teach us how they filter the concepts through their context, we all might have a bit more fun and learn a bit more. But I also know that my original goal is never ending. As technology advances and culture shifts, my students will always have new contexts to filter material and teach me anew. We all just need to have the courage to “ride the wave.”
When looking for a master’s program, I wanted to find something that seemed built around this idea of flexibility. I thought about the ever changing nature of technology, and figured the Masters of Education Technology (MAET) at Michigan State University would be suited for my needs. As I applied, I outlined my goals as simply gaining knowledge to leverage every tool available to ensure my students engage with, and enjoy, the content in my classroom. Technology would simply allow me to have more options and tools to allow my students to “ride the wave” and inspire more natural connections in my classroom.
As I near the end of my experience at Michigan State, I now know that this flexibility is empowering. This flexibility honors student’s contexts as learners and human beings with lives and experiences that have led them to that day, and that moment in my classroom. What I described as flexibility was me turning over the reins of my classroom to my students and showing them the respect they deserve as curious people. With this freedom, they can see that education isn’t a way-one street, but that we learn from each other.
My goals remain the same, though I would like to share this discovery with my colleagues. If we could just slow down, and allow students to teach us how they filter the concepts through their context, we all might have a bit more fun and learn a bit more. But I also know that my original goal is never ending. As technology advances and culture shifts, my students will always have new contexts to filter material and teach me anew. We all just need to have the courage to “ride the wave.”
A Wish For Waves | |
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The Revolution Will Be Live
My professional role as a classroom educator is based around change. Every year roughly 140 new faces grace my presence each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and unique contexts that both help and hinder the education process. It is our goal to navigate those waters and ensure we all come out the other side of the school year a bit better than we started. What that looks like varies for each of us based on the person we are at that particular moment, but unique and individual progress should always be the destination we are seeking. From the earliest moments of my career, I have always wanted to do my best to ensure my students understand that I respect them as learners with unique perspectives. As part of my masters program, when determining my theory of learning, I asked former students “What learning looks like in my classroom”?
The following video illustrates their views:
The following video illustrates their views:
I was thrilled how many students were understanding that the discussions that I hoped to facilitate were about learning from one another, and I think that mutual respect is a key component of the vulnerability needed to learn. There is a revolution happening in public education. 21st century educators are understanding that classrooms are a community of learning, and we are not the sole educators in the room. My future goals as a learner continue down this path and can be summarizes by three categories:
Dynamic Teaching
21st century learning requires flexibility. Students are facing a world where information is at their fingertips. The memorization exercises that used to plague public education are now located freely on Quizlet. Math can be completed, work and all, with Photomath. Now, more than ever, we have to engage our students in learning through their contexts. What can our students teach us about the curriculum? How can they analyze the material through their own context? In my English Language Arts class, I attempt to give them platforms to voice their opinions, such as Flip, or use creative outlets to capture moments, feelings, or themes of their selected texts. Some of my preferred tools include, CrAIyon for creating art, Spotify to general playlists, and Anchor to create research podcasts. It is not about memorizing what happens within the curriculum, but how our students see it connecting, and benefitting, their lives, and these tools have them engaging with the material deeply, but also broadening their understanding of available technology. In the future, I want to continue to honor my students' lives outside of the classroom by leveraging technologies that interest them and apply to their world. I want to consider deeply how we can incorporate seemingly disconnected technology like coding in Scratch, or 3D printing in the ELA classroom. I want to always “swing for the fences” and take risks to ensure my students find a connection with the curriculum. I hope to continue to improve, finding and applying a wide range of technologies that allow my students to practically connect the concepts of English Language Arts to their specific, and unique, worldview and interests.
Inclusive Teaching
The district in which I teach is getting more diverse each year.I want to ensure that all students feel welcome and represented in my classroom. As stated above, the learning process requires failure, and failure requires vulnerability. With a feeling of acceptance and respect, students can understand the power of diversity in the classroom. By offering assessments with student choice, diversity in literature and selected texts, and student-led discussions, I am hoping students recognize the respectful tone of my classroom and are willing to share their perspectives. Booksource.com allows for teachers to curate classroom libraries and it will analyze them for areas that are lacking based on reading level and inclusivity. It even offers suggestions for books to improve upon these areas. I can continue to grow in this area by using Diversebooks.com to bolster my library, and of course by engaging with my students of a variety of backgrounds and giving them a voice to share their recommendations. Sharing our viewpoints and connections to the course material breed empathy and understanding. Our understanding of cultural complexity is ongoing, but we must forge ahead with the same mindset the best teachers have, which is one of always learning.
Collaborative Learning
Ultimately, my goal is to work with my peers so we all get better. Engaging with conferences provided by Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning (MACUL), and promoting these conferences with my peers in my home district. MACUL honors these same goals and works to provide inclusive integration of technology that is contextually relevant to students. I hope to continue to expand my learning network via Twitter and other social media platforms to find like-minded educators who can teach me to be a more dynamic and inclusive teacher. The road doesn’t stop here, and given our profession, it never truly does. Working together as professionals, we can best bring our knowledge to the classroom and support our students. It takes a village to make us the best educators we can be.
While the conclusion of my masters is bittersweet, I am eager to apply these practices to my classroom and learn from my peers and students. By looking back at the ways I have started to achieve these future goals, I have a clearer picture of how to progress. We all should strive for progress, empathy, and understanding, and it is the most important trait of an educator to model these with every opportunity that they can. The revolution is live and, I can only hope, to be at the forefront of whatever best helps my classroom move forward.
While the conclusion of my masters is bittersweet, I am eager to apply these practices to my classroom and learn from my peers and students. By looking back at the ways I have started to achieve these future goals, I have a clearer picture of how to progress. We all should strive for progress, empathy, and understanding, and it is the most important trait of an educator to model these with every opportunity that they can. The revolution is live and, I can only hope, to be at the forefront of whatever best helps my classroom move forward.
The Revolution Will Be Live | |
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