DESIGNER
Teachers model safe, ethical and legal behaviors and create learning environments that encourage students to engage in positive, socially responsible behavior.
a. Design and iterate learning experiences that use technology to accommodate learner variability, personalize learning and foster student agency.
One of the most innovative aspects of my technology classes is 20% Time - the concept originated by Google that allows employees (or in our case, students) 20% of their working time to pursuing something they are passionate about. Students have complete control over the topic, process, and product that they create for 20% Time. In order to accommodate the staggering variety of forms final presentations can take, I created the rubric below. This rubric gives clear expectations, but also allows for flexibility in the form of the final presentation and allows students to give their input on how they feel they are achieving each aspect of the presentation.
ARTIFACT: 20% PRESENTATION RUBRIC
20% topics and presentations are impossible to predict or plan for, which is exhilarating for me as the facilitator! The artifact below is the culminating product created by a 7th grade student. His initial idea was do build a castle using Minecraft - a very reasonable and achievable goal! However, as he researched and planned, he found that there are many types of castles that require vastly different design processes. Along the way, I conferenced with this student to help his ideas bloom by suggesting ways to organize his information, and ways to convey his learning to the audience.
ARTIFACT: MITCHELL'S MINECRAFT CASTLE GUIDE
ARTIFACT: 20% PRESENTATION RUBRIC
20% topics and presentations are impossible to predict or plan for, which is exhilarating for me as the facilitator! The artifact below is the culminating product created by a 7th grade student. His initial idea was do build a castle using Minecraft - a very reasonable and achievable goal! However, as he researched and planned, he found that there are many types of castles that require vastly different design processes. Along the way, I conferenced with this student to help his ideas bloom by suggesting ways to organize his information, and ways to convey his learning to the audience.
ARTIFACT: MITCHELL'S MINECRAFT CASTLE GUIDE
b. Evaluate, curate, and use digital tools and content that align with content area standards and maximize active, deep learning.
As a Common Sense Education Certified Educator and Mentor Teacher, I am often tasked with helping teachers find new ways to utilize tried-and-true classroom activities. The lesson plan below shows a new take on an old classic - students write first-person historical narratives, imagining that they are in another place and time. However, by using Google MyMaps as the platform for sharing, students can literally see the places they are writing about. By using Street View and point annotations, students can tell a story about a location while having a first-person visual connection to what they are writing about. The student is no longer simply imagining the Harlem Renaissance, but standing on Lenox Avenue (now Malcolm X Boulevard) in front of the actual Cotton Club.
ARTIFACT: LESSON FLOW - PLACE-BASED NARRATIVES
One exciting but difficult aspect of being a technology teacher is that there is always a new, shiny, revolutionary way to do what you're already currently doing in class. It can become tiresome to keep a keen eye on new developments, and critically ask, "Is this going to change what I'm already doing? Is it going to make it better?" As a Mentor Teacher for Common Sense Education, I strive to help other teachers sift through the torrent of sites, apps, and resources that are constantly being produced by curating collections of products around specific topics in education. The collection below focuses on helping students learn and implement the design process in their creative work, using the best tools to meet a variety of needs.
ARTIFACT: DESIGN THINKING CURATED COLLECTION
ARTIFACT: LESSON FLOW - PLACE-BASED NARRATIVES
One exciting but difficult aspect of being a technology teacher is that there is always a new, shiny, revolutionary way to do what you're already currently doing in class. It can become tiresome to keep a keen eye on new developments, and critically ask, "Is this going to change what I'm already doing? Is it going to make it better?" As a Mentor Teacher for Common Sense Education, I strive to help other teachers sift through the torrent of sites, apps, and resources that are constantly being produced by curating collections of products around specific topics in education. The collection below focuses on helping students learn and implement the design process in their creative work, using the best tools to meet a variety of needs.
ARTIFACT: DESIGN THINKING CURATED COLLECTION
c. Employ instructional design principles to create online, blended, mobile, and face-to-face learning environments that engage and support learning.
While it can be tempting to have students pop on headphones, stare at a screencast, and give feedback via keyboard, it's important to recognize that a blend of digital and face-to-face interactions benefit all students. The site below is the landing page for the very first digital citizenship lesson in my 6th grade computer technology course. The lesson begins with a whole-group discussion defining "media," and giving examples and non-examples. Students are then let loose to work through the rest of the lesson at their own pace, sharing with each other and giving personal examples along the way.
ARTIFACT: DIGITAL LIFE 101 LANDING PAGE
Because our computer technology classes at Ladue Middle School cover such a wide variety of topics (digital citizenship, media literacy, programming, design, and research skills), I wanted to create a platform that would serve as a kind of stream of collective consciousness for our classes. Our class blogs do just that. As we take on whatever activity we're getting into for the day, I encourage students to take snapshots or write notes whenever they have an exciting moment they'd like to share. This allows each student to contribute in their own way, in their own voice, in their own time.
ARTIFACT: 8TH GRADE CLASS BLOG
ARTIFACT: DIGITAL LIFE 101 LANDING PAGE
Because our computer technology classes at Ladue Middle School cover such a wide variety of topics (digital citizenship, media literacy, programming, design, and research skills), I wanted to create a platform that would serve as a kind of stream of collective consciousness for our classes. Our class blogs do just that. As we take on whatever activity we're getting into for the day, I encourage students to take snapshots or write notes whenever they have an exciting moment they'd like to share. This allows each student to contribute in their own way, in their own voice, in their own time.
ARTIFACT: 8TH GRADE CLASS BLOG