SHOWCASE
Below you will see artifacts of my learning journey in the Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program at Michigan State University. To contextualize each piece, I divided my work into three sections:
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What I teach: After my experience in MAET, the greatest change in my teaching is what I prioritize in my Language Arts and French lessons. The underlying objectives in my lesson design are to promote creativity, failure, and critical thinking through the meeting of subject standards, rather than just meeting the standards alone.
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How I teach: Even before MAET, I had been questioning how I appraised teaching, specifically the role and expectations of teachers as professionals. Through my graduate studies, I was able to research more about how collaboration, work-life balance, and preventing burnout can increase job satisfaction and longevity in the teaching field.
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Why I teach: The one part of my teaching that didn't change, but rather was affirmed, through my time in MAET is the reason why I teach. For me, my students have always been at the center of my teaching choices, and I was able to find new, creative ways of expressing this central value to my students through MAET.
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WHAT I TEACH
How MAET changed the underlying objectives of my lesson design
TEACHING FOR CREATIVITY​
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MAET (Master of Arts in Educational Technology) challenged me to reconsider my goals as an educator. Though I am still committed to teaching Language Arts and French, I have redesigned my lessons to teach skills beyond the content, such as creative problem solving and persevering through failure. This video outlines my new beliefs about teaching and how I began applying this conceptual change to my practice.
Watch the video to view more about my new underlying objectives of teaching.
QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE
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MAET taught me about Quickfire Challenges, which are student-centered, timed lessons that promote exploratory learning, student creations, and learning through failure. Limited in time and resources, students are challenged to push through failure, increase grit, and engage their creativity. I now incorporate Quickfire Challenges into my teaching once or twice each month.
Click the image to read my blog post with more reflections about Quickfire Challenges.
MAKER EDUCATION​
Maker Education promotes an interactive, collaborative learning experience. Through this lesson I made with my classmate, I witnessed the power of constructivist instruction for teaching problem solving skills to students. Since learning about Maker Education, I have a newfound commitment to seeing kids learn through play in my own classroom setting.
Click the image to read my blog post with more reflections about Maker Education.
HOW I TEACH
How MAET helped me improve my professional practice
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING NETWORK
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To improve my teaching practice, I am growing my professional learning network (PLN) with more teachers, professors, researchers, counselors, etc. who inspire my teaching. Through MAET, I broadened my sense of who and what my PLN can be. As I move forward, I am excited to collaborate and challenge each other for the purpose of becoming better educators for our students.
Click the image to read my blog post with more reflections about Professional Learning Networks.
MINDFLOW​
Learning about mindflow in MAET taught me about my work-life balance. With tools like Trello and applying mental strategies to my work time, I have increased productivity and effectiveness in my professional practice. Having created more sustainable work routines, I am able to engage with other parts of my life more fully.
Click the image to read my blog post with more reflections about Mindflow.
REVITALIZING FROM BURNOUT​
Through my research project for MAET, I sought to learn more about the pervasive problem of teacher burnout. I compiled what I read into three main strategies for addressing the root causes of burnout in teachers' careers, in hopes of increasing job satisfaction and longevity in the profession. This research project has opened to the door to leadership opportunities that allow me to support my teaching community.
Click the image to read my introductory presentation on teacher burnout and job satisfaction.
WHY I TEACH
How MAET affirmed my belief that students are most important
WELCOME VIDEO
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Any time I introduce myself as an educator, I find it impossible not to talk about my students. They are at the heart of each decision I make, whether in the classroom or in my own education. For MAET, I made this video as a letter to my students, helping to introduce who I am as a teacher and how I will always care about them.
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Watch the video to view the whole message.
PASSION PROJECT​
As part of MAET, we were challenged to determine what drives our passion in life, teaching, and learning. For every part of my life, the reason behind what I do is the same: you. Whether you are my friend, family, student, or classmate, I try to be better each day because you are my inspiration. I made this video to represent this truth about myself, and I now show this video at open house night when parents and students come to meet me for the first time.
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Watch the video to view the whole message.
LEARNING NORMS
I made this document for open house night to represent my beliefs about learning and how those beliefs impact my teaching, especially knowing how my ideas have changed since being in MAET. The first page establishes the four norms and explains how each one looks in practice. The following pages are notes for educators, citing research and educational theory to back each norm I created for my class.
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Click on the image to read the full version.
