Prompt: Write any final thoughts you’re having about your whole master’s experience.
Response: I think I have learned a lot. When I look back a Grace in January of 2021, I smile a bit. I think of all the research and work I have done. My perspectives have changed on certain things and have been broadened on others. And as cheesy as it sounds, the worst part about doing all this research is "knowing how much I do not know". I have multiple blogs where I make a note that I needed to stop myself from going down yet another rabbit hole of information or theory. I am not fully done with my project yet. That is extremely stressful. I am currently on coffee cup #3 and have eaten two bags of pretzels for lunch. An unnecessary detail?...maybe. But "black coffee and pretzels" pretty much sums up the vibe of my last few weeks, so I found it fitting to mention. Overall, I think having a full time job in a Master's program is hard. I think being a Teacher in a Master's program is extremely hard. BUT being a Teacher through the middle/late stages of a pandemic and in a Master's program is proving to feel like insanity. I am proud of myself. I am proud of my Cohort. And though I have waves of nausea every once and while when I think about what I have left to do, I will repeat what I always say- It will get done.
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Prompt:
For this week’s blog, please draft your TPACK reflection which will go on the ABOUT THE AUTHOR page of your capstone website. This should describe your thinking as you developed your capstone and your journey getting to where you are now. Response: When developing this project, my first observation with regard to TPACK was that within the area of World History surface-level content knowledge was over emphasized. This became part of the identified problem that needed to be addressed as the basis for my project. To develop deeper knowledge, a different method of teaching needed to be used. My research began by developing an understanding of how our brains create understanding and what drives us to pursue learning. With regard to creating deep understanding, our brains must connect new information to already established knowledge. This process not only requires the learner to understand the new input, but it also requires them to understand the connection/relationship between that new input and the knowledge that is already cemented in their brains. This is an active process. When researching what drives people to pursue learning, my findings yielded results that correlated with my previous research on deep understanding. When humans are active participants, collaborators, and decision makers in their learning experience, their self motivation and feeling of ownership over their education increases. This is defined as self-agency. Developing depth of knowledge and increasing student agency became the goals of this project. The next step was to establish a pedagogical method to pursue those goals. The student-centered, inquiry based method of Project based Learning was decided as the approach to address the driving problem and desired goals. PBL is a methodology that allows for exploration and choice, while emphasizing collaboration and creativity. PBL teaches content through the creation of a project. As students pursue incremental goals within the project, they are using content as the medium to achieve their goals. Because students are required to interact with content, they are making connections that may not have been made through direct instruction. PBL also allows for the seamless integration of technology as it is used as the structural tools around which students complete their projects. Prompt: What was the big reason that you committed to research the topic you did? Why did it appeal and resonate with you?
Response: A big chunk of what I have researched, and what stands out in my project, is "Project Based Learning"(PBL). As I have researched this topic I have become more and more excited about the concept of this student centered model of teaching. That being said, PBL was not what initially piqued my interest, and it definitely wasn't my passion. Originally, I was very interested in skill building. I teach social science in the high school setting. There had seemed to be a misconception of what teaching that subject really entailed. Whether it were people outside of academia, or new students entering my classroom for the first time, there was this preconceived idea that learning in a social science classroom(especially history) was simply memorizing names and dates. This caused a TON of emotions for me. First, I felt anger. How could they think that?? History uses names and dates as a medium to make connections, understand trends, recognize bias, and understand points of view. Skill sets that are not easy to learn! Skill sets that I spend an entire year developing in my students. Once I dusted my ego off and let the anger subside, I recognized that these thoughts couldn't be baseless- especially if I was hearing the same opinion from many different people spanning many different age ranges. THIS was my initial passion. I wanted to figure out what was causing this and what could be done to change it. As I started to research student centered lessons and methodologies, I started to notice a trend. The subjects that were popping up were almost all in STEM subjects. It seemed as though it wasn't just the people in my personal life that believed history was boring, Google was working against me too. Before this whole process began, I did a lot of reading on agency and efficacy. What develops it, what stifles it, what environments foster it, etc. If the whole world thought that History was simply memorizing names and dates, no wonder my subject of choice was perpetually receiving the label of "boring". So that became my foundation. I wanted to find a student centered methodology that I could use to emphasize the skills in History that develop deeper understanding while fostering agency in students... and thus began my journey into PBL. Prompt: Investigate your district’s mission statement and policies around technology and 21st century learning? What is it? It’s an all-encompassing or does it need a gentle nudge from you? Analyze and comment.
Response: SPSV Mission Statement- St. Patrick-St. Vincent Catholic High School, a Catholic college preparatory high school of the Diocese of Sacramento, challenges our diverse student population to seek truth as creative, complex thinkers and to be responsible citizens and compassionate individuals who share their gifts with others. I inserted the mission statement of the specific high school that I work at because we are not in a "school district". We are part of the Diocese of Sacramento. The Diocese is not specific to education so their mission statement is more of a broad statement regarding the community they oversee. First, I would like to say that I do enjoy the fact that SPSV identifies "responsible citizens" and "compassionate individuals" as major goals. I think academic rigor is sometimes the only focus, and the other soft skills are put on the back burner. I think that identifying compassion and community as key skills in something as important as a mission statement is a step in the right direction. In general, the promotion of creativity and complex thinking is great. It is pretty general, but touches the surface of what is needed in the realm of 21st century skills. That being said, over the last few years that I have worked at SPSV, they have spent an immense amount of time and effort developing their use of tech and implementing courses that are a direct result of that development. With so many resources being allocated to they new tools and courses, I think that it is impactful enough to be mentioned in the mission statement. The ability for our students to explore varying technologies and grow in digital literacy has been given top priority. Enough so that I think it has become part of the mission that this school is trying to accomplish. Prompt: Blog about your own goals relative to the the goals of the program. What hopes/thoughts do you have on how fellow cohort members can support you with completing your capstone and how you can support them? How will you work to support positive cohesion among your cohort? What is important to you in terms of group norms? Don’t forget to tag the blog 792.
Response: I definitely have a couple of goals with this program so the answer isn't quite straight forward. A personal goal is to be a better educator. I think that all of us in the program, whether we are in the classroom or not, have a passion for education and for making an impact. This program is one of my stepping stones in my attempt at making not just a bigger impact but a deeper impact. In terms of my professional goals, I want to expand my practice. I think that "Education" is such a broad field and though I will always continue to work on varying aspects of my practice, I knew that a masters program would give me the space to dive deeper into a niche area of education that I was particularly passionate about. Of course thats possible to do on your own as an educator, but I really wanted the scaffolding, support, and professional development that would be provided. Plus, it doesn't hurt to receive a piece of paper that you can hold up and say "Look- I am passionate about this topic. I've researched and developed theories on how this would work with students, and here is the proof that I put some work behind it." Again, this is all in hopes that I can further my research or further my practice using what I have done in this Program. With regard to this Cohort. I think that I am very fortunate to be in a Cohort that has such a diverse background. It has been so interesting to learn about different avenues of education. Not only that, but I think that looking at how different all of our projects are furthers my point that Education is such a massively broad topic/profession. I think that what our Cohort already does has been extremely supportive. I think we are all very understanding, and while none of us are shy to giving feedback, that feedback is always respectful and actionable. I also think that our Cohort members are all really receptive when in comes to being on the receiving end of constructive feedback as well. Overall, I think we have a good thing going! Prompt:
Part 1: Choose a website that you liked from above. Who was their audience? Were they effective in presenting to them on every page? Why or why not? Part 2: Having explored several capstone websites, write a blog about who you think the audience of your capstone is going to be and why. Response: Part 1 Website Link: www.learninginnovationlab.com/schreiber-home.html Schreiber's website initially stood out to me on the learning innovation tab because of the logo used. It was clean and had pops of color. So even though I initially set out to find a cite that catered to high school, the website of this middle school educator drew me in first. This site focuses on digitally literacy in the classroom. The video on her home page is one of the first things the viewer sees which is different from other websites that I have explored. The video also differs from other sites because it is rather short and gets straight to the point of what she has researched and what she is aiming to accomplish. I watched other videos from varying sites, and though I liked the extra theatrics that some presented, it seemed to overshadow the message a lot of the time, and I was left pondering what their goal was. Schreiber made it very clear that her focus was on digital literacy and it is obvious that her audience is fellow educators in the middle school setting due to her emphasis on practical application and the level of skill required of the students who be participating. Part 2 The focus of my capstone is on PBL and its effects on efficacy and deeper understanding. Originally I had thought about setting the aim of my site to educators in both the middle school and high school realm, but now I think I am going to narrow my focus to cater to those who are teaching high school. I made this change for a couple of reasons. I think that PBL could be a useful tool for both middle school and high schoolers, but the research I have done and my knowledge how how effective PBL would be in the classroom only lies within the realm of high school. Emphasizing the use of my finding in a middle school classroom would be based on too much speculation. |