Part of this adventure for me was the realization that technology integration shouldn’t be my goal for supporting teachers’ work with digital tools. If we are working on integration with already established lesson plans, we have missed the best opportunity to make the tool meaningful and truly impact the instruction. It is within the design process that technology should be infused. Lesson design and technology can work hand-in-hand. It is the easiest way for teachers to realize the power of the tool as an accelerator with the instruction as the driver.
DAEP Empowerment 2.0
Through my coursework, I had the opportunity to work with our district’s alternative campus (DAEP) in their effort to provide more support for our district’s most at-risk students. Their needs were specialized and frequently overlooked due to the punitive nature of the students’ placement. One of the first things I was able to accomplish with these committed teachers and administrators was access to more technology through a grant proposal that paired technology for students with long-term, job-embedded training on lesson design with technology tools for teachers. The needs of both the teachers and these students were detailed in a video presentation illustrating the plan for the requested funds.
Telling the Story…
Later we were able to detail our continuing journey to empower these special students with a circulating library and a maker space through a digital story. The tale of this campus’ journey was submitted as a session proposal for TCEA, ISTE, and SxSWEdu. The story was also shared with the community and our school board. Leveraging this story telling-rubric I created for digital storytelling helped me to keep a voice and direction in mind as I worked on different parts of the story. Understanding the value of pacing and narrative voice through storytelling created a new skill set for me. It moved my understanding of multi-media presentations to a more professional level.
Interdisciplinary Study & Mentorship- Capstone Project
Empowering students through the use of technology in the classroom also included opportunities to support students in showcasing their learning through publishing their thoughts and ideas to the world. I believe that anytime we provide students with a voice that can be heard outside the four walls of their classrooms, they will be more invested in the work, their thinking, and the product. I was able to work with juniors and seniors at McKinney High School through a course called, ISM (Interdisciplinary Study and Mentorship). The course pairs those students interested in different occupations with mentors (Vygotsky’s “Significant Other”) who work with them to explore their chosen career topic. Partnering with the teacher we were able to create a unit of study that would culminate in a published iBook in the Apple iBook Store. This video details the lesson plan and the direction for the capstone project.
High School Maker Space
As a part of the campus innovation team, I was able to support the vision and design of a high school maker space for McKinney High School. Utilizing the campus mission and vision for technology the team worked on a plan to repurpose a computer lab that had been abandoned due to the campus’ 1:1 model. A maker space or a space for collaboration and innovation had been realized as a necessity during the strategic planning phase with student representatives. Open spaces with tools for innovative thinking and tinkering were designed and a written plan was conceived for the direction of the space. The video below shares the direction and goals for this space in a 3-D virtual model.
This course was by far the most challenging course of my tenure in this degree. I was not prepared for the coding part required and had little to no experience with it. As we reflected each week through blogging about our coding “adventures” I grew in my understanding of the need to fully differentiate maker space experiences for all of my students.
DAEP Holiday Elf Initiative
Lara Lindsey 