Personal Goals and Goals of Innovative Learning

Our lives have changes so much in the last 5-10 years due to changing and disruptive technologies.  We can not think that we can continue to educate our students in the same manner as has been done for the last 100 years and expect positive and useful outcomes.  My personal goals as a teacher include using the classroom as a lab for teaching in innovative ways that speak directly to the needs of 21st Century students.  I would like to then take what I have learned to other teachers and administrators, so that others can deepen their practices and better serve the students they teach.  I get so much satisfaction out of using the Design Thinking process to improve my own teaching.  If we live in world where iteration is the keystone of our new technology-based world, it's imperative that we not only teach Design Thinking, but use it in our daily practice as teachers.  

I love the hands-on, on-the-ground application of teaching ideals, by being in the classroom at New Tech High on a daily basis.  I am given a great deal of freedom to try new ways of teaching and often involve my students in the process of improvement.  This is the norm at New Tech, for all teachers and administrators to collaborate. Collaboration between staff and students is one of the biggest strengths of our school.

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​In that vein, I am working on establishing a robust curriculum and library of resources to teach students and staff the value of blogging and social media.  Using the Design Process last year, a committee of two staff and ten students redesigned what used to a brochure-like academic portfolio.  We opened up the concept to blogging and, instead of asking students to jump through hoops to create a portfolio that no one every looked at, we decided that it would become a living and useful document.  

Students are now allowed to write blogs on anything that interests them. They are also expected to use the blog as a public forum to teach others what they have learned, to document their work and to reflect on their learning practices.  Blogs can then be shared within the learning community and with the community at large.  Last year we began the program with some basic tutorials on how to set up their blogs, as well as some videos explaining the value of blogging and the history of what we have done with portfolios and how we arrived at our new blog-based portfolio. 

My goal this semester is to fill out the curriculum for portfolios more fully, while having those lessons be informed by learning models and theory, including Baggio, Clark and TPACK.  I will be creating more tutorials, both written and recorded, so that different learners can access the information in different ways.  

Having a digital presence on the web is so essential these days if you want to get a job, find professionals to network with, or to create a following for businesses purposes.  Having every student understand how to use their portfolio to be successful as an adult allows ALL students access to valuable and incredibly useful skills in the 21st Century.  In order to compete in the marketplace, either for jobs or as entrepreneurs, one has to understand how to use one's digital presence to create credibility, show proficiency and to show a sense of agency.   

This has led me to, what in my mind, is an obvious inquiry question:  How can students effectively participate in and contribute to a learning community through blogging?

Originally my inquiry question was:  What is the effect of Digital Tools (Nearpod) on Reading Comprehension, Focus and Engagement? 

Interestingly, these seemingly different inquiry questions are related, in that I have an active presence online and use my digital presence to keep my professional network informed about my work in the classroom.  Last semester, I posted an article on my blog about my first inquiry question, and the news of my work got to the VP of Marketing at Nearpod.  He contacted me about my action research paper.  From there, he and I agreed that Nearpod would publish my paper on their website.  I am excited to say that it looks great and will soon be made public.  It has helped me make important relationships with folks in the education software field and will now further establish my credibility in the field of Innovative Learning.  Powerful stuff. 

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​So, although I did not stick with my first inquiry question, I do believe, that ultimately, my current inquiry question addresses a more broad and pertinent question that has a strong relationship to the first question.   I have shown, through the process of my first inquiry paper being published, how critical it can be to success to know how to participate in the greater community through blogging.  If students can harness the power of blogging, there will be no stopping them, as they go out into the world to get jobs, create businesses, and ultimately, to make a difference.