Spring 2023
Instructor: Lucie deLaBruere
Finals Grade: A+
Course description from Syllabus:
This online course targets teachers interested in coaching and leading technology-rich innovation in today's schools. This includes planning for school and district level, planning and implementing technology-rich innovation strategies, and development and dissemination of professional development in local, regional, and global venues. Coursework involves troubleshooting of hardware, software and cloud based systems, as well as web-based authoring and programming tools. Students explore the roles that teacher leaders and coaches inhabit, and how these roles can energize other classroom teachers and build a community of active participants in innovative, technology-rich programs. Students in this course will study the means to foster leadership around the planning and development of goals for their school technology needs.
Course Reflection/ Impact:
Note: I took this course while UVM was using BlackBoard. I do not have access to class materials and relying on notes and class assignments I saved.
This course came at a perfect time in my career. After taking two educational technology based classes, I was tasked by my principal at the time to help head start the STREAM lab at my school. I felt like this course would fit very well within my new role of being the leader in charge of getting this innovative space up and running. This role helped me learn different ways in which to integrate technology into classrooms and this course helped me find innovative ways in make hands on learning that is engaging for students.
One of the books that we read for class that really guided our learning was Switch: how to change things when change is hard by Chip and Dan Heath. In the beginning of the book, they mention finding your bright spot. They mentioned that bright spots are "successful events worth emulating" (Heath & Heath, 2010, pg. 28). This led us to find the bright spots within our own workplaces and find ways in which we can improve them and make them flourish. This is when I decided to post my focus of my learning on turning the STREAM room into a bright space for my school community, This is when I created the destination postcard for this space. Dan and Chip explain a destination postcard in their book as "a vivid picture from the near-term future that shows what could be possible" (Heath & Heath, 2010, pg. 76), as well as "pictures of a future that hard work can make possible- can be incredibly inspiring" (Heath & Heath, 2010, pg. 85). I made my destination postcard as we were in the beginning stages of creating the STREAM lab. After making my post card, I shared it with the administration at my school in order to share it with teachers and students in order to get them excited about the new space that was able to be opened. This got many teachers excited about the possibilities for various lessons and projects that they could carry out within that space. These teachers often came to me to ask what pieces of technology we were going to have and what they could realistically make.
In the second half of the class, we took a deeper look into what leadership is and what we wanted our futures in education to look like. We started by making vision artifacts about what our dream schools would look like. In my vision artifact, I focused on creating spaces where students are flexible with their learning possibilities that curate to students individual needs. This includes creating spaces where students feel comfortable and confident to explore different technologies in order to broaden their knowledge in regards to real world situations. This also led into our learning about restorative justice. We had the opportunity to complete a group project where we created a podcast about restorative justice and what it looks like within our current educational systems. The episode that I am featured in, I focused on the transition from middle school to high school and what issues we are currently facing. We talke about changes that we thought would be beneficial in the future and ways in which we could improve our school structures.
Overall, this course helped me open up my eyes to identify ways in which I am a leader within my own classroom as well as the school community as a whole. Through starting the STREAM lab, I was able to help teachers make chess boards for their elective classes out of plexiglass and a laser cutter. We also had students learn how to 3D print the chess pieces. Since I have left that school, they have continued to grow and have students use a garment printer to make school appearral and so much more! At my current school, I have used the innovation lab to have students make 3D designs for their summative project on cones, cylinders, and spheres. I have also helped other teachers think of innovative ways in which they could incorporate technology into their classes. I have also been able to go back and see how my view points on change have evolved over the years. Back in the beginning of my teaching career, I was convinced that I was not a strong leader and felt like I had some qualities of a good leader. A few years later, I am now realising that I was selling myself short and feel like I am a fearless leader, whether it is in my classroom or running the theater department at my school. I am proud of the growth that I have made since taking this course and I often look back to find different ways I can embrace change or integrate technology within my classes.
References:
Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2010). Switch: how to change things when change is hard. Broadway Books.