Current Goals

Current Goals


May 2022

Although another challenging year, this was much more settled feeling than 2021.  This allowed me to really dig into the details of implementing and consolidating what I've been building over the past few years with the pilot program.  Having regular one-on-one conferences with the students throughout the semester was not only incredibly useful but also a real joy. Talking with a student in this style allowed me to make better connections, have a clearer understanding of their progress and challenges, and give them more personalized guidance. It was also a chance to really get to know each student individually, which was delightful.  Both of these aspects helped ease writing comments again this year; I'm slowly overcoming my previous dread of this end-of-semester work because it's becoming actually enjoyable.

For my website, I was able to substantially flesh out several aspects this year, including more quests, skills maps for each discipline (a new feature), setting up a moodle site in order to implement self-graded quizzes

May 2021

Perhaps even more than 2020, this was a challenging year. So much was uncertain and changing regularly, it was difficult to settle into a routine. However, in spite of that, or perhaps partially because of it, I felt successful in pursuring all 3 of my goals this year.  Incorporating the 1-to-1 conferences during the semester allowed a greater sense of connection with students (I believe they felt this, too). The increased anecdotal notes related to this, along with more explicit definitions for other elements, allowed me to assign grades and write comments more easily than any prior semester. In addition, the MARIO Framework professional development workshop allowed me to learn in much more detail about a fully fleshed-out 1-to-1 system, gather resources related in implementing it, and connect with colleagues who are also interested in implementing similar systems in their classrooms. This work will continue next year, with a collaborative cohort for discussion, brainstorming and celebrating successes.

In regards to using what I teach, I was able to practice within several disciplines of DT in which I have limited experience, including designing 3D replacement parts, metal-working, Computer Aided Manufacture using a CNC Router, electronics, and more. The goal to remain active expanding my own experience levels with the tools and techniques I teach students was both frustrating and satisfying. Frustrating, when I attempted projects for which I had little or no prior experience and needed to study and practice substantially before I was able to succesfully complete work. This translated into very satisfying feelings when I finally did complete projects. I think this years' experiences will help me empathize with students as they struggle and help me identify how to help them see the path forward even when they encounter overwhelm, setbacks, and similar challenges.

Finally, for my wellbeing I continued to improve my own fitness, participating in group pilates and weight training throughout the year. Halfway through the year I added a weight-loss program which has already been successful and which I am continuing.  Overall, this has been both one of the most challenging (emotionally) and successful (professionally) years of my teaching career.

June 2020

This was definitely a challenging year.  I feel that I was quite successful in my goals.  For the pilot, I was able to work with students to better identify a structure that allows them a personalized path into Design Technology, with wide flexibility for differentiation.  I started implementing this structure on my website and students were immediately able to see how to progress, the full range of learning, and to move at their own pace

When we switched to virtual learning after the worldwide changes hit, I learned several key things, all related to my RAMP educational approach.  First was that in virtual learning, relationships are even more important.  The relationships I had with students became very clear in the 1-on-1 conversations I had, or didn't have.  I saw a very clear correlation between whether a student felt a relationship with me and whether they showed up regularly for eLearning.  In conversation with students, it was also clear that they craved more opportunities to connect with each other.  These two conclusions have led me to thinking about how I can build in more opportunities for connecting and building relationships in the online classes next year.  

A second item I learned was that autonomous learning with mastery-based assessment works well for easily measured content like coding; checking whether a program runs as expected is straightforward.  It's much more difficult to set up when the mastery depends on a judgement, unless there are good, full-scope exemplars available.  This means I'll need to focus on building many exemplars, at various levels of success, to make self-assessment more possible in the fall.  For several of the strands in the class, this will be essential.

My third major take-away is that purpose is something many of the students already have.  For these students, the goal of learning a new skill in design technology is enough purpose in itself.  They are motivated to continue learning, regardless of the technical difficulties involved, because the learning of the skill itself is enough.  For some, however, the bigger purpose of doing something that will become public or that will solve a problem for someone else is needed.  I plan to reach out to our community (and already have made some connections) for areas and projects in which I can connect students to a larger purpose.  This will help those students who find this more engaging to stay connected and involved when we return in the fall.

Finally, I believe that logistics are a key area.  Getting supplies and tools to students is an important aspect to consider if we continue virtual learning for at least some of the time or for some of the students, this fall.  Having the materials and resources to work on projects in woodworking, electronics, and so on is a large, but not an insurmountable obstacle.  It will require careful planning and tracking.  Another is student understanding of the project process and the design cycle.  This will be enhanced by the lab notebook Marzouk and I designed this year.  But we'll need to carefully plan how students will be introduced to it and learn to use the design cycle explicitly.  These sorts of logistics will be something I carefully consider and plan, in coordination with Marzouk, this summer.

Overall, virtual learning confirmed for me that the RAMP approach is a highly effective and successful approach for Middle School, for Design Technology, and (I believe), for learning in general.  The revelations I've had and the take-aways generated are all ways I can deepen my approach and better engage students using these techniques.  The ease with which students transitioned, the continued engagement through (and past!) the end of the school year and the comments students have left have all encouraged me to continue developing this approach to personalized learning.

 August 2019

June 2019

My classes were restructured from an institutional level this year as a pilot of a different way to deliver curriculum.  We offered 5 sections of "Design Technology" rather than 5 different courses with separate subject areas.  Within each course, students were free to choose from the various curriculum strands: CAD & CAM, electronics, metalworking and mixed media, robotics, video production, and woodworking.  Each of the 5 sections was essentially the same course.  With guidance, students in each section chose their focus, designed projects, and proceeded through the design cycle semi-independently.  Parents were kept appraised of their student's progress through a shared photo album, group and personalized emails.  

After the discussions with my PLC, I restructured my classes to allow for more discussion, core skills practice, and focus on the design cycle.  Each class started with a group exercise, selected to improve creativity, sketching, and collaboration.  Students were allowed to design projects based on their interests (whether in a particular product, or a skill area).  During the first semester I focused more on creativity exercises; one major project—building items for the Kindergarten "Discovery Center"—took over most students' time for the full semester.  During the second semester, I focused more time on sketching than on creativity and most students engaged in several projects over the months.  

To better encourage understanding and use of the Design Cycle, I incorporated semi-weekly check-in with students, in which they either turned in their notebook, sat with me for a short face to face conversation, or recorded a video talking about their project.  I found this much more successful than previous strategies and will definitely use it again next year.  It needs more structure, however; I found that many MS students seemed confused by the various options or the intermittent schedule.  Next year I plan to have the schedule worked out and written in advance with a structured introduction to each of the options before introducing student choice in this aspect.  On the other hand, use of the design cycle was noticeably more prominent among students this year.  Many commented during check-ins about their progress using design cycle terminology and were able to discuss how they could better use the cycle in future projects.

Overall, I was extremely pleased with the results of this personalized learning pilot.  More students were more engaged than ever before and nearly the entire range of design technology strands were selected.  I attribute this to the increased choice students were given, so they felt autonomy, and the increased relevance of their projects, so they felt greater purpose than ever before in my classes, within the context of greater relationship with me as the teacher, due to the regular one-on-one check-ins and feedback.  Anecdotal feedback has also been quite positive with specifically positive remarks coming from several female students (about which I'm particularly pleased).  With regard to sketching in particular, students felt much more confident at the end of the semester and were very positive about their ability (they knew they were better).  

Areas of improvement for next year include better use of collaboration/communication time, more granular resource management, and more personalized sketching instruction.  To implement the latter two I will implement a gamified learning environment I previously had success with in my High School courses, Game-On.  For the collaboration/communication time I will build scaffolds and exercises to better introduce students and train them in the concepts of collaboration and communication within Design Technology.

August 2018

May 2018

Building off last year's discussions, I invited administrators, integrators and others into my classroom to observe and discuss my teaching this year.  This remains some of the most effective PD in which I have engaged.  Ultimately, this led to the development of my own PLC, which will observe me and meet regularly to discuss learning and teaching strategies next year.  It also led to the complete restructure of the MS Design Technology course, both to better align with the goals and standards of the IB DP DT programme and to better incorporate best practice methodologies such as discussion, project based learning, and inquiry.  

Although I feel I still have substantial progress I can make in the area of whole-class instruction and facilitation, I have made significant progress in the area this year.  Both in the general classroom management aspect and in the development of better (more engaging and relevant) instruction, my work at the end of the year is noticeable better than in August.

Communication with parents remains an area I will keep on my list for next year.  I did better in sending pictures and notes to parents to keep them aware of their student's progress, particularly with my grade 6 classes, I feel I can still grow in very useful and effective ways in this area.  Next year I'd like to develop an ongoing photo album of activity in the class, write regular whole-class updates so parents remain abrest of the course sequence, as well as continuing the individual updates I sent this year (but for all students rather than just the new ones).  

August 2017

May 2017

I was quite successful in further development of inquiry discussions in the course this year. I developed a set of exercises focused on various aspects of discussion (based on materials from Exeter and from improve in the workplace). These greatly improved student interaction by focusing their attention on the required mechanics of good discussion. In addition, the discovery of the QFT approach gave me another structured discussion approach, one which I think will be very useful in the DT setting. For future years, I would like to build more discussion into the course, perhaps making it a weekly or bi-weekly activity that students expect and can plan for each period.

Once again I didn't contribute many entries to my blog. It's clear at this point that I simply don't like writing blog entries, so I won't be continuing with that approach in future years. On the other hand, I spent quite a bit of time reflecting on my practice, my courses, and my philosophy through discussions with our integrator, other teachers, and our administration, as well as participating in ongoing discussions about practice in our integrators podcast series. 

The professional development I participated in this year was Outstanding! First, the google workshop was really useful simply by showing some of the possibilities for how products in the Google Suite can be used. Next, being an IB Examiner has been really eye opening, in both good and depressing ways, and will definitely help me become a better Design Tech teacher through a much deeper appreciation for and understanding of the curriculum. Finally, the many discussions I participated in, whether face-to-face, in podcasts, on forums or facebook groups, or other virtual environments, have reaped both better connections and deeper understanding of my material and the subject as a whole. I still am interested in visiting other, well established, DT programs to see how the subject is taught elsewhere. I'd also like to expand my IB training into the MYP DT programme.

August 2016

May 2015

Once again I have not met the majority of my goals for the year. I have neglected my reflection blog throughout most of the year. I did this deliberately, as I decided partway through the year that responding to my students' blog posts in a very timely manner was a better investment of my writing time this year. Between ensuring that I regularly and rapidly responded to their entries and building my new courses (Design Technology SL and HL, years 1 and 2, Web Design and Electronics to Robotics) consumed my time. However, I feel I've done a very solid job building the courses and set myself up well for success in those classes in the years to come. I also feel my efforts in responding to student posts have paid off - I've had more active posting and deeper thought evidenced in their postings than ever before. To take this further, next year I want to figure out how to encourage reading each other's blogs and cross-posting comments.

I also failed to meet my certification goal. Unfortunately, the training for Design Technology interfered with the scheduling for the final course I needed. I'm still pursuing this and have scheduled the final courses (yep, they added more) for fall of 2017. If all goes as planned, I will be able to file the paperwork for certification in December of 2017. Whew. This has been a long, long road. 

On a brighter note, I feel that I have developed the skeleton of an effective approach for inquiry discussion in Design Technology. My students patiently piloted the processes this year and provided their observations and suggestions. In the discussions that we have had throughout the year, they've been engaged in the mechanics of having a group discussion, slowly learning what works and what doesn't. Based on what's happened so far, I feel I need to develop better prompting material, that allows for a broader range of discussion (ie: less clearly applicable to "right" answers). This will be my focus over the summer.

[Note for future professional development: for design technology, the Autodesk University Summit looks like a really useful training/networking opportunity. (Reference John Zobrist's posts in the DT facebook groups from the 2015 summit).]

August 2015

May 2015

Although arguably, I achieved none of my goals this year, I feel fabulous about the work I’ve done, the growth I’ve had, and the results I’ve seen with my students. For my Action Research goal, I did survey the students several times throughout the year (mostly nearer the beginning). However, around the middle of the second quarter I stopped surveying them and didn’t give another survey until the end of the year. Primarily, this was just to avoid the repetition, as it didn’t seem to be serving any real purpose (I wasn’t getting any more from the data than I’d already gathered). For the integration goal, I did get to speak with more teachers this year, but didn’t find anywhere to really contribute more than a general helping hand. I feel I did more good just by sharing articles, ideas, and provocations. I think integration could be better driven by the curricular and pedagogical conversations, but I wasn’t really part of those. Finally, I didn’t get certified because I’m lacking one final course, which hasn’t yet been offered when I can take it. Someday soon.

On the other hand, what I did accomplish this year has made me feel really great about my teaching and the direction I take my classes. Among many things, I accomplished the following: