My name is Alison Taxis and I am a 9-10th grade special education teacher at Eisenhower, working with students in our Foundations program (students with significant needs). This is my second year at Eisenhower, and in New Berlin. I teach a special education English and Math course, and, support my students in their regular education science, social studies, and elective courses. I enjoy creating purposeful and highly engaging activities/lessons that align to my student’s unique needs and standards.
I enjoy being a maker champion, because I have had the opportunity to collaborate with different teachers and specialists across the district. Through these collaborations, I have learned many new strategies and technological activities that I can implement with my students. I also love the opportunity to brainstorm and trouble-shoot ideas off of other professionals in the district. Additionally, I enjoy finding ways to incorporate making into my curriculum, and planning units that are meaningful to my students, teach important making skills, while also aligning to their academic standards/curriculum.
This is the presentation I used to introduce the provocation to my students.
This is the check-in that I used with my students to determine whether the understood the premise of their maker project prior to beginning the project.
This is the form used by students to rate their experience with each skill builder (their opinion of the activity) which they later used to pick their final project.