Work Showcase

I have always been passionate about educational technology, and the MAET program at Michigan State University was the perfect fit for me to grow those skills and learn new things. I was lucky to be able to work on my degree overseas in their Galway program in summers 2022 and 2023 before completing the course online in summer 2024. In my time with MAET, I learned about creativity, universal design for learning, programming concepts, theories of learning, and more. Looking back, I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn and create artifacts that directly impact my teaching.

Below, I share some of the many creations that I made in my time with MAET. They are sorting into three key parts of my work: research, teachables, and printables. My hope is that you can read through some of the research projects to learn more about how to be a successful educator, that you can use my teachables in your classroom to help your students with their technology skills, and that you can share our printables as posters, displays, handouts, etc. with your staff or students.

In my time working on my Masters in Educational Technology, I was able to use my passion to find topics to research, both by myself and with collaborative peers. I gained valuable skills to finding, reading, synthesizing, and applying research to my context. Below, you will see three of my creations which hold information that may be applicable to your work as well. Each of these projects highlights a part of education that I am passionate about and focusing on making change in the way we think about teaching and education.

Are Your Students Playing Enough Video Games?

A Group Research Project

Video Games Poster.pdf

Video games and education have always been two large parts of my life. I had to opportunity to read and condense research about this topic in a special interest group alongside Mary Verberg. We learned about the positive impact that video games can have in student learning and how to appropriate utilize them in your class. This project helped me gain my skills of both collaboration and looking at both sides of an argument. We were able to find information that both supported our stance on video games and information that was negative towards it use. This helps me to be an objective educator who is willing to look at all sides of a situation and come out with a well-informed opinion. These skills are incredibly helpful on my path to make change as an educational technology leader. To show our learning about the topic, we put together a video with our research, as well as a research poster. I hope that reading this helps you understand how to utilize video game technology with your students to engage them and help them learn key concepts.

The Standardized Testing Crisis

A Group Research Project

As an educator, I feel the frustration associated with standardized test and the way they seem to control so much of the policy and decisions made for teachers. In my work with Chris Sloan, we discussed Wicked Problems, which are issues that do not show a clear solution because of the complexity of them. Along with John Gates and Bethany Kinnan, we worked to research the issue of standardized testing, focusing on what the problems are and how to solve them by looking at what other countries are doing compared to the United States. After working on other group research projects, I was able to finely tune my skill or collaboration and teamwork, showing everyone's opinions and letting each member work on their section. This project also helped me understand our US education system and helps me be better informed when going into conversations about testing in our district. Not only did I gain skills about how to research and present, but I also gained invaluable knowledge abou the issues in our education system. Use the graphic to the right to access the slides and learn more about the issue, or read a more in-depth explanation here.

Theories of Conscious and Unconscious Learning

A Theories of Learning Research Synthesis Essay

Steph Saksa - Theory of Learning

In order to be effective teachers, we must understand how learning occurs in ourselves and out students. Through my work, I was able to study several different theories of learning, such as behaviorism, observational learning, constructivism, constructionism, sociocultural learning, and others. After learning what other psychologists and learning experts had to say about learning, I wanted to synthesize my thoughts and develop my own theory of learning. In the paper linked to the left, I put together my thoughts and discuss both the conscious and unconscious learning that we do ourselves and that we see our students do. This was one of the most beneficial assignments I've had to do. I was able to gain knowledge about a variety of learning theories and research what other people had said before me before working on putting it into my words and coming up with my own informed opinion about how learning works in students. This skill of using research to form my own theories and opinions will help me in my teaching role, as well as in further academic pursuits.

Research is an incredibly helpful skill to have, but what matters most in the day-to-day of education is what we are teaching our students. By reading research and learning about how people learn, I was able to create more in-depth lesson plans that are backed by my research. I am incredibly passionate about using technology, specifically programming, in my classroom, so many of my teaching artifacts are centered around that. Each of these units/lessons below are reading to go into your classroom, using learning theories and programming skills to make sure students are getting the best hands-on experience possible.

Video Game Unit Plan

Fifth Grade

One of my favorite resources that I use with my students is Scratch. This is a simple, block-based program that students as young as 5 or 6 can use to learn about programming and interact with computer science. While I have been using it in my classroom for several years, the MAET program gave me the opportunity to think more critically about my use of it and how it ties to creativity and theories of learning. I was able to redesign a unit where fifth graders create video games, giving students more chances to think critically and reflect on their own learning. My own coding skills grew immensely when creating these unit. I was able to learn a lot about how Scratch works, and the innumerable possibilities for how to incorporate it into my classroom. In working with this unit, I was able to gain practice in reflecting by looking back on things I've taught before and making them better for my future students. This skills is incredibly valuable to me, and I have felt it shape me into a better educator over the last few years. Use the graphic on the right to go to the unit presentation.

Scratch Family Portraits

Fourth Grade

After having fifth graders spend a long unit creating video games, I knew that I wanted to extend my work in Scratch and have students start using it at a younger age. In thinking about what to have students create in fourth grade, I thought back to my research into Culturally Responsive Teaching and knew that I wanted to give students the opportunity to include more of their culture and heritage into their computing and programs. My school has a wide range of languages and cultures represented, so I decided that at the beginning of the year, instead of introducing themselves and their family verbally, they can create a program to introduce them. Having practice with Culturally Responsive Teaching is a skill that helps me connect to all of my students and work better as a teacher in all my lessons, not just this one. Play my example game that includes my family, and read my lesson plan to incorporate into your classroom.

Circuit Maker Game

Fourth Grade

I am very lucky to have a well-stocked makerspace in my school where students are able to use materials in project-based learning and participate in engaging hands-on technology to help their computer science skills. In my makerspace, I have a few sets of Little Bits, where students can learn about circuits and create projects. I wanted to create an opportunity for students to learn about the Little Bits through creation and help younger students understand electricity, as well as get to play. I was able to learn a lot about working with constraints of materials that are already available to me. I knew what I had, and I had to work around that, instead of purchasing new tech or applying for grants. This skill helps me to be a flexible teacher and work better within the abilities of my school. I was able to combine that skill with maker-centered learning to hit learning goals for my students and create a design unit for a Little Bits board game. Follow the link to learn about the unit, and watch my present the project as an MAET presentation.

One of my goals as a teacher is to have a workspace for students that is both welcoming and educational. I want my media center to be bright and colorful, with flexible seating, early finishers, hands-on games and toy, and decor that reflects the learning we are doing. My library is covered in artwork from books, student created projects, and instructional posters. I usually use the posters as a mini-lesson or spring-board for work we are doing before displaying them around my media center for the rest of the year. Students are able to use them as anchor charts and reminders as we do all of our work in media.

Pair Programming Poster

Pair Programming Poster.pdf

One thing I am working on as an educator is making more effective use of grouping in my classroom. One of the most influential books I've read is Lifelong Kindergarten by Mitchel Resnick. In it, he discusses the 4 P's: Play, Passion, Peers, and Projects. In order to utilize peers more in my room, I did some research about peer programming and put together an anchor chart to help students work together more effectively. I was highly inspired by this article that highlighted Tips for Peer Programming, as well as this reading about Promoting Collaboration. I created this anchor chart that you may reuse for your classroom to show expectations for peer programming (or other group work). I felt that I did not utilize pair and group work enough in my classroom. These readings helped me to understand how to more appropriately use it, and this poster was a chance for me to present that new learning to my students. This helps them gain skills in collaboration and helps me gain skills in giving clear directions for students.

Constructionism Poster

One of my core beliefs as an educator is that students learn through doing. The learning theory of constructionism has guided so much of my lesson plans and projects for students. Constructionism is a theory credited to Seymour Papert who studied how people used hands on creation and interaction to make sense of the world around them. Here is a great video to get an overview of the learning theory to help you understand how to utilize it in your learning environment. Learning about constructionism is one of the best things I've done recently as an educator. It has given me the ability to describe my teaching and learning style, as well as show the kids the value in building and making things. In order to share this idea with colleagues, I created an informative poster to display in schools, use at PDs, or even post on social media. Feel free to print and use it for your education needs.

Constructionism (1).pdf

Experiential Learning Poster

Orange Educational Infographic Equivalent Fractions.pdf

Another type of learning through creating takes the form of experiential learning, where learners make sense of the world through experiencing, reflecting, generalizing, and applying. Learners repeat that learning spiral as they work through their experiences in life and school in order to come out knowing more. In addition to constructionism, this is a theory that has shaped my educational philosophy and drives much of my pedagogy. I know that students need time to reflect on their learning, generalize what they learned to other experiences they may have, and then apply it in a concrete way. This was one of my first learning theories that I researched and read about, and that experience gave me the skills to create all my other research projects and printables. Creating this gave me the ability to share my learning in concise and eye-catching ways, which is a skill that I use everyday as an educator and educational technology leader. This infographic can be used in your classrooms or PD to help students understand their own learning. In addition, check out more of my thoughts about experiential learning in this post.

All work created on this page is my own, with credit given to co-creators as needed.

Header image used with permission from photographer Chris Sloan.

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