Welcome to my showcase. Below you will find a range of artifacts that capture the making, teaching, and learning I have completed during my master’s program. The work on this page is a confluence of the major ideas that have impacted my development as an educator, including maker education, new media texts and tools, and design thinking.
MAKING
Building a Symphoundic Poem
Inspired by maker education and both its constructivist and constructionist approaches to learning, I assembled a found poem and then used a MakeyMakey to transform my poem into a musical instrument. The project pushed me to imagine how maker education, which is often championed by teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math, can flourish just as successfully in the English classroom.
Click the button below to read a lesson plan for building a symphoundic poem.
Listicle
I made a lesson plan to demonstrate how to adapt a new media text — the listicle — for the English classroom. The lesson exemplifies my ability to combine Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) with a healthy dose of playfulness in order for students to develop their critical and creative thinking skills.
Click the button below to read a lesson plan for making a listicle.
TEACHING
STEAMlab 2017
I partnered with two classmates to design and implement a workshop on teaching with models across disciplines. Our session focused on specific ways teachers can incorporate model building as a way for their students to turn abstract ideas into concrete structures. The experience illustrates my ability to translate education research into practical application in order to assist fellow teachers.
Click the button below to read our workshop presentation.
Hosting a Webinar
Three classmates and I designed, organized, and hosted a webinar featuring experts from the fields of coding and robotics. The webinar allowed me to teach viewers how they might use coding and robotics in their curricula. I also moderated the webinar, a leadership role that required me to ask insightful questions and make connections between each panel member’s comments.
Click the video to the right to watch the webinar.
Teaching with New Media
Texts and Tools
Challenged to reimagine a unit using new media texts and tools, I created three lessons for my unit on Victor LaValle’s The Ballad of Black Tom. Successful teachers know how to integrate Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) within a given context, and the lessons demonstrate my ability to provide my students with opportunities to construct their own knowledge while playing, develop their voices in an authentic manner, and strengthen the skills they’ll need to engage meaningfully in our participatory culture.
Click the button below to read more about the lessons I developed.
Understanding Understanding
How do educators teach for conceptual change? And how do they confront and challenge a student’s sometimes long-held misconceptions? I worked with three classmates to answer these questions by studying how people learned the common myth of a taste bud map and whether we could counter this myth with the facts. The subsequent video and website we produced attests to my ability to successfully collaborate as well as condense complex information into an easily understood and engaging form.
Click the button below to read more on our website.
LEARNING
Wicked Problem
I collaborated with three classmates to better understand how to embrace failure as learning mode. We reviewed research, conducted our own original research through a survey, and built a website that shares concrete suggestions on educators can help students respond productively to setbacks. Tackling this wicked problem improved several of my skills, such as asking inventive questions, presenting complex information in a concise manner, and working with a team.
Click the button below to read our website.
The Mode Squad
I produced the Mode Squad as a means of reflecting on everything I’d learned about the Stanford Design School’s five design modes. My dialogue with the characters provides insight into my growth as a designer. The characters are also evidence of my creativity and my ongoing desire to merge playfulness with complex thinking and analysis.
Click the button below to read my conversation with the Mode Squad.