An essay of what's to comeAbout a week ago I received a postcard from myself. It was delivered via my professor from last year’s adventure in Ireland, where I completed nearly half of my Master’s in four weeks. I had forgotten about the card, so my interest was renewed as I read the words I had predicted I would forget. They read, “don’t forget the TPACK model of repurposing what you have around you! The biggest takeaway from this program is that everything is what you ‘make’ it. Keep Makering and continue this ‘scholarship of teaching and learning.’” They made me chuckle and also a little confused. I remember how important these ideas were to me-- are to me-- but now they are embedded in my long term memory, where they have lost their urgency. How silly, as they are the cornerstone for my goals as teacher-learner. TPACK is “simply” a framework that explains the relationship of different knowledges that are required for teaching with technology. It shows the interplay between content knowledge (knowledge of whatever subject I teach-- in my case High School English), technology knowledge (knowledge of the technology I have at my disposal, and how best to use it to maximize learning in my classroom), and also pedagogical knowledge (knowledge of how my students learn, and how to prepare to teach them). The point of the framework-- and the reason why I selected Educational Technology as my focus-- is to illustrate that teaching with technology requires more than using these knowledges in isolation. I am passionate about remembering this because I commonly see teachers excited about using technology because of its “wow factor” that makes using it as a teaching tool provocative, to the point where teaching with the tool becomes contrived or expensive. An understanding of how these knowledges interact can make the difference between using a tool effectively or just playing with cool toys. It is a goal of mine to pursue each of these knowledges as they relate to one another. This is why I emphasized “Makering” when listing my takeaway. Teaching can be painfully simple and also gratifyingly complex. It is what I make it. I can think of more than a few times where I stayed up late into the night, agonizing over a lesson, trying to make it more than it is, and then finding that sometimes the best lesson is born out of simply taking what I have and getting creative with it. “Makering” is a tech movement where a tinkerer works to create something valuable or instructive through an iteration process, who is not afraid to scrap something that does not work. Sometimes this includes using circuits to literally light up an idea, or perhaps lining up strings of code to 3D print a solution to a problem-- or something else entirely. It is the act of working through a project to create, and often it is the process that is more valuable than the product. Teaching, and teaching with technology, is very much like this-- where I must remember to iterate my lessons to suit and respond to my students needs. Teaching is often makering. I don’t need an iPad, or fancy apps, to teach effectively. I can use the various technologies I have available to me and “make it make do.” So. I have my goals clearly and simply outlined: I want to maximize student learning in an efficient and effective way. This alone requires an adaptability since students’ needs are ever changing, year after year. I have the schema, the knowledge and know-how, to use technology to my advantage, a tool that is also ever changing. I have the ability to maximize the affordances that technology can offer me and my students. But how do I keep pursuing the knowledge that will deliver the success of goals? This is where the “scholarship of teaching” becomes important. This is a phrase that I quoted from a reading of Eileen Bender, and Donald Gray, professors of Indiana University, where they explain that, “everyone implicated in the scholarship of teaching meets everyone else in a series of ever-wider circles: students learning from each other in groups or teams in and outside a classroom; teachers learning from students; teachers talking to each other about teaching; teachers reading about how students learn and how other teachers teach; teachers eventually writing about teaching, participating in other ways in the professional conversation that is one of the signs and certifications of the scholarship of teaching,”(Bender). This hearkens back to TPACK in that we cannot teach in isolation. In order to build the knowledge required to maintain adaptability, I need to pursue my goals, pursue my students, and pursue the even greater knowledge of my colleagues, professors, and published pedagogical experts. I also need to maintain my place in the circle of this scholarship, by becoming a resource for those around me. Bender, E and Gray, D. (1999). The Scholarship of Teaching. Research & Creative Activity, XXII(1). Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~rcapub/v22n1/p03.html Koehler, Matthew. (2015). TPACK Explained. TPACK.org. Retrieved from http://www.matt-koehler.com/tpack/tpack-explained/ Want a printable copy of this post?
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