Participation
During my second and final year with MAET, I was asked to complete a variety of projects, which you'll see listed below, that gave evidence of my learning. Below each entry I've written a description of each one, that will show context and purpose. I've classified them under the title, "Participation" because they were largely formative and ungraded, but important nonetheless!
- My Photo, My Self – Day 1
On our very first day we were asked to give introductions of ourselves in an alternative style. Charged to roam MSU's gorgeous campus and find a unique background for a self portrait, I found this gorgeous wall of graffiti. Our only stipulation was that our picture shouldn't in any form resemble a "mugshot"; this seemed perfect! I particularly liked that the art spells "Zani". I'm not sure what the artist's original purpose was, but I thought it captured the life of a teacher well.
- Behaviorism – Day 2
On Day 2 we learned about Behaviorism, an approach to psychology that observes human behavior and stimulus. Using these observations to conjecture about cause and effects gave way to theories of discipline, and positive and negative reinforcements for desirable or undesirable behaviors. We were tasked to find a common education app, or one that could be re-purposed for education, and examine and present which principles of behaviorism are being used to seek these desirable behaviors. We chose Class Dojo, an app that gives or takes away points from little monster avatars chosen by school children. The app will even text Mom or Dad a report, so that a behavior conversation can happen at home in consequence. Our Thinglink, posted above, illustrated the common assumptions of behaviorism in the screenshots of Class Dojo's advertised attributes. It was interesting to see "what's behind the curtain" of such a popularly used application.
- Physics video project – Day 4
On Day 4 of our work, we began our discussion of how people come to understand a concept. This was an anticipatory set given by our professors that helped us realize how we commonly develop misconceptions based on our assumptions of how the world works. Our Professor, Danah Henriksen, asked us to predict where a ball would land once dropped from a stationary, walking, and running pace. We conducted an experiment, recorded our findings, and composed them in the video above. Included in my group were Erin Polski, Chris Armour, and Zak Zuzula.
- Video Misconception Project – Day 5
As we progressed through our understanding of how people come to an understanding of something, we re-discovered the impact of misconceptions on learning, which is huge. We learned that when teaching a new concept we need to challenge assumptions and build on prior knowledge. We were charged to find a topic of which students commonly have misconceptions and illustrate it with a quick video. Here, Alex Miller and I parody a common student misconception with Martin Luther King's speech, "I Have a Dream". So many of my students believe that once they've something, they've mastered it. The reality is master readers will read, re-read, and then re-read again. We illustrated this tension above.
- Demotivational posters – Day 7
About halfway through our time together, we talked about what motivates students, and also what demotivates them. We also talked about how much, if any, contro; that teachers have over a student;s motivation. We found that internal motivation is most effective in motivating a student, and often internal motivation boils down to mindset. Teachers can't control mindsets, however, we do have influence over our students' mindsets. With this assignment we were charged to parody common motivational posters with a more humorous "demotivational" poster. Ours was a bit ironic, since we chose the topic of a growth mindset. My group members were Chris Armour, and Lindsey Becker.
- iImages – Day 8
We were also taught some basic principles of design and encouraged to promote the visual literacy of our students via attractive pseudo-advertisements for curriculum. We were sent on a hunt through MSU's campus for inspiration and came back with a series of photos to work with. I used mine to advertise some concepts in my High School American Literature course.
- Leadership tensions – Day 10
This last assignment was in response to our discussions about the variety of tensions that teachers are faced with. We are parents, but we are also teachers. We are professionals, but many of us are novices. We are friendly with students but we are not friends. We must be disciplined in our crafts, but we must also have fun. We were tasked to compose an image of a teacher tension illustrated with ourselves in two places at once. Here, with my teacher friend Ashlie O'Connor pretending to be a student, I'm representing the tension that teachers must teach their students discipline and hard work, while also being warm and friendly with students. It's not easy, but so importatn.