Final Project

• For my final project I am taking on the role of a technology coach for a district of 7 far-reaching villages, housing 11 schools.  
  
  
  Goals and Expectations:
  
  
  The intended goal is to educate and work with teachers throughout the year to provide hands-on learning practicums for students in relation to state and ISTE standards.  
  
  
  In doing so, teachers will develop their own master plans of incorporating making practices into their classroom, growing in confidence in their abilities and inspiring other teachers around them while continuing to learn and develop themselves.
  
  
  The ultimate desired outcome is that students will be able to connect with their schoolwork on a more personal level, and build problem solving skills rather than just gaining the ability to understand a problem.  
  
  
  The steps I intend to take in order to achieve these goals are as follows:
  
  
  1. August - I will create a public blog for the teachers of my school district to frequent, linking to other notable blogs and articles regarding making, and some sample projects they could try in their own classrooms with little overhead cost.  A link to the blog will be made available either through an All Staff email, or a space on the district website.
  
  
  2. September - Once the school year is a little underway and teachers aren’t quite as overwhelmed with everything, I will offer weekly to biweekly videoteleconferencing sessions for anyone who would like to learn more about making and how it can be incorporated in their classroom.  As the year progresses we could either do more or less VTC sessions, depending on involvement and need.
  1. Suggested topics:
  1. What is Making and why should I care?
  2. Good starter projects for any level
  3. Dreaming big - how to fund your making lifestyle
  4. Creating Creative Spaces
  5. And always allowing time to share out on what they’ve been doing
  3. Using either a Google community, Blackboard, or another LMS made available to the district, the involved teachers and I will keep in touch, checking in and sharing successes and struggles.  I will also use that space to alert to interesting articles and lessons I have found through my research.  
  
  
  4. While teachers are of course welcome to do as many or as few projects throughout the year as they’d like, for the purposes of setting up a community I would urge them to plan at least one maker’s project per quarter, aligned with the standards.  
  1. If they’re struggling I would look to bring in a curriculum partner, to help figure out what we can do to both bring the curriculum to life while also making sure students are on track.  
  2. Hopefully this will also inspire the curriculum department to get more interested in making and we can work together in a joined effort to provide more making opportunities.
  
  
  5. End of October - by this time all teachers included should have completed at least one project with their students.  Teachers will give a short end-of-quarter survey, asking what their favorite or most positive experience has been.  Using that, along with any other grading evaluation, teachers can gauge how effective their lessons were, and adjust accordingly.  
  
  
  6. November - Throughout the fall I will have been visiting schools and classrooms throughout the district to provide professional development opportunities and help incorporate technology into the classroom.  I will also be using that time to work with and collect images and video from my makers, so we can build up our blog and encourage and attract other teachers to join the movement.  November is when I should be ready to deploy, allowing teachers a chance to see what we’ve accomplished, and get them excited to come back after the break (as well as maybe inspire some neat winter projects!).
  
  
  7. December - We will continue to use the LMS as well as any method of social media accepted by the district to share out and keep up with each other.  By the end of the first semester I hope to have at least one teacher per school with two makers projects under their belt, excited for more an inspiring those around them.  
  
  
  Working with AKTeach on enhancing my understanding and use of virtual learning has been such an incredibly positive experience, and I am excited to continue with it and use the skills I’ve gained to help teachers create their best classrooms.