MSU MAET Showcase

In my classroom, I want to prepare my students to be productive digital citizens and 21st century learners. To do this, I always look for opportunities to understand student learning, how new technologies aid learning, and ways to promote curiosity. I have divided my work into three categories: Understanding Learning, Teaching with Technology, and Learning through Curiosity. 

Understanding Learning

Webinar
My group members and I led a one-hour Webinar titled Developing Information Literacy and Technology Skills. Joining us were experts in the field Alison Cicinelli, Teresa Diaz, Tom Driscoll, and Jenna Snow who shared their thoughts on teaching with technology and creating good digital citizens. Watch the Webinar below and visit the MAET Bridge Webinar website. 
Understanding Understanding
To better understand misconceptions while learning, my group and I looked into the misunderstandings about The Cloud, its uses, and internet safety. Through this process, I discovered how misconceptions are made and how to better address student misconceptions in the classroom. Visit our Cloud Misconception website for more information.

Teaching with Technology

DreamIT
​In order to better assess students in the Spanish classroom, I wrote this grant proposal for noise-cancelling headsets with microphones. With this technology, I would be able to give students simulated real-life situations and see how they respond in Spanish. This would be the closest way to assess student's speaking abilities without taking up large amounts of class time. 
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Lesson Plan Revision
This five-step lesson plan revision made me reflect and think of all the ways I could adapt a lesson plan to fit the needs of all students. Technology provides many opportunities to differentiate learning for students. For this lesson plan, I added a text-to-speech feature, an oral-response option, and student reflections throughout the lesson to evaluate learning. 
TPACK
We have had many discussions of the importance to finding the right combination of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK). I now use this idea when creating lessons. I use media recordings for authentic listening, recording software to practice speech, interactive websites for instant feedback, virtual field trips for culture, etc. 
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Learning Through Curiosity

Maker Faire
As part of a group project, three others and I used Makey Makey kits to play classic arcade games on the computer at a Maker Faire at the MSU library. Participants created their own "controllers" from various objects (fruit, utensils, etc.) to complete the circuit with the Makey Makey to play computer games. Participants needed to learn from trial-and-errors which controllers were conductive and would work with the Makey Makey circuits. This process gave people hands-on experimentation, time to question themselves, and find a solution. Read my blog post here.
Genius Hour
​I started a Genius Hour project this year with my Spanish 1 and 2 students to promote student inquiry and questioning for understanding. I gave students 20-30 minutes a week to research anything that interested them from Spanish culture. Students looked into a variety of subjects: sports, food, indigenous civilizations, health care in Latin America, how languages are formed, etc. Students used technology to discover the answers to their questions, connect with native speakers, and explore a whole new side of Spanish culture. 
Learning New Technologies
I have used various types of technologies throughout my teaching and coursework. From my own curiosity to learn more, I have mastered the use of Weebly, Wordpress, Camtasia, Infographics, etc. Through my Personal Learning Network (PLN - including Twitter, blogs, and conferences), I have heard of new technologies and new projects to use in the classroom. From my PLN, I learned how to set up my classroom on Canvas, my school's learning management site and have found my favorite interactive websites. See a Camtasia project example below.