Facilitator
From "The ISTE Standards" (2018):
Teachers facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement of the 2016 ISTE Standards for Students.
2.6.a. Foster a culture where students take ownership of their learning goals and outcomes in both independent and group settings.
During the 2019 Summer Honors Computer Science course that I designed and taught, I set aside eight hours over the course of two weeks for students to develop their own passion project in the form of a Genius Hour. With this time, students chose to undertake a number of different projects, from developing game mods to scripting a utility tool to creating a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure activity. Students had never experienced this type of inquiry-based learning before and were excited to have the opportunity to allow their interests guide their own independent learning experiences. Click below to view the planning document that was provided to students.
2.6.b. Manage the use of technology and student learning strategies in digital platforms, virtual environments, hands-on makerspaces, or in the field
In the TE 882 course, I developed a training video for my teacher colleagues that explained and demonstrated all of the features for the Jamf Teacher and Student apps. These apps help teachers manage the use of technology by students by restricting access to non-school-related apps and websites, serving students exactly the content they need to complete a lesson activity, and monitoring student questions and feedback. The successful use of this app in conjunction with the Apple Classroom app represents an effective teaching strategy that ensures student technology use remains focused and beneficial to learning.
2.6.c. Create learning opportunities that challenge students to use a design process and/or computational thinking to innovate and solve problems.
Unplugged activities which challenge students to use design thinking, computational thinking, or other problem-solving process are some of my favorites to facilitate with students. Examples of this are outlined below:
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At the 2nd Grade level, I have used gumdrops and toothpicks to challenge students to build a structure that can support a stack of textbooks without collapsing - a good exercise in learning from failure and dealing with frustration.
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In 8th Grade, my students use small pieces of aluminum foil to construct boats that hold pennies without sinking - an introduction to the problem-solving process of defining problems, preparing solutions, trying to implement them, and reflecting on the results.
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At the high school level, I have facilitated activities from Stanford University' d.school such as building a tower with spaghetti and marshmallows and using unique materials to make prototypes of chairs using empathy and human-centered design principles.
Regardless of the activity or age level, I tell my students that in the real world, they will likely not need to know how to do these strange tasks. However, working through them now will help them think about how to understand problems, how to think through potential solutions, how to define success, and how to be resilient when a solution does not work.
2.6.d. Model and nurture creativity and creative expression to communicate ideas, knowledge, or connections.
Throughout my career as a computer science educator, I have used the learning materials and programming platforms of Code.org with the majority of my students at one time or another. At all age levels, my students' favorite activities are ones which allow them to use their creativity to show their understanding. One example of this is in 8th Grade, when students are introduced to interactive programs and animations using Javascript.
Below are some samples of student work.
Below are some samples of my own work:
