Texas Instruments STEM Award 2013
Purpose: I was one of seven Dallas ISD teachers who were awarded the Texas Instrument's STEM Teaching Award.
Elaboration: The seven science, technology, engineering or mathematics teachers were chosen by principal's recommendation and observation of a panel of educators.
Rationale for Inclusion: The day the judges came, my 7th grade technology applications students were using a rubric to create their own version of an Andy Warhol painting. That lesson was included on our district's Curriculum Planning Guide, but the implementation went so well, it (along with prayer) helped me to win the award.
Elaboration: The seven science, technology, engineering or mathematics teachers were chosen by principal's recommendation and observation of a panel of educators.
Rationale for Inclusion: The day the judges came, my 7th grade technology applications students were using a rubric to create their own version of an Andy Warhol painting. That lesson was included on our district's Curriculum Planning Guide, but the implementation went so well, it (along with prayer) helped me to win the award.
Math Can Take You Places Website Organization
Purpose: I was
blessed to be able to work in the Educational Resource Center of KERA, Chanel
13 (North Texas Public Broadcasting) and develop a supplemental math program for
3rd-6th grade students from scratch that was funded by Travelocity from
2003-2009.
Elaboration: I was initiated into technology design
through trial and error and exhaustive research. I was pushed to imagine how a teacher would
use the materials we created, develop the organization, write all of the site
text and test it in teacher focus groups.
Prior to KERA, I taught elementary math/science.
Rationale for Inclusion: This site represents the beginning of my
formal relationship with technology development. Since my time there, I've
earned my Technology Education teacher certification, now teach technology/robotics
and am pursuing my MEd. in Educational Technology.
Audio/Visual Portfolio from Digital Video/Audio in Instruction Spring 2014
Audio Version of My Educational Philosophy: This I Believe
Purpose: We were challenged to create an audio version of us explaining our educational philosophy. Here is the text version of my educational philosophy.
Rationale for Inclusion: This represents my first time every using Audacity. I was shocked at the level of attention to detail it required to do this well. Little did I know that the more I learned, the more detailed I would become in my productions. This was just the tip of the iceberg that led me to the completed assignments below.
Rationale for Inclusion: This represents my first time every using Audacity. I was shocked at the level of attention to detail it required to do this well. Little did I know that the more I learned, the more detailed I would become in my productions. This was just the tip of the iceberg that led me to the completed assignments below.
Podcast Story: Sharla and Toni's European Adventure
Purpose: I had to write, storyboard and produce a podcast on any topic of my choosing
Elaboration: Before this assignment, I had never even heard a podcast, let alone created one. Dr. Bigenho did a great job providing us with resources to help get us started, such as this series of interviews with Ira Glass from NPR's This American Life discussing the art of storytelling.
Rationale for Inclusion: I learned how detailed you have to be to properly edit audio and how important music is for conveying emotion through this assignment. I also got to formally apologize to my friend, Sharla, for almost letting her die in London because I wanted to finish my pancakes.
Elaboration: Before this assignment, I had never even heard a podcast, let alone created one. Dr. Bigenho did a great job providing us with resources to help get us started, such as this series of interviews with Ira Glass from NPR's This American Life discussing the art of storytelling.
Rationale for Inclusion: I learned how detailed you have to be to properly edit audio and how important music is for conveying emotion through this assignment. I also got to formally apologize to my friend, Sharla, for almost letting her die in London because I wanted to finish my pancakes.
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| Sharla and me hanging out in London during our wonderful vacation. Thank God she survived!:) |
Video:
Purpose: This project is a visual representation of my personal teaching philosophy.
Rationale for Inclusion: This was our very first video challenge and it certainly was challenging. I hadn't yet discovered what functionality I would even need or want in a production software, so I kept running into small snags. I used the YouTube video editor, which worked great for my simple purposes. It was also neat to see on screen all of the tenets I live by every day as an educator.
Rationale for Inclusion: This was our very first video challenge and it certainly was challenging. I hadn't yet discovered what functionality I would even need or want in a production software, so I kept running into small snags. I used the YouTube video editor, which worked great for my simple purposes. It was also neat to see on screen all of the tenets I live by every day as an educator.
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| Click here to view a larger image of the graphic and learn more about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. |
Purpose: This assignment challenged us to use video to teach absolutely anything.
Elaboration: Since I teach engineering and we always have to start with the engineering design process, I thought I would make it fun and catchy. And The Engineering Wobble was born.
Rationale for Inclusion: I learned from the production process that creating a music video adds several more layers of complexity to post-production than creating a standard video. I also learned the importance of having fun on the set, because the joy from my students really shines through.
Elaboration: Since I teach engineering and we always have to start with the engineering design process, I thought I would make it fun and catchy. And The Engineering Wobble was born.
Rationale for Inclusion: I learned from the production process that creating a music video adds several more layers of complexity to post-production than creating a standard video. I also learned the importance of having fun on the set, because the joy from my students really shines through.
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| I had a blast dancing with my students to help illustrate the engineering design process. Click here to watch the video. |
Purpose: Our assignment was to work with a group to create instructional technology videos for a client.
Elaboration: The client requested specifically that we illustrate particular types of searches from Google and that we weave in history somehow.
Rationale for Inclusion: I learned from this project the importance of using varied types of media to convey your ideas to the audience.
Elaboration: The client requested specifically that we illustrate particular types of searches from Google and that we weave in history somehow.
Rationale for Inclusion: I learned from this project the importance of using varied types of media to convey your ideas to the audience.
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| Click here to view the video in its entirety. |
