Bracken_EOL5_Evidence of Collaboration and Engagement
My membership in a learning community includes many channels including Facebook, websites, magazines, and now this wonderful class! Since I have very little experience in the education world I need a class like this to teach me words like “pedagogy” “didactic” and “constructivist.” These are terms used regularly in my day but I never thought to ask anyone about them.
I work inside an instructional building where most people here have over 7 years experience as a teacher. Most have even more! I’m one of the few hired without experience and one of the few without a master's degree. Just me and the janitors.
During lunch I sit next to teachers who are experts in their field of english, science, math, and other exotic specialities like special education, research data, and our second chance department. We chat about current trends in education and where our district is going to reach the next generation. I love to hear different departments make connections with how their speciality relates to a different person’s job and how they overcome problems.
My favorite magazine right now is HD Video Pro. It goes in depth talking about current trends of high definition technology and creating videos. On the cover of the June 2016 issue they highlight movie production gear, virtual and augmented reality, and financing films. Since my bachelor’s degree is in Radio Television from SHSU I feel a closeness to the video production world even though I’ve never been on the set of a professional video production. I have over 10 years experience in news video production and I just started with this school district last summer to make videos. I love the education industry, my aunt, ex-wife of 10 years, cousins, and best friends all are teachers. I feel a closeness to this industry and how it impacts the public. I have a personal pro-bias with Texas education. It’s the best despite being outranked by other states. (US News 2016) We talk regularly about Texas education system and its impact. My ex-wife is a private school teacher but agrees that Texas public education has much better resources for special education than her school.
At my ex-wife and son’s school they have an advance academics curriculum like our Klein ISD school district. It is future and technology based. They shared a post on July 22 called “3 Ways Pokémon GO Can Create Meaningful Learning Opportunities” (http://bit.ly/29V1RBC). A citizen in the comments section said that there’s no reason to bring electronics into the classroom and “away” from reality. I responded and the school responded that the school is looking to be innovative while maintaining balance. They also said keeping technology away from school only “further distances our children.” Then they linked to an article from the Head of School about setting family time together. Having a resource like my son’s school’s facebook page keeps me in touch with what the school is doing to advance academics and attract future top students.
My next learning community is also courtesy of Facebook. I used to manage a City’s TV station that broadcasted to the local city through Comcast and also streamed online for free. When I first started I never had worked for a city before and all its special requirements for meeting rules set by the city, state, and federal government. (The list is literally a mile long, single spaced.) I called myself a government employee first and a video producer second. I realized my email and my department account were public records and every decision was second guessed. I joined TATOA and their amazing membership group as a way to help me navigate my new role and responsibilities. I won a national award from the parent company NATOA for a video we made.
This group posts to our closed community on Facebook about current trends.
At my work we have a program called Transform Academy and I helped make a video highlighting one classroom that is taking full advantage of this program. (Frank Elem Transform - https://kleinflix.kleinisd.net/show?video=40b1d81d0ced) I followed a teacher for half a day and got video of her kids using the touchscreen chromebooks, explaining her differentiations strategy, and showing using online collaborative software like Google Docs. This program requires a lot of collaboration in our department of Campus Instructional Support but also with the schools. Each kid is allowed to sit in a spot that is most comfortable for them. This teacher at the 1:33 mark highlights a learning subject as her students are sprawled across the room but you can tell they’re focused on the lesson. Her quote at the end best sums it up “to make good teaching come to life.” We have Transform Academy training sessions throughout the year for these teachers that explains how to they can lead change in their classroom with digital learning.
How States Compare in the 2016 Best High Schools Rankings (2016, April 18) Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/articles/how-states-compare
Frank Elem Transform. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://kleinflix.kleinisd.net/show?video=40b1d81d0ced
The Village School Facebook Page. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/thevillageschooltx
