Dream It 1.

0
Increasing Teacher By In To
STEM

2014
Leslie M.
Armstrong

Dream It 1.0
Increasing Teacher By In To
STEM

2014
Leslie M.
Armstrong

Introduction
When asked to create an effective plan of action to cause change in the
framework of my school, I immediately began to turn back the pages of this
past school year. The work of reflection sets up a wager of vulnerability
against pride. One is vulnerable because you must admit shortcomings and
disappointments. Pride is an easy page to turn because it often symbolizes
accomplishments and accolades. In order for me to commit to crafting a
dream I must first admit shortcomings and accomplishments. As the pages
turned I realized that some were full and the meanings were clear yet others
were murky and lacked content. The murky pages were colored by my
abrupt change in teacher responsibilities; in two months, I traveled from
classroom teacher to an out of classroom school specialist. 17 years of being
the queen of one classroom management, a quiet innovator and the
champion of high test scores was a pattern I understood. It was clear that I
needed a change in duties but being selected as a STEM specialist was a
total paradigm shift. I was now responsible for moving an entire school in a
new direction; one that was not connected to test scores, but linked to
improving pedagogy and curriculum. Moving from a quantitative to a
qualitative platform was a very different plateau.
Turning back to shortcomings I can see clear pattern of my repeated actions.
Knowing that literacy is such a grand portion of our day, I should have begun
with providing professional development or deliberate unit construction that
focused on integrating the STEM framework across the content areas. This
action may have provided ease of transition from instrumental to the
relative. I also needed to provide a comprehensive structure of gradual
release of the co-teaching responsibilities. For teachers that continuously
were unprepared or lacked the confidence to facilitate STEM in their
classrooms; I created units, taught the lessons and allowed them to appear
as bystanders. Moving beyond using technology as a means of substitution
was also a major shortcoming. I had knowledge of how to create Stop
Motion films, Windows media movie maker and communication platforms
such as Edmodo. We did indeed have the technology to support such
activities.
Introduction

Dream It 1.0
Increasing Teacher By In To
STEM

2014
Leslie M.
Armstrong

Rippling the pages of accomplishments is a much easier task. I was able to

secure out school STEM experiences for students and teachers at local
museums. STEM career day was a great success. Our students had the
opportunity to interact with individuals that spanned the STEM spectrum;
from music engineers to cosmetology. There were also various opportunities
for students to participate in STEM modeling, construction challenges.

In the appendix of my book of reflection I find entries that should be entitled

Mixed results. In our population of teachers and students there were a few
individuals that were exceptional STEM prodigies. In the continuum of
instrumental to relational; they are very near the median mark; a mix of both
strands. This cannot wholly be considered an accomplishment with the
exception being the minority. Development of a STEM team of educators
within the school was beneficial in regards to special events and serving as a
Think Tank. However I did not develop their potential beyond those
elements.
Content Based Problems
STEM is a loaded acronym. Each letter represents a challenge for seasoned
teachers and novice teachers alike. S for Science is seen Sudden teacher
failure . Teachers are afraid that their lack of or unfamiliarity with Science
content renders them ineffective educators in that particular subject. T is
for Too Much to Learn. Moving from utilizing technology from entry to
transformation would require sequential commitment to focused training
and represent actual application of this new knowledge. The letters also
represent an integrated approach. This too can seem daunting; when one is
fearful that some prescribed bite of learning may be lost in the process of
cross curricular lesson development; especially in the teaching of
mathematics. Infusing inquiry is viewed as a malicious character that may
cause children to lose control if their minds are not fused to their teachers
mental synapsis.
Skills or understandings as a result of transformative process of
technology integration

Dream It 1.0
Increasing Teacher By In To
STEM

2014
Leslie M.
Armstrong

Use of technology should be utilized to move students and teachers into a

global digital community. What does this look like? The digital look will be
students and teachers communicating, collaborating, reflecting and
executing dynamic research within the school house and beyond. A great
purpose of this action is to develop a network of educational and socially
responsive partnerships. Students and teachers will have the opportunity to
explore other cultures and viewpoints. These actions can then reflect back
into the classroom as enhancement of content knowledge for students and
teachers. The platforms of exchange may be blogging, or video conferencing
or with administrations permission texting Cycling back to an entry in the
section entitled Content Based Problems Video conferencing and blogging
would greatly reduce infringement on valued planning time that teachers
lose to professional development. Using these platforms will also empower
the relationship between parents and teachers. Working from nine to nine is
a reality for most parents. They are unable to not only assist with homework,
but in school conferencing is not an option. They will not have to wonder
How is my child doing? Communicative platforms will encourage
professional growth and pathways to reaching and teaching parents.

Students and teachers must go beyond the chatter within the digital cloud,
but use technology to express themselves in alternate ways. Video
production, music composition, digital storytelling, illustrating or any
compilation of the previous examples are ways to express their creativity. In
addition to producing creative artifacts, students and teachers must share
this work within their digital communities. Being able to show and tell across
the digital stream encourages the collaborative spirit and gives one a sense
of pride as their work is accepted and recognized by common minds or
contrasting cliques. This acceptance may cause individuals to continue
development and refinement of their works. Refinement could produce
innovation.
Suitable Technology ; What's best as opposed to other options?

Dream It 1.0
Increasing Teacher By In To
STEM

2014
Leslie M.
Armstrong

The choice of devices is based on availability and time of day. Within our
building we have, IPads, tablets or laptops. All of these devices can be used
for development of documents, creation of media and verbal communication.
These devices are also portable. PCs would not be helpful because they are
stationary. The platforms for communication would be Twitter, LinkedIn,
YouTube and Weebly. These platforms are easy to manipulate and manage.
The branding of these sites encourage real time opportunities for exchange
of ideas and are accessible to all. I would not encourage the use of
Facebook because of its often used for personal and unprofessional means.
I am sure that I will also utilize music competition websites such as Party
Cloud

Process and Assess

Since many of our teachers are quite intrepid when it comes to technology, I
would need to first provide professional development. During this time,
teachers will demonstrate their new knowledge and collaborate with
colleagues on how to translate this contextually to students. Prior to
observing how teachers express this new knowledge within the framework of
their classrooms, I would need to create a collaborative rubric for
professional growth. This document would need to be created with teachers
to vest and engage them in the learn, apply, and reflect cycle. This process
of professional development and observation, whether it is local and remote
would continue until the frequency, has achieved consistently measurable
means.

Dream It 1.0
Increasing Teacher By In To
STEM

2014
Leslie M.
Armstrong