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About the Author Blades: Home Learn More Standards Inspiration About the Author |
About the Author
Hi! And welcome to my digital footprint about education.
My name is Sheri Blades, and I am an elementary school teacher specializing in grades K-2. I landed my first full time teaching position in 2006 and have been teaching since.
I am passionate about foundational skills that lead to a love of literacy. I am also passionate about finding and using the best resources and strategies that I can learn about to better serve my students who are mainly English Language Learners in a Title I school. Despite the odds often being stacked against my students, and often even my school, it has been my goal over the last 15 years to provide the very best education I can to help shape leaders who have the skills and confidence to take on any challenge.
I love inspirational quotes. I often look for and reflect on quotes when I need reminders of my "why" or inspiration to keep chugging forward on what feels like an uphill battle when facing budget or educational challenges. A quote that hangs near my desk is:
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela
It is my goal to show students that despite some of the terrible circumstances they face or struggles they are going through, education is the tool that can elevate them, their family, and our communities.
I enjoy collaborating with teachers and helping whenever I can. I find it very rewarding to have a large network of educators because there is always more to learn and new tools or strategies to try. There's a saying that it's best to surround yourself with people smarter than you! Or if you are the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. So why not, network, learn more, and share more?
If you'd like to read more about my Master's journey, you can check out my blog.
If you have questions or ideas to further my research or want to know more about the Touro/NapaLearns program, please use the contact form below to reach me.
My name is Sheri Blades, and I am an elementary school teacher specializing in grades K-2. I landed my first full time teaching position in 2006 and have been teaching since.
I am passionate about foundational skills that lead to a love of literacy. I am also passionate about finding and using the best resources and strategies that I can learn about to better serve my students who are mainly English Language Learners in a Title I school. Despite the odds often being stacked against my students, and often even my school, it has been my goal over the last 15 years to provide the very best education I can to help shape leaders who have the skills and confidence to take on any challenge.
I love inspirational quotes. I often look for and reflect on quotes when I need reminders of my "why" or inspiration to keep chugging forward on what feels like an uphill battle when facing budget or educational challenges. A quote that hangs near my desk is:
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela
It is my goal to show students that despite some of the terrible circumstances they face or struggles they are going through, education is the tool that can elevate them, their family, and our communities.
I enjoy collaborating with teachers and helping whenever I can. I find it very rewarding to have a large network of educators because there is always more to learn and new tools or strategies to try. There's a saying that it's best to surround yourself with people smarter than you! Or if you are the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. So why not, network, learn more, and share more?
If you'd like to read more about my Master's journey, you can check out my blog.
If you have questions or ideas to further my research or want to know more about the Touro/NapaLearns program, please use the contact form below to reach me.
My Teaching Philosophy
“Our task is to educate their whole being so they can face the future.” Sir Ken Robinson
“Our task is to educate their whole being so they can face the future.” Sir Ken Robinson
I believe every student will show growth if given the opportunity, support, tools and time. Every student walks into the classroom with their own experiences tucked inside them. Each student has strengths and weaknesses so it is my job, as their teacher, to guide and support them through their journey. I work hard to get to know students in order to understand where they are and how to help them rise. I believe that there is more to learning than test scores. Learning should be interactive and memorable in order to engage students to want to show up and try new or challenging things.
Reflections on your Journey
“A school system can never be any better than the teachers teaching in it. If you want to start a revolution in education, make it happen in your own classroom.” Sir Ken Robinson
As I earned my teaching credential, I always knew I wanted to continue my education to achieve a Masters Degree. My journey through the Innovative Learning Program could not have come at a better time but like my students, I’ve faced many challenges getting here. I actually started working on a Masters way back in 2003 but after applying all over northern California for a teaching position and never even landing a job interview, I dropped out of the program so that I could piecemeal multiple jobs to make ends meet. I worked as a substitute teacher during the school day, at a real estate office during the afternoons, then at a customer service call center at night. There was simply no time left for me to continue with my education.
An opportunity for my first teaching position popped up in 2006 and luckily, despite the pink slips and budget cuts, I’ve been blessed to continue teaching. Over the years, as I experienced more as an educator and took on leadership roles, I grew frustrated with our educational system. Even with hard work and additional hours, I felt like I was unable to help all my students achieve their goals within the school year. John Hattie’s philosophy of effect size influenced many of my decisions for strategies that could provide “one years growth in one years time”.
To continue reflecting and improving my teaching methods, I commit to attending as many professional development opportunities that come up. I surround myself with my “Square Squad” thanks to an amazing book study of Brene Brown’s “Dare to Lead” with some colleagues/really great friends at my school. Yet, I still craved more. I needed to and wanted to expand my network even further so that I could learn from other trailblazers and risers. I had considered the Innovative Learning program off and on for a few years.
Then with a push from a colleague in Fall 2019, we both applied and were accepted. BUT there weren’t enough other candidates to create a cohort so we had to wait. Finally, in the Winter of 2020, we got into a cohort. We were eager and looking forward to the start of the summer session and starting collecting the books we would need from colleagues who had gone through the program previously. We were all chugging along and doing what we do, then….COVID hit the world with a powerful and unforgiving blow in March 2020. Without even a chance for goodbyes with colleagues and students, we were thrown into a chaotic, unclear and fully virtual world without the resources, time or training. Unfortunately, my “masters buddy” was a newer teacher and received a pink slip just a week after school closed. She had to apply in other districts which meant she was unable to join me in the program. I was nervous to go through this without her BUT luckily another colleague applied and joined the program. Even more fortunate was that we landed in a fantastic cohort of teachers. I realized even more the importance of networking with a diverse group of educators so that we can inspire and work together to keep improving our teaching practices.
The saying that “everything happens for a reason” has always resonated with me and I feel the timing for my journey into improving my teaching practice was perfectly timed. Much of the learning that happened all summer long about technology tools, educational history and pedagogy came in handy as school resumed. The Innovative Learning Program provided a safe space to learn, be curious, and challenge traditional thinking. In the Fall, the tools we had access to for pandemic teaching actually helped me gather the data needed for my action research project. The timing for writing my literature review and research paper fell perfectly during extended breaks from school. Despite the chaos all around us from the pandemic, the timing for a Master’s was right for me. I was able to put in the time and effort to soak up everything I could and despite also juggling pandemic teaching for two grade levels in a fully virtual format that has never been done before.
An opportunity for my first teaching position popped up in 2006 and luckily, despite the pink slips and budget cuts, I’ve been blessed to continue teaching. Over the years, as I experienced more as an educator and took on leadership roles, I grew frustrated with our educational system. Even with hard work and additional hours, I felt like I was unable to help all my students achieve their goals within the school year. John Hattie’s philosophy of effect size influenced many of my decisions for strategies that could provide “one years growth in one years time”.
To continue reflecting and improving my teaching methods, I commit to attending as many professional development opportunities that come up. I surround myself with my “Square Squad” thanks to an amazing book study of Brene Brown’s “Dare to Lead” with some colleagues/really great friends at my school. Yet, I still craved more. I needed to and wanted to expand my network even further so that I could learn from other trailblazers and risers. I had considered the Innovative Learning program off and on for a few years.
Then with a push from a colleague in Fall 2019, we both applied and were accepted. BUT there weren’t enough other candidates to create a cohort so we had to wait. Finally, in the Winter of 2020, we got into a cohort. We were eager and looking forward to the start of the summer session and starting collecting the books we would need from colleagues who had gone through the program previously. We were all chugging along and doing what we do, then….COVID hit the world with a powerful and unforgiving blow in March 2020. Without even a chance for goodbyes with colleagues and students, we were thrown into a chaotic, unclear and fully virtual world without the resources, time or training. Unfortunately, my “masters buddy” was a newer teacher and received a pink slip just a week after school closed. She had to apply in other districts which meant she was unable to join me in the program. I was nervous to go through this without her BUT luckily another colleague applied and joined the program. Even more fortunate was that we landed in a fantastic cohort of teachers. I realized even more the importance of networking with a diverse group of educators so that we can inspire and work together to keep improving our teaching practices.
The saying that “everything happens for a reason” has always resonated with me and I feel the timing for my journey into improving my teaching practice was perfectly timed. Much of the learning that happened all summer long about technology tools, educational history and pedagogy came in handy as school resumed. The Innovative Learning Program provided a safe space to learn, be curious, and challenge traditional thinking. In the Fall, the tools we had access to for pandemic teaching actually helped me gather the data needed for my action research project. The timing for writing my literature review and research paper fell perfectly during extended breaks from school. Despite the chaos all around us from the pandemic, the timing for a Master’s was right for me. I was able to put in the time and effort to soak up everything I could and despite also juggling pandemic teaching for two grade levels in a fully virtual format that has never been done before.
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Lasting Learning from the Innovative Learning program
“The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it from you.” B.B. King
- I gained knowledge and experience with tools for K-2 students so that I could confidently make decisions on what my students needed and would benefit from.
- I created lesson designs using the TPACK framework to provide memorable experiences for learning English Language Arts that were infused with art and engineering to increase student motivation and access to ELA content.
- Art and engineering wasn’t just selected to be memorable for students. It was selected because art and engineering research proved that it could positively impact students’ language skills and their engagement.
- Technology doesn’t stand alone in nurturing students for future jobs that haven’t even been dreamed of. The jobs of the future will require that students have confidence with multiple Cs: communication, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration.
- Educators and students need to be transliterate which means they are able to get their ideas into others' brains so that they can communicate with anyone and everyone. To shape the leaders of tomorrow, we need to do more than just teach from a scripted curriculum or within the constraints of pacing guides.
Reflections on TPACK
When I started my journey in the Master's program I was a little frustrated with the lack of technology available to my students. Over the years, there were so many projects I dreamed about incorporating that exposed students to current technology but I didn't HAVE the technology. When we began learning about TPACK (Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge), I felt a little left out.
I felt well versed in content knowledge because I've had the benefit of staying in one grade level and having stable and consistent curriculum for many years. Whenever there are changes in curriculum, I've noticed it takes four to five years for me to fully understand and implement all the various aspects into a well oiled machine. Luckily things have been stable with content.
I felt I had a solid grasp on pedagogy because I invest in professional development and put in effort to reflect on my teaching practices. I'm open to learning more and evolving my methods and strategies based on what I learn and read.
Where I fell short in the TPACK framework was technology. Not because I'm not tech savvy but because my students didn't have regular access. Over the years we had a shared computer lab where the sole purpose of coming in was to work in a specific mandated program to improve reading or language. Eventually the lab closed and we had a small bank of shared desktops. Again, the "allowed purposed" was devoted to this mandated program. Just in the last year, which was interrupted by the pandemic, we finally evolved and were able to have iPads. Again, the iPads were for the reading software program. Every now and again, I would find an opportunity to expand our iPad use to creating an animated penguin who taught it's listeners facts about penguins. Or have students record a presentation for a culminating project about teaching a moral to a problem our class was having. But those opportunities were few and far between. Other obligations to sticking to the core language arts and math curriculum took precedence.
A silver lining to the COVID-19 Pandemic forcing schools to close and pivot into virtual learning was that every student now has a device AND wifi access became accessible and tangible. My students now have access! That was a HUGE step towards technology equity. Now I can intersect pedagogy, content AND technology. Now my students actually have an opportunity to BE 21st century scholars and leaders. The possibilities for my students has increased exponentially simply because they have now been given access. I am so excited to watch this cohort of students evolve as they grow through the grades while at my site. The glass ceiling got SHATTERED! I pray that students will get to keep using these devices so that we can continue providing access not just while in school but open the possibilities to what could be done at home.
My goal when things settle and we someday are allowed to return to campus in a more traditional schedule will be to keep the technology skills and experiences gained in our future lesson designs. I don't ever want students to lose access or the skills that emerged from this unprecedented experience.
I felt well versed in content knowledge because I've had the benefit of staying in one grade level and having stable and consistent curriculum for many years. Whenever there are changes in curriculum, I've noticed it takes four to five years for me to fully understand and implement all the various aspects into a well oiled machine. Luckily things have been stable with content.
I felt I had a solid grasp on pedagogy because I invest in professional development and put in effort to reflect on my teaching practices. I'm open to learning more and evolving my methods and strategies based on what I learn and read.
Where I fell short in the TPACK framework was technology. Not because I'm not tech savvy but because my students didn't have regular access. Over the years we had a shared computer lab where the sole purpose of coming in was to work in a specific mandated program to improve reading or language. Eventually the lab closed and we had a small bank of shared desktops. Again, the "allowed purposed" was devoted to this mandated program. Just in the last year, which was interrupted by the pandemic, we finally evolved and were able to have iPads. Again, the iPads were for the reading software program. Every now and again, I would find an opportunity to expand our iPad use to creating an animated penguin who taught it's listeners facts about penguins. Or have students record a presentation for a culminating project about teaching a moral to a problem our class was having. But those opportunities were few and far between. Other obligations to sticking to the core language arts and math curriculum took precedence.
A silver lining to the COVID-19 Pandemic forcing schools to close and pivot into virtual learning was that every student now has a device AND wifi access became accessible and tangible. My students now have access! That was a HUGE step towards technology equity. Now I can intersect pedagogy, content AND technology. Now my students actually have an opportunity to BE 21st century scholars and leaders. The possibilities for my students has increased exponentially simply because they have now been given access. I am so excited to watch this cohort of students evolve as they grow through the grades while at my site. The glass ceiling got SHATTERED! I pray that students will get to keep using these devices so that we can continue providing access not just while in school but open the possibilities to what could be done at home.
My goal when things settle and we someday are allowed to return to campus in a more traditional schedule will be to keep the technology skills and experiences gained in our future lesson designs. I don't ever want students to lose access or the skills that emerged from this unprecedented experience.
Want to know about my journey through graduate school? Or read about my research evolution?
Then click on the book to read all about it!