|
Digital Inquiry Megan Burton Home Learn More Inspiration About the AuthorMy Teaching Philosophy: Trusting the students, the process, and ourselves brings a greater depth and empowerment to our daily interactions.
|
About the Author
My journey and passion for education have developed over 22 years of teaching within Napa Valley Unified School District. I began my teaching career at Redwood Middle School - when State and National Content Standards were a new thing for teachers to work with. Fresh from college, I struggled to understand why it was so challenging for teachers to change their teaching practices. I later took an opportunity to help open a new school in the district, Harvest Middle School. Of the many programs I explored here, few would remain in the district, making it easier for me to to understand why it was so hard for teachers to continually adjust to change. However, I continued to eagerly ask questions and learn practices that could adapt more readily to the needs of students over time. Twelve years ago, I made the biggest decision of my career to teach at River Middle School, a dependent charter school within Napa Valley Unified. I had no idea how much this would change me as an educator and even as a mother. Even though River School is no longer a charter school, we focus on the “whole child,” particularly on students’ own sense of self and sense of belonging. I have appreciated this approach enough to bring my own children to River School, from another school district miles away. Over time, I have learned that trusting the students, trusting the process, and trusting ourselves brings a greater depth and empowerment to our daily interactions with students. As we listen, learn, and seek to grow, we are individually and collectively able to innovate and lead within our educational landscape.
My participation in the Innovative Learning Program at Touro University, with the support of NapaLearns, has prepared me for greater changes in 21st-century learning as educators across our nation are currently reevaluating what education does and should look like for each student. The timing of this program in my teaching career could not have been more challenging nor more timely. As the world of education has turned upside down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, educators around the world face an uncertain future. Through learning more in this program about the pedagogy of technology use, I am able to more flexibly and readily adapt to whatever conditions we will experience in the future.
My participation in the Innovative Learning Program at Touro University, with the support of NapaLearns, has prepared me for greater changes in 21st-century learning as educators across our nation are currently reevaluating what education does and should look like for each student. The timing of this program in my teaching career could not have been more challenging nor more timely. As the world of education has turned upside down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, educators around the world face an uncertain future. Through learning more in this program about the pedagogy of technology use, I am able to more flexibly and readily adapt to whatever conditions we will experience in the future.
|
|
Reflections on your Journey
|
Experiencing the dynamics of the TPACK model as a student helped me push through my own struggles to learn new things. I understood the Pedagogy and used Technology to help me acquire more Content Knowledge. This, along with allowing time for the learning process, allowed me to be more patient with myself and to gain needed insights. As I'm finishing my master's degree in Innovative Learning, I understand that to be innovative, one needs an open mindset, a willingness to try new things, and an understanding of how information and technology can be used to support student learning.
My own understanding and implementation of TPACK in my teaching made the sudden and challenging shift to Distance Learning in Spring 2020 smoother because my students understood the content, how they were to learn it, and technology's role in their learning. As they adapted to new environments in their daily lives, technology was used to support, not drive their education. |
“Technology will never replace great teachers, but in the hands of |
Lasting Learning from the Innovative Learning program
"All of the knowledge in the world is worthless, however, unless it can be used to make things better."
-Bobbe Baggio
All that I have learned from the Innovative Learning program - how to better guide students through their own research, use specific instructional design models to design whatever types of learning the 2020-21 school year will call for, and to continue to have an open mindset while growing in transliteracy - help me to look forward with determination and innovation to the upcoming and uncertain times in education.