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About the Author
Hello, my name is Brenna Curtis and welcome to my Capstone Site. I am addicted...to the AH-Ha's of life! I am a native Napan, loving my community and love to travel the world. Recently, I have spent time in South Africa which has been life changing. Reading the words of Nelson Mandela on the walls of schools and township halls I had excited chills constantly riveting my attention to our true intimacy as a big human family. “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” --Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Travel and languages are passions of mine that go well with the deepest conviction that if we can inspire wonder then we, our students, our teachers, humanity can change the world! I am currently the Magnet Lead Teacher and Academic Specialist at Salvador Elementary in Napa, California. We are an Arts Integration Magnet using an integrated Arts Based Teaching program reform model called Artful Learning. For the last 20 years I have taught in NVUSD, grade levels ranging from 2nd to 6th, most of my years in 4th and 5th. I worked for 16 of those years at Napa Valley Language Academy, a duel immersion charter school, which helped me develop as a specialist in language acquisition and overall best practices in teaching, unit design and planning. I am a National Trainer for GLAD – Guided Language Acquisition Design and have trained teachers and administration from around the world. Leadership and program design have always been a part of my professional background and am so excited to be living on the cutting edge of space age education at Salvador where we explore how to use the arts as a foundation to leap into innovative learning and global connections.
Reflections on your Journey
The images of bright, wildly twisting roller coasters come to mind. That feeling of jitters and thrills then the lull before the wild drop. I was excited to begin the Innovative Learning Masters and never lost that energy. Each turn and twist along the way have taught me something unique, especially in stretching my understanding of Instructional Design possibilities. Each class built on itself to help untwist the sometimes overwhelming amount of ah-ha’s I was experiencing. The personal interactions with Dr. Redmond and Martha McCoy brought deeper clarity and helped me discover and define what was meaningful to me in order for me to bring it to a bigger audience. Bringing TPACK into the instructional design mixture at Salvador Elementary will provide a launch pad for the next layer of growth in equitable learning and integration. TPACK is a specific bridge of how we can reach into NVUSD goals at site level. As a roller coaster ride is memorable and sometimes life changing so was this journey through personal, meaning filled learning with our Cohort 6.
Lasting Learning from the Innovative Learning program
There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
My roots and wings grew deeper in Innovative Learning. Beginning with the Flat World of Education by Linda Darling Hammond to wrapping up with Baggio’s Visual Concepts my head was in Vgostsky’s I plus one neocortex mode most of the time and it felt so good! I take away a plethora of lasting learning from this program but most of all I take away a broader vision of how and why we teach, design to educate and an ability to adapt to more learning situations than I ever could have imagined. When we were challenged to explore new digital forms and tools my affective filter sky rocketed but with support and an inquiry based approach I felt safe to ask questions, dig deeper and create new approaches to teaching and learning. I have expanded my understanding and actual skill in using tech tools, especially WEB 2.0 tools, enough so that I can bring it back to our staff for ongoing staff development. Design Thinking, multi-modal learning, blended learning and even flipping the classroom were foreign concepts before this process but now I can speak to them easily and challenge the status quo with greater understanding. I have the tools, pedagogy and experience to bring new, innovative skills and concepts to each arena I step into. Our staff at school has already expressed a great desire for training and big picture thinking to keep our magnet cutting edge. To be able to step into this process feeling confident in some areas and safe enough to make smart failures is my true Capstone.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
My roots and wings grew deeper in Innovative Learning. Beginning with the Flat World of Education by Linda Darling Hammond to wrapping up with Baggio’s Visual Concepts my head was in Vgostsky’s I plus one neocortex mode most of the time and it felt so good! I take away a plethora of lasting learning from this program but most of all I take away a broader vision of how and why we teach, design to educate and an ability to adapt to more learning situations than I ever could have imagined. When we were challenged to explore new digital forms and tools my affective filter sky rocketed but with support and an inquiry based approach I felt safe to ask questions, dig deeper and create new approaches to teaching and learning. I have expanded my understanding and actual skill in using tech tools, especially WEB 2.0 tools, enough so that I can bring it back to our staff for ongoing staff development. Design Thinking, multi-modal learning, blended learning and even flipping the classroom were foreign concepts before this process but now I can speak to them easily and challenge the status quo with greater understanding. I have the tools, pedagogy and experience to bring new, innovative skills and concepts to each arena I step into. Our staff at school has already expressed a great desire for training and big picture thinking to keep our magnet cutting edge. To be able to step into this process feeling confident in some areas and safe enough to make smart failures is my true Capstone.