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About the Author | Tracy Moskowite
I have worked hard and earned all that I have. I, Tracy Moskowite, am a first generation college grad. I put myself through college after graduating from New Technology High school in Napa. School and learning has never come easy to me. I learned how to learn and I became a teacher to help kids at an early age figure it out for themselves.
I am a math teacher at River Middle School. My focus is teaching students how to teach themselves. Since starting the masters program at Touro University for Innovative Learning and Technology, thanks to Napa Learns there is now validation and research behind how I like to teach. The focus on transliteracy as well as sense-making has given validation that teaching students different tools and focusing on labeling learning techniques is what brings clarity to learning and applying learning.
As a struggling learner myself it was hard to explain what I didn't know or how I didn't understand. As a teacher and as a student in the innovative learning program, I have learned that it is important to know which technique you are using. This inspired my research was knowing the method to understand the content. I have the ability to put myself back into the shoes of a first time learner which helps me to reach my students in a unique and individualized ways. I noticed my students were unaware of the titles for teaching strategies.
I am a math teacher at River Middle School. My focus is teaching students how to teach themselves. Since starting the masters program at Touro University for Innovative Learning and Technology, thanks to Napa Learns there is now validation and research behind how I like to teach. The focus on transliteracy as well as sense-making has given validation that teaching students different tools and focusing on labeling learning techniques is what brings clarity to learning and applying learning.
As a struggling learner myself it was hard to explain what I didn't know or how I didn't understand. As a teacher and as a student in the innovative learning program, I have learned that it is important to know which technique you are using. This inspired my research was knowing the method to understand the content. I have the ability to put myself back into the shoes of a first time learner which helps me to reach my students in a unique and individualized ways. I noticed my students were unaware of the titles for teaching strategies.
Reflections on your Journey
This program has been at the best and worst time in my life. Home life can through in a lot of wrenches to time management as well as ability to concentrate. Professionally as a teacher this Innovative Learning and Technology Masters was an intro to distance learning that we didn't even know was going to happen. The Journey through the program for me can be broken down in a few categories.
Readings : As a teacher you are always wanting to grow. By starting out with Darling Hammond's The Flat World and Education, it was a great way to try and see things from different points of view. I feel that the purpose of this book was to explain some barriers we have to face in the teaching community to help figure out what is a barrier we have the potential to break.
Online Classes : Meeting online in a Zoom Classroom is hard when you are not use to it. Having a computer up in a house where no one is doing the same thing as you can be a difficult thing to manage. Emotionally not doing what others are doing around you and prioritizing what is in front of you takes a lot of control. This was a great way to explore what students have to go through at home once we started Distance Learning models on zoom.
Writing : In any class there are always assignments as a student that feel wasteful when writing blogs that you are unsure if anyone would read or comment on had that feeling. By the end of the program those blogs seem to connect people in addition to giving peers ways to swap feedback and perspective. All the writings throughout the program have been very helpful in the grown of being a teacher and student. The research paper in APA format is by far the most challenging but also rewarding.
Online Classes : Meeting online in a Zoom Classroom is hard when you are not use to it. Having a computer up in a house where no one is doing the same thing as you can be a difficult thing to manage. Emotionally not doing what others are doing around you and prioritizing what is in front of you takes a lot of control. This was a great way to explore what students have to go through at home once we started Distance Learning models on zoom.
Writing : In any class there are always assignments as a student that feel wasteful when writing blogs that you are unsure if anyone would read or comment on had that feeling. By the end of the program those blogs seem to connect people in addition to giving peers ways to swap feedback and perspective. All the writings throughout the program have been very helpful in the grown of being a teacher and student. The research paper in APA format is by far the most challenging but also rewarding.
Home Life : When wanting to be more open and really allowing yourself to drop past assumptions you have the ability to redefine many things. This program has happened as the same time as the COVID-19 World Epidemic as well as an Equality Movement across the United States. When looking at education reform it often comes back to resources. It is clear that Race, Ethnicity, and Culture are the front lines of Education reform. These giant culture shocks to our nation is lending itself to education reform and culturally responsive teaching with an emphasis on smaller class sizes. Which is what teachers have been asking for.
Lasting Learning from the Innovative Learning program ( Journey and Teaching Phil)
My Teaching Philosophy comes from my own experience. Growing up I was not able to speak until the age of 4, in the second grade I was put into special reading classes because I was behind. In middle school I was put into another reading class for the students who were significantly behind in reading based off a test that I tanked. In high school I needed a tutor to teach me how to take tests on reading comprehension. I struggle with depression, anxiety, and ADD, which non were diagnosed until after high school. Having this type of an experience gives me a unique prospective on teaching as I was a student who was not reachable due to my internal processes. "Many teachers working in our classrooms were trained at universities when the coursework focused exclusively on how to teach rather than on how students learn," (Erlauer-Myrah, 2006, p16). I as a teacher focus on how students learn and where they are.This program has been so impactful on my personal journey and how the brain works while learning to support my teaching philosophy.
TPACK reflection
The development of my capstone to my understanding is the process of developing a driving question conducting research and writing a paper while developing final products such as a website, poster, and video documentary. The TPACK model before technology was first people started with content and what is important and why. Then the pedagogy of how should the content to be delivered. Technology was incorporated to maximize the understanding of content in a way that a teacher felt fit.
My research was first wanting to help students to learn on their own how to learn. Through my own hardship of not meeting teacher expectations my pedagogical approach is to be transparent and more equal to students. For example , when you ask them what it means to study it is often answered review vocab and read your notes. In math studying means trying to do the same problem until you are able to successfully do it without help anymore and can explain why. This is a skill that is to be taught by example. A number of students in this age group have unreadable hand writing, as I did at that age, this means that practicing note taking in many forms to find which format works best for them. A number of students prefer an in class note taking method in order to stop and ask questions as they come up. There are students who prefer a prerecorded hand written style and others even more that can take notes on google slides to show progression that are good for studying. I found myself trying to help students map out the need for content but I as a teacher am able to provide a service of helping them discover which methods work best for them. The TPACK is an important way to diversify information and help make it more enjoyable therefore more retain able.
My research was first wanting to help students to learn on their own how to learn. Through my own hardship of not meeting teacher expectations my pedagogical approach is to be transparent and more equal to students. For example , when you ask them what it means to study it is often answered review vocab and read your notes. In math studying means trying to do the same problem until you are able to successfully do it without help anymore and can explain why. This is a skill that is to be taught by example. A number of students in this age group have unreadable hand writing, as I did at that age, this means that practicing note taking in many forms to find which format works best for them. A number of students prefer an in class note taking method in order to stop and ask questions as they come up. There are students who prefer a prerecorded hand written style and others even more that can take notes on google slides to show progression that are good for studying. I found myself trying to help students map out the need for content but I as a teacher am able to provide a service of helping them discover which methods work best for them. The TPACK is an important way to diversify information and help make it more enjoyable therefore more retain able.