(no title)

Student to Teacher Relationships

As I met and talked with Dr. Harapnuik my professor. I really got that sense of teacher to student relationship. I started to think about how easy and comfortable he made me feel in just a short conversation. How important is that relationship? With school just around the corner. Students will be coming into the classrooms with new aspirations and anxieties. As soon as students start to come in the building you have an opportunity to start making those connections. Students will be in the classroom with teachers for 180 days. That means 1260 hours over the course of a school year. Needless to say that relationship is very important.

Students that have strong relationships with their teachers create several benefits. Teachers tend to see higher student academic engagement, attendance, grades, fewer disruptions, and lower school dropouts (Sparks, 2019). I think that we can agree that we want all of these things. Teaching the content isn’t the only thing that you need to be good at. One might say that building relationships is more important than knowing the content. Any new teacher coming into my district, I would stress the importance of relationships. Get to know your students. What are their likes and dislikes? What activities are they involved in? This investment from you will payback ten fold. So take the time in the first week or two to get to know your students. Start to build those relationships.

Resources

Sparks, S. D. (2019, March 13). Why Teacher-Student Relationships Matter. Retrieved August 3, 2019, from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/03/13/why-teacher-student-relationships-matter.html

Why an ePortfolio?

Why an ePortfolio? That was the question presented to us this week. I started to ponder more and more about my own ePortfolio. I want the structure of my portfolio to be functional but yet a representation of who I am. The structure of my portfolio needs to really express who I am as an educator and as a student.

One of the biggest pieces of the portfolio is the reflection. With reflection comes massive amounts of growth. Reflecting on my learning gives me a deeper sense of learning. Reflection is often times over looked as an educator and as a student.

As an educator I need to take more time to do the reflection piece. When teaching lesson after lesson day in and day out. As a teacher I often times forget about the reflection piece. Reflection allows teachers to build better lessons and create better learning opportunities.

As a student it allows for growth of the mind. Thinking about the learning and the process gives way for growth. When I take the time to think about the learning I feel even more connected to my learning. That connected piece allows for me to grow and truly see where I am headed.

Early Portfolio Ideas

As I have been working on my portfolio, it brought back some memories of when I was teaching with another district. In 2006-2007 the school implemented a graduation requirement for all seniors to create a portfolio. Seniors had to create a portfolio that they would share with a panel of people before graduation. Through out their four years in high school they are given several opportunities to explore career avenues. The school brought in people to speak about their careers. Students then reflected on the careers that they have chosen to explore and research. Students also included classroom artifacts from their core classes. They could also included artifacts from any other area that they seem fit.

How does the COVA model fit into all this. Students had the power of choice. They could choose which careers they wanted to research. Students had the choice for what class work they wanted to exhibit. It was up to them to create their presentation how ever they would like. Students had a a great deal of Choice overall. Students could be limited based on what careers the school was able to get to come to the school. Students didn’t always have the opportunity to speak to people in their specific career. With that being said most students were given opportunities to start an early form of networking. Student ownership was at the for front of this project. Students that took this project to heart showed a great deal of ownership. I loved when students did their presentations. You really got to see the students future plans. I loved hearing them talk about how certain projects or assignments impacted them through out their high school careers.

As I start to create my own portfolio, I look to embody the same passion. There are so many ideas that are flowing through my brain. One of my biggest obstacles is getting those ideas to be conveyed on the ePortfolio. As students in this program we are given so many opportunities to demonstrate the COVA model. Continue to follow my progress on my ePortfolio.

Upcoming Presentation

I was asked to do a presentation on how I incorporate learning in my maker space. I jumped at the opportunity to showcase some of the amazing things that my students have done. As I started to look at how I was going to do my presentation; it made me think about the COVA model.

When my students are working on their maker space creations they are involved in the COVA model. I had no idea that they were involved in the COVA model but they were. They are given challenges and each student has a choice. Students must choose how they want to attack the challenge. Students often times come up with some very innovative ideas. The power of choice is a great way for students to showcase their own ideas. This can give them a great sense of ownership in their projects. When students present their projects they start to have an even greater voice. I love seeing students eyes light up when people begin to have conversations about their projects. When students are truly invested in a project they develop a deeper sense of learning and understanding.

So when you are looking for ways to empower students remember the COVA model. It can provide students with a true authentic learning experience.