I am here

I realize that each post I have made has some visual embedded, but I am a connector. I connect questions, observations and new ideas to what I know. Isn’t that what all learners do? When I read the post prompt of “Where are you?” I know that Professor meant in the course, but I immediately had a flash of Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot. “The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage (Sagan,2011) .

Where am I? I am at a point in my teaching profession where I am aware of the disparity between best practice and what is being practiced in most classrooms. I watched the presentations of Grooms, Ragan, Oakly, Capponi and all of the “Rock Stars” of the educational world and I was inspired. I want every student, from kindergarten to doctoral student to experience an engaging and inspiring educational environment. Bowen spoke about creating significant learning environments through information ideas, experiences and reflection. As a teacher I need to have the courage to push our profession to embrace and acknowledge the teaching profession as the portal to our futures. We have the knowledge and ability to reform a system that can be used as a vessel to inspire lifelong learners, thinkers, and innovators. We have so much information at our fingertips and we are learning how to teach individuals to access that information to make informed decisions and ask questions to reveal a higher level of understanding across contents.

So I am here, designing a course to help families understand Autism Spectrum Disorders. My course is packed full of information, but it is only a tiny slice of information that is available. I am overwhelmed with making the course flow for each learner, with presenting each module to engage all the senses, in evaluation and in the ability to provide students feedback once the course begins. What I am observing is I have put a lot into my course and it is like a plate of spaghetti. I need to clean it up and use the course manual as a recipe to refine this course. My goal is to create an appetizing presentation that inspires my students and feeds their hunger for knowledge. This knowledge is not just on content, but in discovery of tools that will aide in the quest of future knowledge.

Heather (4)

 

Sagan, C., & Druyan, A. (2011). Pale blue dot: A vision of the human future in space. Random House Digital, Inc..

1 thought on “I am here

  1. hlowen

    Heather
    Love your blog! It is so engaging! How do you embed all those graphics? Just no time to really explore how to do things in our edublogs. Way to busy! I responded to your comment on my blog, on my blog. I just wanted to confirm that will see my response.

    Thanks!
    Hedy

    Reply

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