By Janessa Bretner
I will effectively collaborate with colleagues to ensure STEM is infused within our curriculum and will work towards improving my own knowledge of relevant technologies.
My Teacher Professional Growth Plan this year is centered on collaboration and learning new skills focused on using the technology at STEM Innovation Academy. I feel very grateful to be part of a passionate, diverse, and knowledgeable professional community of educators of whom I can learn so much from. Creating the Science Fair Awards for this year was the perfect project to help me meet my professional learning goal.
- Mr. McWilliam and Mr. Butler gave the idea to use my PD funds to take a day at the school to learn about Adobe Illustrator and how to use the Laser Cutter.
- Mr. McWilliam also taught me how to properly use a drill and gave advice throughout the designs of the awards.
- Mr. MacDougall took a half day to show me the basics of Adobe Illustrator, Globeforge and how to use the laser cutter. He also 3D designed the spacers between the plaques and 3D printed them.
- Mr. Acheson took time to teach me how to use the Jig Saw to cut Acrylic. He also gave the idea of spray painting the acrylic taken from designing the coins for their social studies game.
- Mr. Manuel Jones taught me how to properly spray paint acrylic and helped with spray painting the backs of the plaques.
This truly was a collaborative project and I was very happy with the final results of the awards! They took a lot of time, but I feel I learned a lot in the process. Thank you to everyone who helped out. I look forward to sharing my knowledge now with the Chess Team as they would like to create their own awards for their tournament!
STEMIA Journal 