****2000-2001 PARKVIEW HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER OF THE YEAR****

Educational Philosophy - Technology Education Philosophy -  Educational Background - Teaching Experience

Educational Philosophy:
   The foundations of my personal philosophy are rooted in progressivism that has an aim to promote social and democratic living with a curriculum that is relevant to the modern world.  As progressivism educator, my ideas tend to be based in the classical philosophy of pragmatism.  A pragmatist is not so concerned with teaching the learner what to think as with actually teaching him or her to critically think.  In other words, teaching is more exploratory in nature than it is explanatory.  All knowledge and skills are usually best learned or developed through personal experiences.  Philosophy is central to the curriculum because it influences the goals, standards, and content, as well as the organization of the schools in general.  I believe that the function of philosophy is the starting point in curriculum development, and that education is the laboratory in which philosophic distinctions become concrete and are tested.  These are the main reasons I chose to become a Technology Education instructor.  I tend to utilize a variety of teaching styles in order to accommodate all learners regardless of their particular learning styles.  Although a well-balanced variety of teaching styles is utilized, I tend to be a facilitator of the learning process rather than just a dispenser of knowledge.  My Technology Education peers would even go as far to say that I incorporate a constructivist style of teaching at times.  The main goal of a Technology Educator is to develop technological literacy as a part of all students' fundamental education through an activity-based study of past, present, and future technological systems, their resources, process, and impact on society. Additionally important is the process of teaching the whole person, not just the curriculum of Technology Education. I am focused on the overall improvement and development of the student for items such as organizational skills, problem solving abilities, technical reading, effective communication skills, and the ability to make ethical decisions of Technology and everyday life.  Technology Education utilizes computer technology and other educational technology in the delivery of content related to systems of communication, energy/power/transportation, production, and bio-related technologies.  Please read attached philosophy on technology education!

Educational Philosophy - Technology Education Philosophy -  Educational Background - Teaching Experience

Technology Education Philosophy:
   Technology Education is an integrated discipline within general education that prepares the student for the future that will require the application of knowledge and the use of resources to meet human needs.  The intent is to improve the quality of life and solve problems while carefully considering the potential impacts (both positive and negative).  Technology Education teaches the student to understand, manipulate, and utilize appropriate technology in their everyday life and prepares the student to be a productive and an ethical member of our rapidly changing technological society. This condition of life requires flexible, adaptable people who have a different type of education as technology continues to grow at an exponential rate.
     The Technology Education activity-based curriculum focuses on the mental processes associated with inventing, solving problems, designing, and innovating. Technology Education is focused on the training of the whole person rather than the training for specific skills for work.  Through this whole person approach and these mental processes, the Technology Education curriculum develops critical and creative thinking abilities related to the development of technology, its products, systems, and organizational structures.  The curriculum encourages the assessment of technological developments and their related impacts and consequences to society, culture, and the natural environment.  This is accomplished through distinct organized content systems such as, but not limited too: Energy and Power, Manufacturing, Construction, Communication, Transportation, and Bio-Related Technologies.  In classroom, laboratory, or modular settings, the student is engaged in meaningful hands-on learning experiences that place that student in a simulated work environment to develop the knowledge, skill, and behaviors necessary for success in the competitive workplace.  Students work individually or as a team when studying technologies to prepare for careers or other post secondary endeavors.
     To become technologically literate, the Technology Education teacher must cultivate necessary skills in the student to display qualities of an informed decision-maker about technologies.  Student awareness is essential to the development and uses of technology in the world around them, since both benefit and harm can be the results.  An active decision maker, or technologically literate student, will be more aware of how different technologies can and have influenced culture once they have been developed, embraced and becomes a part of their daily lives.
    Technology Education provides for academic, technical, and social growth in learners.  Technological literacy is developed through an array of processes, knowledge, and contexts. An interdisciplinary approach involving Technology Education with other disciplines such as science, mathematics or social sciences offers the student stronger opportunities for achieving technological literacy. The main focus of science is analysis -- the breaking down of a problem into its parts - with the objective of discovering the laws of nature.  Taking science courses helps to develop convergent thinking skills.  On the other hand, the essence of technology is synthesis - with the objective of combining separate elements into a whole. By studying technology, one develops divergent thinking skills.  The future calls for citizens who are capable in the use of higher-order thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, and creative abilities that are best acquired through understanding both technology and science.
     Technology Education utilizes a hands-on approach to aid in accomplishing the primary outcome goals of self-directed achiever, complex thinker, innovative producer, effective communicator, and an involved citizen.  A student holding logic-training skills, along with the mental processes that technologists use, can become life long learners that contribute positively to our society and culture.  The ultimate goal for a student who graduates from high school is to be technologically literate. 
     Opportunities in the Technology Education program are offered to all students without regard to sex, race, creed, color, national origin, handicap status, or age. The success of this program is enhanced when a partnership between the home, school, business community exists.  The Technology Education program offers an environment where imagination becomes reality.

Educational Philosophy - Technology Education Philosophy -  Educational Background - Teaching Experience

Educational Background:

Educational Philosophy - Technology Education Philosophy -  Educational Background - Teaching Experience

Teaching Experience: