Page 124 - Resources and Support for the Online Educator

Teacher Tip

Ashley Naranjo

Making connections across disciplines allows learners to view any unit of
study from different perspectives while uncovering its complexity and depth.

I have connected with fantastic people who ended up being great assets in
my teaching.

While these connections are valuable for students, they can be even
more so for educators because they can help us learn what new areas
and technologies to pursue. STEAM is not a static curriculum, so effec-
tive STEAM teachers must follow innovations and adapt their curriculum
with regularity, especially when it comes to addressing technology that is
continuously developing.

Sharing Success

Great learning is not enough to build a terrific STEAM program. Sharing
that learning and its successes has become a necessity, and outreach also
builds connections and creates opportunities you might not otherwise
have. A strong STEAM program should communicate regularly with the
school body or institution, the local community, and the worldwide STEAM
community. The role of a teacher may start in the classroom, but it should
spread through the community to be successful. If you take for granted that
the wider audience understands why STEAM learning is important, you
may miss an opportunity to build advocacy and understanding.

Great STEAM teachers need to share the positive things their students
do in class, whether it’s asking interesting questions, being a good collab-
orator, or even going back to the drawing board after a tough failure.
Promote students for doing well but also for failing well, learning from

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