鈥淚 give them a minute to just get everything situated,鈥� says the Orange County Public School teacher, 鈥渁nd we normally do a bunch of reading in the morning.鈥�

Among their books of choice: If You Only Knew What Failure Could Do 鈥� the elementary school educator and two-time 麻豆原创 graduate鈥檚 newly-released children鈥檚 book that鈥檚 inspired by her failures as a student to empower readers to overcome their own.

Failure is not an option. Why not? Who says so? Giessuebel believes failure is inevitable and wants children to have a healthy relationship with it. Only then will they learn the strength they achieve from failure is something they can only get from failed experiences.

Here Giessuebel shares more about聽her career in education, journey to becoming an author and the important message within her first book.

I was destined to teach.

I’ve always had a passion for working with children. I actually got inspired to teach by my first-grade teacher who’s a character in my book, Mrs. Daniels. 麻豆原创 is really known for its , so there was no doubt when I graduated high school that I would go there because I knew the quality of education and the quality of professors that I would have would be unmatched to any other university.

The road to becoming an educator was rocky.

I was always never good at taking tests my whole life. I almost gave up teaching because I couldn’t pass the state exams. My brother has been a heavy supporter of me wanting to go into education. I remember when I didn’t pass some of the certification exams, he paid for my retakes without me even knowing. He was a huge part in how this failure has come to not be a failure anymore, but instead my testimony, my story. Without people like him, I don’t think I would be where I’m at today.

I feel the buildup of testing pressure in my own classroom.

It鈥檚 frustrating. In education today we see there’s so much pressure on these tests. I see students struggling with testing anxiety. They could be a straight-A student but not pass a test and then are told they can’t move on to the next grade. I鈥檓 trying to change that narrative. I鈥檓 open to talking about failure with my students. I tell them that we all are going to fail. I think it’s a balance between communication, encouragement and transparency as an educator to a student. It’s all about relationships and them knowing that I don’t value a test over them.

When I could write a book about anything, I chose to write about my failures.

I’ve always been super determined in life to not just be a teacher, but be a teacher with a purpose. I actually saw another educator write a book with children鈥檚 illustrator Diana McDermott. I was looking at the book and thought, “Why can’t I do this? I have a story to share.”

My 32-page children鈥檚 book is inspired by real life events that I’ve gone through. A boy named Thomas, who’s named after my brother, is called upon to read out loud in class. He has all this confidence as he’s reading, but then comes across a word that he doesn’t know. The fear of failure takes over him until his teacher, Mrs. Daniels, tells him that everybody fails and shares her own struggles with learning and needing a tutor. Through his teacher, Thomas gets to see failure from a different lens and realizes that it isn鈥檛 a failure, it鈥檚 just a learning step to get you to where you need to be.

It was pretty clear on my heart what I wanted to write about. Diana loved the story and believed in my vision, and that’s how the book was born. At first when I told my students that I was an author, they were like, “Oh, are you famous now?” No, I鈥檓 not famous, but look, an actual book came out of my failure. It鈥檚 proof that good things do come from hard times.

What has failure taught me? To believe in myself.

I was always never good at taking tests. But when it really mattered to get my degree at 麻豆原创, my failed experiences taught me that I can do it. I had to believe in myself because I’m the one taking the test. If everything was easy and we never got anything wrong, we’d never grow. So I think my failed experiences have built perseverance, resilience, strength and this unshakable belief in myself that I can do hard things. I’m proud of the failures, and now I’m not ashamed to talk about them. I hope that I can share this message with others: that we should be talking about our failures because we have something to learn from them.

This past summer, teachers from East River High School, Wekiva High School, South Creek Middle School, and Mollie Ray Elementary spent time alongside Associate Professor of Physics Adrienne Dove and her team of undergraduate and graduate students at . Dove is working on a NASA-funded experiment (Strata-2P) aimed at understanding the mechanical interactions between particles that make up granular materials, such as rock, sand, and dust, in variable gravitational accelerations, including those on the moon, Mars, and asteroids.

鈥淥ur research has applications to planetary surface studies, such as those focused on the moon and asteroids, and is relevant to both human and robotic exploration missions, such as the upcoming NASA Artemis and VIPER missions,鈥� says Dove, who has had various experiments fly aboard parabolic aircraft and private rockets in the past few years. 鈥淭he results of the Strata-2P experiments will offer insights into how the geometry of the grains, like shape and size, and varying gravitational effects contribute to how granular materials pack and settle during planetary exploration activities. We鈥檒l be exploring different tools and techniques to interact with those surfaces.鈥�

NASA plans to land astronauts on the moon鈥檚 south pole by 2024. It would signify the first time Americans have gone back to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission of 1972. For the past several years NASA and commercial space companies have been working to get a spacecraft and supporting equipment in place to make the mission a success. Figuring out how to minimize the impact of space dust on the spacecraft, instruments and people is among the many challenges scientists are facing as part of the mission. Dove鈥檚 area of expertise includes studying these dusty interactions on planetary surfaces.

Dove knows first-hand that involving high school and college students in hands-on research is a great way to prepare them for the workforce. Research that can easily tie into a problem NASA or private industry is trying to solve is a great motivator for students, she says. But having classrooms of students in the lab just isn鈥檛 feasible. Dove worked with 麻豆原创 physics instructor and former high school teacher Adam LaMee to develop the Teacher-in-Residence program as part of this project. The program helps classroom teachers get a taste of space research, which they can then use to craft lessons and activities for students across different levels and backgrounds.

Over several weeks this summer, local teachers were able to participate in a range of activities in the lab from programming microprocessors, conducting image analysis using Python, generating data analysis and visualization, and fabricating devices needed for Dove鈥檚 research. They will continue interacting with the lab throughout the school year as the project progresses and they implement the lessons into their curriculum. They will also participate in the bi-weekly science team meetings (held virtually to accommodate the distributed team) and the planning process for the flight. The participants will receive stipends for their efforts and the teachers may also get a chance to fly aboard a zero-G flight with the 麻豆原创 research team later this year.

鈥淚 was beyond excited to have the opportunity to work with graduate students on an important project that is testing real world scientific data,鈥� says Shelley Bullard, who teaches at South Creek Middle School. 鈥淭he fact that the projects actually go up into space makes it even more exciting. I鈥檝e also interviewed undergraduate and graduate students in the lab so that I can show my middle school students how interesting the physics projects are and to give them an idea of what they can become in this field. I believe they will love the projects and may be encouraged to choose science careers as a result.鈥�

Dove and LaMee will be in touch with the participants throughout the school year to offer expertise as the teachers develop activities. They鈥檒l also want to hear how the activities translated in the classroom. The teachers are chronicling the project on a 聽to bring the content to a wider audience.

鈥淚t was fun meeting them and getting started,鈥� Dove says. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e brainstormed some really creative ideas, so it鈥檒l be awesome to see what they develop for their students. For me it was really a great learning experience so far because I鈥檝e never directly worked with K-12 on a project like this before. But having the opportunity to help teachers ignite the imagination and passion for science, I鈥檓 all for that.鈥�

A year before the first students arrived on the then Florida Technological University campus in 1968, he came to the university to draft the operating plan for the College of Education’s undergraduate program. As founding chairman he also began recruiting faculty and establishing the academic majors in the college鈥檚 departments. (FTU was renamed 麻豆原创 in 1978.)

Through his 麻豆原创 career until he retired in 1995, he remained active in all developmental phases of the college, including creating masters and doctoral programs, obtaining program accreditation, and acquiring grants to improve the quality of teacher-education programs.

鈥淗e was a forward thinker,鈥� says Chuck Dziuban, director of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Research Initiative for Teaching Effectiveness, who was Hall鈥檚 research assistant at the University of Miami before being recruited as part of the FTU faculty.

鈥淗e thought FTU was the prototype university of the future. One day he just said he was leaving to go to FTU because of all of its potential,鈥� Dziuban says.

Hall was born in Midland, Ohio, the son of Harry and Florence Hall. After serving four years in the Army during the Korean War, he left the military as a first lieutenant and became a high school mathematics teacher in Dade County, Florida.

He and his wife, Velma, were married in 1951 and had three children: James 鈥�77, Tom 鈥�80 and the late Nancy (Hines) 鈥�84, all of them 麻豆原创 graduates while he was working at the university, and four grandchildren.

鈥淒ad came from a farm and moved out to Chuluota, Florida, in 1971 and we just grew up enjoying the outdoors,鈥� Tom Hall says.

鈥淒ad was proud of FTU and its evolution into 麻豆原创 to where it is today. Hard to believe how far it has come in such a short amount of time.鈥�

Prior to coming to 麻豆原创, Hall worked at the University of Miami for 10 years, his first assignment as an assistant to the dean of the College of Education. Hall continued his graduate studies and received his Doctor of Education from the University of Florida. He returned to Miami in 1961 as a faculty member serving as supervisor of secondary student teaching and director of the South Florida School Desegregation Center.

He finished his service at 麻豆原创 with five years of teaching during which time he also supervised student teachers in Central Florida’s public schools. In 1998, he was awarded the status of professor emeritus in recognition of his distinguished service to the university and his contributions to improving education in Florida.

鈥淭he goal is to promote as much independence as possible for the child while they are learning basic programming skills.鈥�
鈥� Rebecca Hines

The project is funded through a $2.5 million Stepping-up Technology grant from the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 Office of Special Education Programs. The grant will be split with UCP, with 麻豆原创 receiving almost $1 million. The team was selected from a national pool of applications, and only two grants were funded.

The goal is to create a national model that can be replicated in urban, suburban and rural communities.

鈥淔or students with autism, communication is a primary area that needs intervention. Students with autism struggle with communication skills and, as a result, it鈥檚 often hard for them to make friends and to be as fully independent as their peers,鈥� says Rebecca Hines, associate professor of exceptional student education and one of the co-principal investigators.

Technology is a medium that children on the autism spectrum enjoy. 鈥淰ideo and technology are more predictable and less noisy,鈥� says Hines. 鈥淧ersons with autism have a need for structure. The real world is unpredictable. If I watch a video and then hit replay, I know exactly what I鈥檓 going to get the next time.鈥�

Students will wear a watch-like device that monitors the users鈥� biometrics. It will be used to determine the level of stress and comfort while the student is using the 麻豆原创-created artificial intelligence program, Zoobee鈥檚 World. The artificial intelligence program will be delivered through a portable room outfitted with a mirror, a small social robot and a screen to display Zoobee, the avatar character that looks like a teddy bear.

Zoobee will provide instruction on how to code while modeling social skills.

鈥淶oobee will model appropriate social skills and interactions 鈥� constantly 鈥� so that the student receives all of the instructions through the avatar,鈥� says Hines. 鈥淭he goal is to promote as much independence as possible for the child while they are learning basic programming skills.鈥�

During the first year of the study, the team will work with third- through fifth-grade students with autism spectrum disorders and other disabilities at one UCP school site in Orlando. Eventually the study will scale up to include 10 schools across Florida, including eight UCP campuses in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties.

In the later years of the grant, the team will work with two rural schools through their partnership with the Institute of Small and Rural School Districts.

鈥淭he rural piece is important here because we know that the kind of technology in this project would take so long to make it out to a rural school, and even then, they wouldn鈥檛 necessarily have the resources or the training or personnel locally who could help them run this,鈥� says Hines.

How Will the Study Work?

The project involves three phases. In year one, six to 10 students will work with Zoobee as the team finalizes all aspects of the artificial intelligence to help the students program the robot and monitor their facial expressions, says Lisa Dieker, a Pegasus Professor of exceptional student education, Lockheed Martin Eminent Scholar Chair and co-principal investigator on the grant.

鈥淭his is a unique and new way of looking at how to develop social skills in kids with disabilities.鈥�
鈥� Ilene Wilkins

In the second phase, Zoobee will support students with disabilities as they coach a peer without a disability through the programming process. This second stage of the project elevates a child with autism, who may traditionally struggle with communication and emotional regulation, to the spot of a leader among their peers, explains Hines. 鈥淚t鈥檚 actually highly motivating for that person. It will change the dynamic in the classroom. They will be going from using those nonverbal skills initially to using even more elaborate communication skills to build relationships with other people.鈥�

In the third phase, the artificial intelligence avatar, Zoobee, will be available on the students鈥� personal device during their mathematics instruction. 鈥淭he goal is to provide a virtual artificial intelligence coach for the student in STEM-related areas from coding to mathematics instruction,鈥� explains Dieker.

鈥淭his is a unique and new way of looking at how to develop social skills in kids with disabilities,鈥� says Ilene Wilkins, principal investigator and the CEO of UCP of Central Florida. 鈥淭he idea that we鈥檙e going to be able to look at some best practices, some new ways of looking at how we impact kids, is always exciting.鈥�

Wilkins says they鈥檙e also excited to have a model that can be replicated throughout their campuses and eventually reach even more students beyond UCP of Central Florida. In addition to providing most of the sites, UCP will also prepare teachers to work with the technology for the project.

鈥淲hen we鈥檝e completed the study, we should be able to take the patterns we鈥檝e found and make a difference for kids who struggle with social-emotional executive functioning connections,鈥� says Dieker.

The final part of the project is creating an open-access website detailing their work, all of which 鈥� including Zoobee 鈥� will be available for teachers to use.

鈥淭his idea of creating something that can be distributed is the cornerstone of this project. UCP of Central Florida is a great sandbox for us because we can build it there, but the main goal is to be able to make the same kind of difference we do locally with one school with schools nationally,鈥� says Hines.

—

The other researchers from 麻豆原创 include: Charles Hughes, Pegasus Professor of computer science and co-director of the 麻豆原创 Synthetic Reality Lab, and Kathleen Ingraham, program director of the 麻豆原创 Center for Research in Education Simulation Technologies.

Lisa Dieker joined 麻豆原创鈥檚 faculty in 2003. Her primary research interests involve the collaboration between general and special education. She focuses also on opportunities for students with disabilities in the STEM fields in urban and rural settings. Dieker received her doctorate in special education and curriculum and instruction from the University of Illinois.

Rebecca Hines joined 麻豆原创鈥檚 faculty in 1999. Her primary interests involve working with students with emotional-behavioral disorders, preparing leaders in special education, and incorporating innovative and practical uses of technology in the classroom.聽She co-led the team to create UCP of Central Florida鈥檚 charter and has served as distance learning coordinator for the school during the COVID-19 pandemic. She received her doctorate in curriculum and instruction of teacher education and special education from the University of South Florida.

This is important as first-generation college students make up about one-third of undergraduate populations but are more likely to not earn their degree than their counterparts.

鈥淎s universities become more digitized, my research team and I wondered how well do universities share support services for first-generation students online?,鈥� says Amanda Wilkerson 鈥� 16 EdD, study co-author and an assistant professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 College of Community Innovation and Education. 鈥淓ssentially, how much time would it take for a first-generation student to locate information specifically for them, that could assist them academically?鈥�

To find this out, the researchers performed a content analysis of websites of 14 higher education institutions located in the Southeast U.S. that are part of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, one of the largest organizations of urban metropolitan institutions. 麻豆原创 is not part of the coalition and also was not part of the study.

They chose metropolitan universities because of their large populations of first-generation students.

To collect their data, they performed a search for 鈥渇irst-generation鈥� on the institution websites, which took them to the Home, About Us and Financial Aid pages.

However, the first-generation information from those locations was not easily assessible or in a central location, says Lynell Hodge 鈥�16EdD , the study鈥檚 lead author and assistant director of assignments for 麻豆原创鈥檚 .

鈥淲e found there were gaps in information that resulted in a first-generation student having to click around quite a bit to locate information,鈥� Hodge says.

The researchers recommended universities create a landing page specifically for first-generation college students as one way to reduce the number of clicks and make information easier to find. They also suggested providing content that helps prospective students determine if they are 鈥渇irst-generation,鈥� as many might not be familiar with the term.

Marcus Frazier is a first-generation college student from Baltimore and a graduate student in 麻豆原创鈥檚 . He says challenges he faced as an undergraduate student at Bethune-Cookman University were lack of resources and financial support, issues that became even more apparent when out-of-town family emergencies occurred.

He says some of the most important resources for first-generation college students are those for scholarship and grant opportunities.

鈥淪ome first-generation students are first-generation college students because their parents may not have been able to afford college or finish,鈥� Frazier says. 鈥淚 believe this is extremely helpful for financial matters.鈥�

Emmanuela Pierre Stanislaus, associate director of Career and Talent Development at Florida International University鈥檚 College of Engineering, also co-authored the study. Hodge and Stanislaus were first-generation college students themselves, and Wilkerson was a first-generation graduate student.

Wilkerson received her doctorate of education in higher education and policy studies from 麻豆原创 and joined 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education in 2019. Hodge received her doctorate of education in educational leadership and policy studies from 麻豆原创 and joined 麻豆原创鈥檚 Housing and Residence Life in 2007.

Rougeux is one of 20 OCPS teachers who will graduate this week with a Master of Education in K-8 Mathematics and Science, returning to their classrooms with the latest strategies for teaching elementary and middle school students. An additional 78 Orange County teachers remain in the program and will graduate during the next two years.

What Rougeux and her fellow teachers in the program won鈥檛 have at graduation is any educational debt. An endowment from Lockheed Martin and funding from OCPS cover tuition and fees for the master鈥檚 degree program, which was designed to bolster science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, retain current teachers and build the talent pipeline.

鈥淭his program is incredibly vital in filling the intense need for capable STEM teachers in Florida and across the nation,鈥� says Tom Mirek, a vice president of engineering and technology at Lockheed Martin. 鈥淟ockheed Martin invests in master鈥檚 degrees for educators because we believe in the power of teachers to inspire the next generation of students who will become tomorrow鈥檚 engineers, scientists and technologists that鈥檒l shape the future of our world for decades.鈥�

For Rougeux, a fifth grade teacher at Lake Como School, the dream of getting a graduate degree seemed financially out of reach. She has fostered 11 children in the last five years, ranging from infants she cared for less than a week to siblings who lived with her for two years. 鈥淚 could not have afforded to pay a babysitter and take classes,鈥� says Rougeux, who is in the process of adopting a 4-year-old boy she鈥檚 been fostering.

To be eligible for the program, teachers must teach in an elementary school or teach math or science in a middle school. Priority is given to those in Title I schools, which have high concentrations of underserved students, and who will commit to continue teaching for at least three years after earning their master鈥檚 degree. The program comes at a time when Florida is focusing on increasing student math scores, a move that should help prepare students for what is projected to be a 10 percent growth in STEM jobs nationally between 2018 and 2028.

鈥淭his partnership speaks to Lockheed Martin鈥檚 long-term vision for increasing STEM professionals in our community. Training high-quality math and science teachers is an investment in our instructors as well as students for years to come,鈥� says OCPS Superintendent Barbara Jenkins 鈥�83 鈥�86MEd 鈥�96EdD. 鈥淭he opportunity for our teachers to further their own education helps OCPS keep talented and experienced teachers in the classroom.鈥�

While other states have programs offering financial support to the teacher-talent pipeline, they鈥檙e primarily for undergraduate degrees, according to Pegasus Professor and Lockheed Martin Eminent Scholar Lisa Dieker, who heads the 麻豆原创 program. 鈥淔ree degrees to elevate you in the profession are not common,鈥� Dieker says.

The six-semester program takes two years to complete and is taught by a dozen 麻豆原创 faculty members in math and science specialties. The classes alternate between two locations 鈥� 麻豆原创鈥檚 main campus and Carver Middle School 鈥� to make them as accessible as possible to the teachers, who attend two nights a week. The classes supplement the science and math coursework that鈥檚 not included in a general elementary education degree, as well as encourage student-driven learning and teacher leadership skills.

Graduating teachers 鈥渟hould be the 鈥榞o to鈥� person in their schools and in the district, and they should be the advocate and voice for learning in math and science in their schools,鈥� Dieker says.

Rougeux, a 17-year teaching veteran, has already seen an impact in her classroom. 鈥淎 lot of what I learned 20 years ago is not relevant,鈥� she says. She鈥檚 teaching students to understand the math and not just memorize it. 鈥淭here鈥檚 that 鈥榓ha鈥� moment when they realize they understand the concept,鈥� says Rougeux. 鈥淚 tell my students 鈥� I don鈥檛 want you to have that moment in college, I want you to have that now.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 really changed, I think, who I am as an educator,鈥� says Jessica Granahan 鈥�10, a fourth grade teacher at Lawton Chiles Elementary School who will also graduate in December. 鈥淚nstead of just standing in front of the room and showing them what to do, we鈥檝e learned to be more facilitators in the classroom. We assign students tasks and let them talk things out. We walk around the room and use questions to gauge student understanding.鈥�

Every member of Granahan鈥檚 class achieved a satisfactory performance score on the mathematics portion of the Florida Standards Assessments, something she attributes in part to what鈥檚 she鈥檚 learned in the program. Granahan, who majored in English language arts education at 麻豆原创, was named her school鈥檚 2019 Teacher of the Year and expects to graduate with a 4.0 GPA.

Providing scholarships for teachers pursing master鈥檚 degrees is one of two programs offered through the Lockheed Martin/麻豆原创 Academy. A second program, Transition to Mathematics and Science Teaching or T-MAST, is an accelerated graduate program designed to prepare science and technology professionals currently in the work force to transition to middle school teaching positions. 聽Since the Academy began in 1992, more than 560 students have received varying degrees of financial support to continue their education. The latest group of 98 is the first to have all the costs covered.

鈥淲e鈥檙e making sure the kids in our communities think differently about careers in STEM,鈥� says Dieker.聽 鈥淎nd I believe we鈥檒l see that even more in the future.鈥�

I have devoted my research career to trying to understand and influence teachers鈥� beliefs about students and learning. Time and time again in my research I have seen deeply rooted misunderstandings subvert well-intentioned efforts to improve the classroom learning environment.

Consider these examples from my 20+ years of observing public schools:

• A math teacher, known for being creative and focused on problem-solving, solves the problems for her students to keep 鈥渙rder鈥� in the classroom. This same teacher believes it鈥檚 fine when students fail her algebra class because grades should fall on the 鈥渂ell curve.鈥� The misconceptions here are that an orderly classroom equals learning and that a description of ability in the general population (the bell curve) should be applied to classroom instruction. Instead, classes ought to be focused on content mastery (100 percent success) rather than innate ability distribution (50 percent of students below the average score).
• A school renowned for its student-centered approach has a few teachers who shame and control students, yelling at them when they step out of line, calling them names when they are unruly.
• A school that鈥檚 considered progressive that doesn’t know what to do with its low socioeconomic students who find their way to that school, so they end up on behavior plans or stuck in the hall playing with staples in the bulletin board rather than inside the classroom learning.
• An 鈥淎鈥� school that makes students sit the entire lunch period in silence rather than talking with friends because the teachers do not know how to handle the noise level in the cafeteria.

The common denominator in these scenarios is one of control and power. As a parent and an educator, I, too, struggle with these issues with my own students and my own children. How much should we control kids, and how much should we allow them to have a voice in their learning?

As I reflect on these issues, I have started to formulate my 鈥�10 Commandments of Teaching鈥� that I think should be the starting ground for good instruction.

To be clear, I’m not blaming teachers here. Teacher professional development is woefully inadequate and underfunded in most schools, and mentoring programs are rare or superficial. 聽Plus, teaching is an onerous, heavily regulated, poorly compensated profession that adds greatly to teacher stress and leads to high teacher turnover and lack of qualified candidates for hire.

These draft 鈥渃ommandments鈥� are my attempt to set a minimum level of professionalism in the classroom. And I think they are suitable for all levels of instruction, from preschool through graduate education. I welcome thoughts, additions, or revisions as I continue to try to sort out how to help students have positive learning experiences in their lives.

10 Commandments of Teaching

1. Learn everything you can about your students. Work with their personalities and interests to help them capitalize on their strengths and shore up their weak areas.
2. Give students reasonable choices about their learning and how the classroom operates.
3. Be prepared for class but be flexible to capitalize on teachable moments.
4. Have activities with multiple entry points for those at different skill levels.
5. Avoid the shallows; go deep rather than wide.
6. Give students extended time to work on meaningful assignments.
7. Find ways to highlight the good in each of your students. Encourage them to develop their best selves.
8. Treat your students with dignity, kindness and respect, even if聽they don鈥檛 treat you that way.
9. Keep your personal life out of the classroom.
10. Most of all, remember that you hold so much power over your students: Wield it wisely. Wield it kindly. Wield it to bring out the best in them.

And, teachers, thank you for taking on an often thankless job in a world that needs you desperately.

Michele Gregoire Gill is program coordinator of the 麻豆原创鈥檚 education doctorate in curriculum and instruction and is a professor of educational psychology in the Department of Learning Sciences and Educational Research. She can be reached at Michele.Gill@ucf.edu.

The 麻豆原创 Forum is a weekly series of opinion columns presented by 麻豆原创 Communications & Marketing. A new column is posted each Wednesday at http://today.ucf.edu and then broadcast between 7:50 and 8 a.m. Sunday on W麻豆原创-FM (89.9). The columns are the opinions of the writers, who serve on the 麻豆原创 Forum panel of faculty members, staffers and students for a year.

I go to a great school. There’s no market for private schools in my rich Westchester, New York, suburb because the local schools are fantastic. The high school has a planetarium. The middle school has an Olympic-sized pool. Still, my classes are all mostly the same.

The teacher stands at the front and teaches, through lecture, activities, sometimes even games. But the classroom is tightly controlled, and students have no voice in what they are learning or how they learn it.

My social studies teacher is very good 鈥� I learn a lot of history in his class. He teaches me how to conduct research by identifying subtopics on index cards, then writing all the key facts I can find about each topic on cards related to that topic. At the end of the project, I have a fat stack of cards I can barely hold, and a solid foundation for a good paper on Andrew Jackson.

I begin to question the complacency I have had about my life.

The high school is even better. My ninth grade social studies teacher is unlike any other teacher I’ve ever had. I come alive in his class, begin to question the world and my place in it. He has us choose protest songs about the Vietnam War and analyze the lyrics. We watch Walkabout, an Australian film about the survival of two stranded children in the outback, and analyze the symbolism hidden throughout this disturbing film. I begin to question the complacency I have had about my life.

For our research projects, he lets us select our own among an abundant list of topics. I choose to analyze the tenets of Confucianism and how this philosophy shaped ancient cultures. In English class, we get to choose how to represent our understanding of To Kill a Mockingbird. I write a Ballad of Mayella Ewell from the perspective of Boo Radley. I do a good job; I care about this project. It sticks with me, even 35 years later.

So, if my middle school gave me a strong foundation in academics, my high school set me free to become deeply curious about the world.

When we move to Florida, the quality of my schooling declines, though I have a handful of really good teachers here, too. My 10th grade English teacher allows us to pick a major project that incorporates various techniques she’s taught us (sonnets, research, analysis), and I write Sonnet of Myself that is appropriately inward-focusing and poignant for a 15-year-old on the cusp of self-discovery. My 11^th grade English teacher, though, apologizes for assigning us a superficial three-page paper, as even this is too much to expect of us.

I’m now a mom of two boys, and through them I’ve witnessed good teaching and poor teaching, great schools and awful ones. The same undercurrent exists, though 鈥� this idea that we have to control children and make them learn according to our agenda. It’s even worse than when I was a kid, in this era of high-accountability and testing-saturated classrooms. There are so many reforms proposed to increase student achievement or engagement 鈥� inquiry learning, collaborative groups, differentiated learning, technology-based instruction.

And yet, to me, as someone who has spent much of her lifetime exploring questions related to schooling, I think they all miss the mark. We become so focused with single-pronged solutions that we miss the bigger picture 鈥� the overall end of education: What do we want our students to be like as a result of their school experiences?

I ended up becoming so fed up with the difficulty of improving schools via teaching teachers that I created a school where the culture would be different, focused on what really matters in education rather than on Band-Aid reforms.

It comes down to deep respect of each child and providing them with opportunities and guidance to nurture their unique gifts and talents…

And what does matter? It comes down to deep respect of each child and providing them with opportunities and guidance to nurture their unique gifts and talents in service to the problems that exist in the world. Sure, skills must be taught, too, but always in the context of authentic projects and endeavors related to big, important ideas. And school activities must engage students; learning independent of engagement does not stick, does not last. High expectations are critical, but they must be unique to the individual; not a rigid standard all must achieve, but a particular student’s best efforts.

I think we overcontrol and undervalue our students in the United States and that is to the detriment of each child and to our greater society as a whole, as all the underdeveloped talent lies dormant, unused 鈥� unless you happen to be the privileged child able to attend an exceptional school or someone who has parents able to engage them in meaningful extracurricular learning opportunities.

But this is what schools are for, and they are for ALL students, not just the privileged few, and we are wasting their potential. It’s not enough to create one good school. What is needed is a paradigm shift in how we think about education. Two of my colleagues and I want to be part of that conversation, so we created the Center for Creating and Sustaining Innovative Schools, which is part of the 麻豆原创 College of Community Innovation and Education.

It is time to create schools that are places of true excitement and passion for our kids 鈥� not just for them, but for the greater good of the world.

Michele Gregoire Gill is program coordinator of the 麻豆原创鈥檚 education doctorate in curriculum and instruction and is a professor of educational psychology in the Department of Learning Sciences and Educational Research. She can be reached at Michele.Gill@ucf.edu.

The 麻豆原创 Forum is a weekly series of opinion columns presented by 麻豆原创 Communications & Marketing. A new column is posted each Wednesday at /news/ and then broadcast between 7:50 and 8 a.m. Sunday on W麻豆原创-FM (89.9). The columns are the opinions of the writers, who serve on the 麻豆原创 Forum panel of faculty members, staffers and students for a year.

Carlos Gual, an instructor in COHPA鈥檚 Athletic Training Program, collaborated with Christopher Blackwell, an associate professor in the College of Nursing, to come up with the curriculum for the training.

鈥淭he AT program director reached out to me and asked if I鈥檇 be interested in partnering with Athletic Training to conduct an IPE simulation with their students and the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner students,鈥� said聽Blackwell, who is an advanced practice nurse and holds a PhD in public affairs. 鈥淎nd I said yes.鈥�

鈥淚t was great,鈥� added Gual. 鈥淵ou could see the eyes on both sides opening up and appreciating what the other side of the profession does.鈥�

Gaul selected students from the newest athletic training cohort to give them a chance to practice their newfound knowledge.

Junior Alaina Locus is one of the athletic training students who attended and appreciated the opportunity.

鈥淚t gave me an opportunity to review the stuff we just learned, so I could be better prepared to do this in the real world,鈥� she said.

Jenn Leuzinger, a nursing student, thought it was a great opportunity to learn and simultaneously practice what was being taught in the classroom.

鈥淭his event was beneficial due to its well-planned format: an overview provided at the beginning, the opportunity to apply proper technique and management in a variety of scenarios, followed by a debriefing of each one along with some feedback,鈥� she said.聽鈥淎lthough the scope of information provided is specific, the importance of it in regards to injury prevention is significant.鈥�

Gual said the success of the program has prompted him to consider hosting the event annually. 鈥淭o be put in a setting to know what happens when the patient leaves you, it better equips you for the situation.鈥�

Both Locus and Leuzinger agreed that they would participate in similar trainings again. 鈥淚t gives you a different perspective and a different learning environment to put your skills to the test,鈥� Locus added.

During this year鈥檚 Hour of Code, students, faculty and staff members and the community will see exclusive 鈥淪tar Wars: The Force Awakens鈥� footage and learn about the computer coding that鈥檚 involved with sci-fi films. Then, they鈥檒l be challenged to write their own line of code using their cell phone, tablet or laptop.

Hour of Code is a national movement to bring awareness to coding. More than 100 million students created a computer code during last year鈥檚 event, which President Obama also participated in.

麻豆原创 is one of the more than 156,000 Hour of Code host sites from more than 180 countries. 麻豆原创鈥檚 event will start at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8, at the Education Complex Gym.

The event will be led by College of Education and Human Performance Assistant Professor Megan Nickels.

Prior to joining 麻豆原创, Nickels volunteered as an educator at a children鈥檚 hospital in Peoria, Ill. She saw firsthand how critically and terminally ill children such as those with cancer struggled with understanding math, so she introduced programmable robots that can be coded by the kids into her lessons.

The robots are named Dash and Dot, and they鈥檙e produced by Wonder Workshop. Children use tablets to code the behaviors of the robots, and teachers use the robots to expose children to STEM principles in a fun and interactive way.

While working on her Ph.D. in Chicago, Nickels studied how robots like Dash and Dot impacted the children鈥檚 understanding of math and overall well-being. She found that when the children were working on math with the robots, their blood pressure went down. The children also reported having less of a chemo brain or feeling foggy or forgetful while they programmed the robots.

Children from BASE Camp Children鈥檚 Cancer Foundation in Winter Park鈥攚here Nickels currently volunteers鈥攚ill be at Hour of Code to share how the robots are helping them learn.

Hour of Code is free and part of the College of Education and Human Performance’s Computer Science Education Week.