Essay Question #2 Anser embraces the philosophy that we are a community of life-long learners. What are ways you have demonstrated commitment to professional and personal learning?
Early in my teaching career I came across the book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink. In it, Pink describes the three elements that lead to motivation: Mastery, Autonomy, and Purpose. This idea was such a revelation to me. It both explained my life-long obsession with learning and helped to provide a framework for professional development in my career.
Of the three, I value Autonomy above all others. I seek out unique and alternative approaches to learning and solving problems. This has often made me an early adopter of several current learning strategies such as makerspaces and the use of Minecraft in the classroom. Without in any way disparaging traditional professional development opportunities, I have also chosen more unconventional ones, including spending a week at Brightworks, and innovative school in San Francisco’s Mission District. There, students build their own learning spaces in a vast warehouse space that includes an area for practicing silks and a fabrication laboratory.
In my personal life, I have pursued an interest in coffee to the nth degree, which I’ve leveraged in the classroom by creating a unique project for students and into a business selling coffee while raising funds for organizations that serve coffee farming families. Last April I earned a fellowship to attend the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s annual Symposium and collaborate with the industry’s top professionals.
Early in my teaching career I came across the book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink. In it, Pink describes the three elements that lead to motivation: Mastery, Autonomy, and Purpose. This idea was such a revelation to me. It both explained my life-long obsession with learning and helped to provide a framework for professional development in my career.
Of the three, I value Autonomy above all others. I seek out unique and alternative approaches to learning and solving problems. This has often made me an early adopter of several current learning strategies such as makerspaces and the use of Minecraft in the classroom. Without in any way disparaging traditional professional development opportunities, I have also chosen more unconventional ones, including spending a week at Brightworks, and innovative school in San Francisco’s Mission District. There, students build their own learning spaces in a vast warehouse space that includes an area for practicing silks and a fabrication laboratory.
In my personal life, I have pursued an interest in coffee to the nth degree, which I’ve leveraged in the classroom by creating a unique project for students and into a business selling coffee while raising funds for organizations that serve coffee farming families. Last April I earned a fellowship to attend the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s annual Symposium and collaborate with the industry’s top professionals.