My name is Tanya Washington. I currently teach fifth grade history, sixth grade geography, and I am our school’s vanguard teacher. As vanguard teacher, I strive to provide 21st century educators with technology support and integration strategies that promote academic excellence.
My teaching experiences range from Pre-Kindergarten thru sixth grade. I am blessed to be married to the love of my life for the past twenty-four years and we have two wonderful children. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, horse back riding and learning new teaching strategies that engage students.
Each year, my goal is to create positive learning experiences that support the academic, social/emotional , and cognitive development of each child. I also strive to connect curriculum and content to real world experiences that enhance learning. Through global education and programs like, Know My World, that foster academic and social connections, I am able to meet these goals.
Know My World has helped me effectively meet my global education goals by facilitating opportunities for my students to collaborate, communicate, create, and think critically with other students across the world. By partnering with the experienced professionals at Know My World, through technology, I am connected with other educators around the world to collaborate on projects that are engaging and beneficial. For example, during a past exchange, my students participated with students in another county via Skype. After introductions, students found common ground and collaborated on a research project that lead into each other’s heritage and cultural customs. Students then created keynote presentations about their findings and uploaded the information to google docs, where the information was discussed. Finally, in our final Skype visit, the students discussed the information and new seeds of acceptance and tolerance were planted. Moreover, throughout this exchange, my facilitator helped to alleviate the stress teachers often feel of having to do “one more thing”. He aided me in troubleshooting through technical difficulties. He also provided the other educator and myself with an effective timeline and provided minutes after each of our meetings. The process was stress free and the project was rewarding.
On another exchange project through Know My World, my students and I collaborated with a school in India. However, due to the time zone differences , we were unable to Skype. This is where technology played a paramount role. My fellow educator and myself communicated using an app called Padlet. My students in Texas uploaded their information and our new friends in India responded. The students were also able to add pictures of themselves and their projects. In the final two weeks of the project, we used another video tool called Vimeo. This allowed the students the chance to upload videos of their final projects. The experience was productive. The assistance from Know My World was professional and personalized.
If you are wondering how I began a digital exchange project with my students, here is what I did. I started by asking myself a few questions, what do l want from a global exchange project? Does it align with the curriculum and standards? What will my students take away from this? Then, I signed up for an exchange. It was that simple! The professionals at Know My World assisted me from there.
