My Growth

Summer 2018-  I am taking an online course this summer around Supervision and Evaluation.  It is the first course in the administrative track that i'm pursuing. 
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Spring 2018- I replaced the technology course with an international trip to England!  We visited London and Liverpool during the April break.  We observed 4 schools.  We visited The Studio, Lifescience UTC , and Stockbridge Village Primary in Liverpool.  We visited Aspirations Academy in Twickenham just outside of London.  This experience was transformative in many ways. 

Here is a personal reflection about the trip.
Here is a Pecha Kucha professional reflection about the trip.
Here is the google map I used to plot out destination points and cites to see.
Here is a link to the pictures I took during this trip.
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Fall 2017- Took a Dimension in Assessment and Evaluation course from SNHU.  It was 3 credits and I feel like I was able to take away alot from this course.  Remember, less is more!

See my learning progress document for the insights I've gained throughout this course

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Summer 2017-This summer, I completed a 3-credit course from SNHU called, "Dimensions in Transformational Technology."  Besides learning from the wonderful educators pictured below, the course gave us time to experiment with many new web 2.0 tools.  I learned about the SAMR model and ISTE technology standards.

Here is a link to my transformational scenario
Here is a copy to my daily reflections from the course

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This winter, I completed a 3 credit course in "Dimensions in Learning and Development"  It was a really interesting course that connected many things that I learned as a psychology major with the practical application of being a teacher.  I am fascinated with how we learn and feel like this course has deepened my understanding of this magical process. 
I learned about the Question Formulation Technique that will help students to better create their own questions and guide their inquiries.  As a teacher, it is important to create a well-guided question focus for students.  Here are some tips that I picked up.

Here is my learning document from that course
We explored many ideas throughout this course.  We started looking at different learning theories and believe that each theory has value and can contribute something to educators.  I believe whenever possible that a constructivist approach is the best approach for students to make meaning.  We learned about the Question Formulation Technique and how that can be used within the classroom to provide greater voice and ownership over what students learn.  Connecting this course with our EDGR 610, I think this technique will help foster a more 'negotiated curriculum' with students and increase engagement.  There are many ways that we could know our students and how they learn at a deeper levels.  Just like we did for EDGR640, students should reflect on their strengths and be asked to use them with their learning. We also briefly discussed motivation, creativity and the notion of flow.  The idea that I'd like to learn more about is the mindset of flow.  

There are many theories as to how people learn.  Each theory brings an important component to education and is visible in practice.  Motivation is a key factor in learning. Motivation can be external (my parents want me to...) or it can be internal (I've always wanted to know...)  Educators need to be thoughtful about how they implement rewards.  Rewards do not always have a positive effect on learning as we learned about with the overjustification effect.  Learning is not unique to humans.  Learning happens within many living things in the animal world. 

I am most proud of the growth mindset I am bringing around my skills as an educator.  I feel like all the course work we've done for SNHU thus far has been right where my growing 'edges' are and has applied directly to my practice.  Many of the ideas discussed in this and other SNHU courses have intrigued me to find out more information on my own time.

I feel like I'm better able to use the information I collect from students at the beginning of the year.  All the 'getting to know you' information can really help me and students to personalize their learning.  Personalized learning can be daunting but, through the learning in the course, seems less so.  It's important for me as a teacher to know how each student learns best but it's also important that students have that level of self-awareness. I think this course has also forced me to think more about using rewards and what type of rewards might be better in given situations.  As a science teacher, design thinking is very useful and is naturally woven into my content area.  The new NGSS standards have adopted engineering standards that connect directly with design thinking.  

4. Questions I still have: How does music affect the psychological mindset of flow?  Is there a correlation between brainwaves when people are in a flow state of mind and those who have claimed to have mystical experiences?  Can flow be induced through external factors?  What does the current research say about motivation?

I am currently taking a 3 credit course (fall 2016) in "Dimensions in Curriculum and Management" through Southern New Hampshire.  My final project will be around differentiated learning during an Ecosystem Unit.  Students will choose an ecosystem based on their interests and research information about the important abiotic factors in this ecosystem, a food web that shows producers, consumers and decomposers and how humans impact this particular region.  Students have choice in how they display their research (poster, website, google slides, etc..)

This class has been very helpful in having me reflect on my teaching practice and the nature of the different models of curriculum in general.  I've read many interesting articles and a couple of books for this class (1-Best Practice : Bringing Standards to Life in America's Classrooms and 2-The Passionate Learner).  Every reading has been applicable to my teaching practice in some way.



This summer (2016), I took a 3 credit course in "Leadership and Organizations" by Southern New Hampshire University.  This was one of the best classes I've taken to date.  I learned about my strengths as a leader when I took a leadership survey.  I found out my top 5 strengths are: Input, Intellection, Learner, Responsibility and Achievement.  I also read the Personality Compass and found that my personality aligns with an East-South, which made a lot of sense to me.  These class deepened my understanding of my 'self' and gave me some tools to understand others when working with them.

Some of the products created during this course are:
Leadership Pamphlet

Creating a school-wide vision-Prezi

Start, Continue, Stop reflection

Books I read this summer:
1) "Strengths Based Leadership: And Why People Follow" By Tom Rath
2) "Leading a Learning Organization: The Science of Working With Others" by Casey Reason
3) "Mirror Images:New Reflections on Teacher Leadership" by Casey Reason and Clair Reason
4) "The Personality Compass: A New Way to Understand People" by Diane Turner
5) "Working With Emotional Intelligence" by Daniel Goleman
6) "Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ" by Diane Goleman
7) "Breaking Through to Effective Teaching: A Walk-Through Protocol Linking Student Learning and Professional Practice" by Patricia Martinez-Miller and Laureen Cervone

Actively Reading
7) "Tools For Teaching" by Fred Jones
8) "Building School-Based Teacher Learning Communities: Professional Strategies to Improve Student Achievement" by Milbrey W. McLaughlin and Joan E. Talbert
9) "The 10-Minute Inservice: 40 Quick Training Sessions that Build Teacher Effectiveness" by Todd Whitaker and Annette Breaux

I've also been developing my twitter account.  Come check it out at:
Robert DeCicco@Khaoseverywhere




Other recommended readings:
Personal Development/Science Fiction
1) "How to Think Like Leonardo DaVinci" by Michael T Gelb
2) "No Summit Out of Sight" by Jordan Romero
3) "Wonder" by Raquel J Palacio
4) "Feed" by M. T. Anderson
5) "The Omnivore's Dilemma-The Secret Behind What You Eat" by Michael Pollun
6) "A Canticle for Liebowitz" by Walter M Miller Jr.


General Science/Science Teaching
1)  "Dr. Art's Guide to Science" by Dr. Elliot Sussman (great general science book)
2) "Cartoon Guide to Physics" by Larry Gonick (good high school/college level)
3) "Cartoon Guide to Chemistry" by Larry Gonick (good high school/college level)
4) "Stop Faking It: Chemistry Basics" by NSTA William Robertson (science teaching)
5) "Primary Science" Taking the Plunge" 2nd edition by Wynne Harlen (science teaching)
6) "Engineering Essentials for STEM Instruction" by Pamela Traesdell (science/STEM teaching)
7) "Strange Brains and Genius" by Clifford A Pickover (good general science reading)
8) Here Comes Science CD by They Might Be Giants (great science-based songs by a talented band)

General Parenting/Education
1) "The Passionate Learner" by Robert Fried
2) "A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink
3) "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol Dweck
4) "How to Sign with Your Baby" by Dr. Joseph Garcia
5) "What Every Body is Saying" by Joe Navarro
6) "Fostering Grit: How Do I Prepare My Students for the Real World"

General Education/Teaching
1) "Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching" by Charlotte Danielson
2) "About Teaching: 4MAT for the Classroom" by Bernice McCarthy
3) "Never Work Harder Than Your Students" by Robyn Jackson
4) "Habits of Mind Across the Curriculum" by Arthur Costa & Ben Kallick
5) "Engaging Adolescent Learners: A Guide for Content Area Teachers"
6) "Managing 21st Century Classrooms" by Jane Bluestein
7) "Classroom Instruction that Works" by Marzano, Pickering, Pollock
8) "This We Believe" pt 2
9) "Taming the Team"  by Jack Berckenmeyer.
10) "Understanding by Design" by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
11) "Best Practice: Bringing Standards to Life in America's Classrooms" 4th edition by Steven Zemelan, Harvey Daniels, and Arthur Hyde
12) "Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning" by Michael Schmoker
13) "Middle School Study Skills" by John Ernst
14) "The Middle School Student's Guide to Ruling the World!" by Susan Mulcaire
15) "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School" expanded edition by Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning