When students join the engineering pathway at our high school, they are joining what will become a second family to them over the four years they spend in high school. Oftentimes, students in my career pathways have struggled to find their niche, after being overlooked because they excel academically and don't require extra attention. When my students get to my classroom they are eager to be challenged and never fail to rise to a challenge, surprising even themselves when they accomplish lofty goals. My students truly are change agents, and serve as role models for other students along the way.
My Project
Teaching technical sketching is difficult to do, even when we are in person. When teaching engineering students this key concept, it is imperative to have a clear model of what is expected. Less expensive drawing pad substitutes do not connect directly to Zoom and result in messy images that do not transfer the key ideas of what a clear and clean technical sketch should look like. This makes teaching one of our key concepts, modeling, extremely difficult in a virtual environment.
Technical sketching is one of our first steps toward prototyping a design, it is the foundation on which our design is built.
I would like to request an Apple iPad Pro to allow me to meet the needs of both my in-person and virtual students. Through the utilization of the iPad, I will be able to edit remote student sketches in real time, quickly correcting any misconceptions or mistakes, allowing them to grow their skills at the same rate as my in-person students. iPads are the only tablet that directly connects to Zoom calls with ease, allowing me to open student submitted files and provide them with live feedback during the virtual class, driving home the importance of clear communication in the design process. Should we move to all virtual learning, the iPad will be the only way to for me to effectively reach all of my students on this key engineering concept.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Binkley and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
