Dr. Matthew Downing is an experienced educator currently working as a K-12 Supervisor of Online Learning in a large public school district. Dr. Downing is passionate about fostering innovative educational opportunities for teachers and students. He does that through thoughtful hands-on learning experiences. On top of that, Dr. Downing is considering ways to move education forward. Check him out at https://divingdeepedu.libsyn.com/
Trenches story: still there. Life, school, other parts of life. When he thinks about education, so many times. Sometimes, shallow, others deep & need help. Rough day- stressed. Building was chaotic. MS, kids congregating in hall. 1 kid acts like he wants to fight. Another t helped disperse kids. He couldn’t compose himself- called office. Principal came down. Security came, took over class. Principal put his arm around him, they walked around neighborhood 30 m. Princ. checked in later too. Power of relationships. It took the time principal took time to deescalate Matt. Other situation- 1st year teaching, didn’t know if he’d make it. Had him over for meals. Relationship that kept him moving. These 2 principals were very relational but also good leaders. They casted a vision- people would follow.
Currently Interim Supervisor of Online Learning also still: Technology Integration Specialist: Is in urban district, 1500 t’s. St’s can do asynchronous online learning. Can also livestream from CR. They’re allowed to go in & out of all 3- but make the switch at quarter/curriculum. T may use 3 modes. Asynchronous courses make by teachers. Not tricky. Impact of context switching- we often loose time, energy. He’s interested in curating environment. He works w/ curriculum teachers support, families. Works thru some truancy situations.
Diving Deeper Edu & Rethinking Edu (that project stopped) podcasts what is the difference b/w the 2? He’s about to launch into a series on teacher retention. Rethinking more of a project during Ed.D. Rethinking EDU was educational ideas right when pandemic hit- 58 episodes total. Diving deep EDU- focus on tech integration. Spoke w/ ppl from google- now more with people who were successful what make them successful. How ppl outside education view education. Has also spoken with Olympians. Wanted to hear about their competitive lens. Children’s book authors. They help us think about education more in terms of teacher retention. Will be new shift to explore t retention.
Out of everything? Go back to the beginning. think about key relationships. Both with teachers, students, get back to the core. Click To Tweet. Build relationships with students at the core. Big proponent of humility. He wants to bring about change. Isn’t convinced they’re the best.
Where can people find you online? @divingdeepedu, main social is LinkedIn- he has links & resources.
View this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hHVnaXgKOXQ
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