Jessica Martorano

October 2, 2015
ED 112/245

Meaning Making Reflection

The way we started our planning for this assignment was firstly to have three separate subsections
of the meaning making to cover a wide array of individual learning styles. Polly, Kelli, and I had

agreed we wanted to cater to the entire classes needs as learners and incorporate each persons
personal taste.
1. Take a few minutes to self-reflect on what your group just went through, the
recording and the pictures posted on Moodle. You can write just a sentence or you
can write a paragraph. How you felt during the activity. (Share with small group)
This question was a way for each person to actually live Katies word reflection. Also, it gave the
learners a time to think about their own growth through Katies provided resources. We wanted
to leave it open-ended with room for each person to explore a different aspect of Katies
activity/resources based on what spoke to them.
2. Take what you learned from Katies actions in your assigned country and
describe how you view her professional identity in that setting. (Write words /
phrases on country outlines. When finished, put in poster. When all countries are
glued on, take a moment to find overlapping themes.)
This gave the chance for small group discussion, for students who learn better and feel more
comfortable sharing in a group discussion. It was important to emphasize the fact that as an
educator your physical job may change based on where you are, but your role as an educator and
the core values that coincide with that do not.
3. Now, take a few minutes to write and reflect about how you can apply what your
group just learned, to yourself as an educator. This can be one sentence or a
paragraph or a picture. *Say youre a teacher in a classroom. You have a student
who has been bullied, or going through depression, or whatever the challenge in

their life may be! Pick a scenario and write about how you can take what youve
learned today and apply it to that situation.*Or lets say youre a physical
therapist. You have a patient who is recovering from a traumatic incident, but
they are needing emotional support from you as well. How could you take what
you learned today and apply it to a situation like that? (Share with class if you
feel comfortable).
This question also really called attention to Katies word of the day, and in my opinion really
gave the ability for each member of the class to truly think about how they can apply what they
learned on their own journey to being an educator. Thus, we wanted to cover not just what each
person learned in classbut also how they can apply it. This really shows how different roles of
an educator go beyond just classroom teachingjust as Katie modeled to us.
These three different techniques were not only a way for each class member to think
about the role of and educator but also the three resources from the three of us for this meaning
making assignment.
Overall, the class reactions and comments went above and beyond what we had
anticipated. Katies role as an educator all over the world really opened everyones eyes to such a
new way of teaching, particularly myself included. Her actions and clear divinity for the work
she does isnt for everyone, but we really strived to make it relatable to how we all can be better
educators. A lot of the comments that were brought up in the class discussion with question 2
were about being brave and open-minded which can relate to profession or situation in life.
These two words I feel truly summed up the whole experience with Katie. I was utterly
impressed by the depth and insight the class discussed, and in particular how long everyones
small group discussions went on. I could hear that they were all still on subject and it made me
truly happy to hear some peoples insights who I hadnt heard too much from when its all one
large class discussion.

When Kelli, Polly and I met first discussed our project we agreed to set a time to skype with
Katie. After hearing her amazing story, all of us were kind of in awe of her and honestly a bit stumped on
what to do. When we met again, we agreed on some general guidelines for things we wanted to include,
such as: multiple platforms (the poster i.e. visual, short response, & long response/drawing) as well as
multiple styles (self-reflection, small group, and whole class). Thus, our three resources which made up
our meaning making assignment were centered on how we could cater to the class as a whole, as well as
how we personally could learn and grow just from our discussion with Katie. The best part of this whole
experience was being able to really lead how the three resources/activities were directed, but allowing the
class to take it where it naturally flowed. This really helped with my own personal goal of releasing some
of my need for control and utilize it in a helpful way. Allowing the class to create their own views and
vocalize what they learned meant that my job was just to facilitate the activity and just help interpret how
what each person learned related to the class as a whole.