Goodin leads the Makerspace lab, a concept in education and learning that is growing across St. Louis and across the country. Because of his leadership and innovation in the classroom, Goodin has earned a lot of positive attention, which is one reason why he was named a semi-finalist for The New Teacher Project’s Fishman Prize for Superlative Classroom Practice.
Goodin was one of 21 applicants out of nearly 800 who were selected as semi-finalists. TNTP’s Fishman Prize website says the award “honors teachers with $25,000 and a one-of-a-kind summer residency, exclusively for teachers in high-need, Title I eligible schools.”
Over the weekend, Goodin learned that although he was a strong candidate, he wasn’t chosen to advance as a finalist. But, he has a positive attitude. “It was an amazing experience!” he said.
Our question-and-answer took place while Goodin was waiting to hear from TNTP. We wanted to learn more about him and his dedication to teaching, in his own words.
Q. What is your background in teaching? How’d you get started?
“I caught the teaching bug in college as a mentor to a middle school Science Olympiad team in the state of Washington. I remember sitting in my dorm room and pulling up our school's degree audit system to see how many credits it would take to add an education degree to my chemistry major. It wasn’t going to be feasible. A friend told me about Teach For America as a route to alternative certification, so I applied. I was placed in St. Louis at Soldan International Studies High School where I taught chemistry.
“At Soldan, I wanted to support student learning with digital tools so I sought out laptop donations and enlisted a group of students to refurbish them for class use. We called ourselves “Tech Army.” Repairing the laptops represented an incredibly difficult but authentic challenge that required independent learning, collaboration and grit. I thought it would take months, but in two weeks, my students had successfully repaired the laptops to be classroom-ready. We then used Tech Army time to venture into learning about circuitry, robotics and programming. Together with Gregory Hill (former director of eLearning and assessment at Confluence) we thought, “What if there was a place where students learned like this all of the time?”
“We co-founded The Disruption Department, a nonprofit organization that provides the platform and resources for students to learn, build and share innovative things, and we piloted the Makerspace at GCAA four years ago.”
Q. In plain English, please explain the Makerspace and how it impacts student learning.
“Let’s meet Tonia, a ninth grader at Grand Center Arts Academy. Tonia is frustrated by her electric blanket. She often wakes up in the middle of the night either too hot or too cold. Tonia uses Design Thinking to solve her problem. She conducts research to build empathy for electric blanket users before defining the challenge: “How might we optimize sleeping temperature?”
“After brainstorming multiple radical solutions to her idea, Tonia converges upon the idea of the Smart Blanket, which monitors the ambient temperature and adjusts accordingly. Because Tonia has access to an Arduino, a small computer, she teaches herself the circuitry and programming necessary to design a working prototype which she tests by simulating different temperatures. Tonia documents the process and submits her idea to the ePals Global Invention Challenge.
“Learning in the Makerspace is student-driven. Our mindset is that when children are told about STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – often times they feel that they are not, cannot be, and do not want to be involved with STEM. In the Makerspace, student choice + authentic audience = meaningful stem learning.
“Makerspace students are so driven to make their products a reality that they learn whatever it takes, such as programming, 3-D modeling, app design, engineering, etc. to make it a reality.”
Q. Why did you decide to apply for the Fishman Prize? Did someone encourage you to apply for the award?
“I was nominated for Fishman a few years ago, but each year, I let the deadline pass before submitting the necessary materials. The process includes an essay, video observation and an unannounced in-person observation.”
Q. How do you feel about being a semi-finalist out of so many applicants?
“It’s a huge honor, and validation of our work as a GCAA community. Visitors to the Makerspace often comment about how willing students are to share their ideas and dare greatly. This level of creative confidence isn’t reached through one class or by one teacher, it’s indicative of the ecosystem students and staff have built here.”
Q. Name 2-3 characteristics or principles that have helped you become a successful educator.
“Design Thinking. Just as my students use design thinking to solve personal, school, community, and global challenges, I’ve use it as an approach to designing classroom experiences. For educators interested in learning more, check out the toolkit http://www.designthinkingforeducators.com/
“The book, Teaching with Love & Logic, by David Funk and Jim Fay guides my classroom management strategies.
“And the book, An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship, by Ron Berger drove me to embed an authentic audience into each Makerspace project - someone beyond me (the teacher who is technically paid to review) for whom students design. Students design for themselves, each other, the school, judges of contests and the public.”
Q. What is it about your work that keeps you interested?
“Students drive the learning in Makerspace, so each day is radically different. Just today, I submitted student entries to the University of Akron Rubber Band Contest for Young Inventors and the ePals Global Invent It Challenge. Yesterday, our students met with the Innovative Technology Education Fund about grant opportunities to fund their innovative ideas for technology. We’re also in talks with folks at Scottrade who are interested in supporting student ideas via funding a Shark Tank pitch competition. Our students are also designing a scale model of the new Arch grounds, identifying areas of improvement for the school and coding apps.”
Q. Quickly, one more time, please explain your connection to Teach For America.