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Marcus Twyford

Upper School Computer Science Teacher
B.Sc. Education, University of Tennessee
Certificate, Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT)

Teaching Philosophy

Important Skills I Want to Teach My Students

I want students to learn to be more self-reliant learners, independent thinkers, and problem-solvers. I hope that students learn to ask, “What’s next?” or “So what?” as they learn to go beyond the lesson and think about deeper meanings and where their curiosity takes them about a number of topics. 

Teaching Methods to Reach These Goals

While covering foundations and core concepts, I think it is important to provide opportunities to play, explore, and even test out topics beyond what they have learned. It is even more impactful if they are given opportunities to synthesize their learning into larger, collaborative projects. By taking time to build out gnarly, tangled projects that involve many days or even weeks of work, students are not always looking to check a box, but instead run with an idea or a spin-off of the project that may lead to further, deeper discovery.

My Favorite Projects

I enjoy the odd, silly moments where students really question if they are learning. Take the Fisher-Price train set for example—we made it remote control. Seems easy enough—but students wrote code in three different languages, built more than 20 3-D printed models, soldered together circuit boards, servo motors, and made their own broadcast tower. It was a great example of teamwork and collaboration where teams had to work to meet an end goal.  Was it pretty and smooth the whole time? Absolutely not—and that’s the joy of it. LEARNING IS MESSY…and it should be. And fun, too!

What I Like Best About Teaching at Seven Hills

I love the opportunities to work with others, share ideas, and build on new ideas every year.  We are encouraged to try and explore, and we will sometimes fail. But that’s how we all grow and learn. How can we model new and innovative learning if we don’t practice it ourselves?  Students are always watching. Likewise, they need to see us try new things, explore, and experience great successes and the occasional flopped lesson. But we get up, change course a little, and keep on learning. That’s what makes Seven Hills a magical place.