Annotated Transcript
Below are the courses I completed during my journey to receiving my
Master of Arts in Education (MAED) from Michigan State University.
ED 800, Concepts of Educational Inquiry
Spring Semester 2022
Instructors: Steven Weiland and Nathan Clason
In this course, I explored using educational inquiry for topics such as philosophy, psychology, curriculum, cultural difference, history, and technology. For each topic a number of hypermedia tools were used to educate and at the conclusion of each unit there was an assessment of understanding through a written assignment. During this course, I was able to practice each stage of inquiry using the ideas of John Dewey and E.D. Hirsch Jr., Vivian Paley’s experience as a teacher in her book The Girl with the Brown Crayon, the culture of the Maori in the film "Whale Rider," A Passion for Learning: The Education of Seven Eminent Americans by Philip A. Cusick, an evaluation of curriculum based on Howard Gardner’s ideas of educational virtues, and the influence of technology on education. These tools, alongside written scaffolded lectures to guide my learning, allowed me to immerse myself in these various types of educational inquiry
TE 836, Awards and Classics of Children’s Literature
Spring Semester 2022
Instructor: Alecia Beymer
In this course, I learned about the various awards given to children’s literature pieces (such as the Caldecott and the Newbery medals) and the and analyzed recipients of earlier years to recipients of more recent years. This course encouraged me to learn about these awards from differing perspectives through the use of articles and gave me the opportunity to engage with various types of children’s literature. I also completed a series of multimodal responses to gauge an understanding of the content for various articles. I analyzed what makes a piece of literature a “classic,” and as a culminating piece for this course, I created a lesson aligned with a piece of children’s literature that I found to be a classic and would teach to my students.
TE 846, Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners
Summer Semester 2022
Instructor: Raven Jones
In this course, I learned to use data to build instructional paths for the needs of specific learners. For the duration of this course, I worked with an 11th grade learner and began by completing a pre-assessment of their skills. Once the pre-assessment was complete and the areas of need were identified, I used the resource Best Practices in Literacy Instruction (sixth edition) by Lesley Mandel Morrow, Linda B. Gambrell, and Heather Kenyon Casey to build a set of lessons to assist the student’s needs. Once the series of lessons were completed, I gave the student a post-assessment to evaluate their new level of understanding. This course guided me in research-based practices and scaffolding learning for literacy instruction.
CEP 841, Classroom and Behavior Management in Inclusive Classrooms
Summer Semester 2022
Instructors: Troy Mariage and Alyssa Uher
In this course, different strategies and data-driven practices for classroom and behavior management were explored. This course provided me with the tools to explore classroom and school-wide management systems such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) systems. This course also encouraged me to explore support for learners with special needs and considerations through the creation of a research presentation for a special need of my choice. Through the lectures and assignments in this course, I learned how to best support the learners within my classroom and implement a healthy and inviting classroom community.
TE 842, Elementary Reading Assessment and Instruction
Fall Semester 2022
Instructor: Laura Tortorelli
In this course, I learned about various types of literacy assessments to guide instruction for students. Using these assessments and Best Practices in Literacy Instruction (sixth edition) by Lesley Mandel Morrow, Linda B. Gambrell, and Heather Kenyon Casey, I analyzed sample student data and chose best literacy practices to best fit the needs of the student. Through the duration of this course, I completed two student data analysis projects which gave a description of the learners needs based on their assessment evaluation and presented various activities for their two highest areas of need. Additionally, I participated in a book club using the resource Inside Information: Developing Powerful Readers and Writers of Informational Text Through Project-Based Instruction by Nell Duke to learn more about project-based learning in connection to informational text instruction.
CEP 802, Developing Positive Attitudes toward Learning
Fall Semester 2022
Instructors: E Wong and Dr. Marissa Zhu
In this course, I learned about data-driven practices to create a classroom environment that supports student motivation. I explored the use of the TARGET model and how to increase motivation for a specific learner. As a culmination project, an analysis of a learner with a decreased motivation was completed for the semester. During this project, I was required to identify a learner with a motivational problem and use the TARGET model to create a path to increase the student’s motivation. Following the analysis and plan of change, a reassessment of the student’s motivation was completed. This course allowed me to explore how to increase student motivation by making learning more enjoyable and inviting.
TE 849, Methods and Materials for Teaching Children’s and Adolescent Literature
Spring Semester 2023
Instructor: Laura Apol
In this course, I learned about the various purposes and possibilities for children’s and adolescent literature within the classroom. This course allowed me to explore literature for topics such as multicultural literature, in addition to different styles of children’s and adolescent literature such as picture books, poetry, and graphic novels. This course also gave me the tools to analyze criteria for a well-created piece of children’s and adolescent literature. After these explorations and analysis for various pieces of literature, a culminating paper of the purposes for literature and its importance for children was created using ideas learned throughout the course.
TE 838, Children’s Literature in Film
Summer Semester 2023
Instructor: Laura Apol
In this course, various children’s literature and film pairs were explored as their own artistic pieces. Beginning with a guide of how to “read” a literature piece and how to “read” a film, written assignments were completed with an analysis of each piece as their own creation with their own interpretations in alignment with how they compare and contrast to one another. Film pairs for literature pieces such as Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl were used to explore how filmmakers use this form of storytelling to provide a unique perspective. At the end of the course, a culminating piece was created to display our learning of how to teach children’s literature and its matching film pair to students.
CEP 818, Creativity in Teaching and Learning
Fall Semester 2023
Instructor: Candace Robertson
In this course, I explored the seven components of creativity (perceiving, patterning, abstracting, embodied thinking, modeling, playing, and synthesizing) using an overall focus topic for the semester: emotions. For each unit, I explored the resource Sparks of Genius: Thirteen Thinking Tools of the World’s Most Creative People by Robert S. and Michele M. Root-Berstein and made a creation that would help my students to learn about sub-topics of emotions. The focus and creation for each unit was guided around exploring one component of creativity and displayed the ideas learned through this creation. Collaborative feedback and brainstorming opportunities frequently took place through this course. A collection of each creation was posted to a blog to track the content topic through each of the seven components of creativity.
ED 870, Capstone Portfolio Course
Fall Semester 2023
Instructors: Matthew Koehler and Megan Harris
In this course, I created a professional portfolio website. This website includes pieces of my professional experience as a teacher and my professional journey through graduate school. Included in this portfolio is a collection of essays describing my past goals and my future plans for learning, descriptions of myself as an educator and my classroom, and a showcase of work created through my time in graduate school. This culminating piece created through this course is a resource for other professionals and parents of my students to use to gain a better understanding of my skills and experiences through my career in education.