EAD 822: Engaging Diverse Students and Families Dr. Christopher Dunbar Jr.
This course focused on the history of diverse students and their families. Throughout the class, I learned about a variety of issues that diverse students and their families face when it comes to school and community, as well as ways to encourage students learning from each other in unique and cultured ways. I analyzed a variety of written and video sources on the issues surrounding students and their families and wrote analytical papers synthesizing the material. Along with this, I also participated in online discussions on the readings and videos throughout the course. I loved learning the different theories behind bringing students' culture into the classroom and working to prevent students or their families from feeling misunderstood.
Spring 2015
EAD 850: Issues and Strategies in Multicultural Education Dr. Riyad A. Shahjahan This course taught me a lot about the history of how the world has been slowly transitioning into multicultural societies. We specifically focused on how knowledge, teaching, and learning are products of power, privilege and oppression while critically analyzing how the changing world affects educational settings. I learned a lot about where power, privilege, and oppression are prevalent and how it truly does show up in every aspect of educational settings, forcing us within the field to be aware of it. I wrote a variety of critical reflection papers connecting course readings and videos to classrooms, identifying areas where power, privilege, and oppression needs to be taken into account.
Fall 2015
TE 802: Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice 1 Donald Barringer
This course was taken during my student teaching year and focused on how a number of diverse subjects can be taught under the umbrella of literacy. I learned the many ways students interact with aspects of literacy in non-traditional ways within the school setting and how we as teachers can increase student exposure to language and literacy knowledge. I had the opportunity to develop lesson plans that connected a variety of subjects, but ultimately met literacy standards. On top of writing the lesson plans, I had the chance to implement the lessons, reflect on how the lessons went, and adjust my plans for future instruction.
Spring 2016
TE 803: Professional Roles and Teaching Practice 2 Andy Miness
This course was taken during my student teaching year and focused on social studies instruction in classrooms. We spent a lot of time discussing the responsibilities that instructors have when teaching social studies by focusing on how important it is for students to have the freedom and opportunity to develop their own opinions and voice. I developed a lesson plan about the three branches of government and another one about creating a classroom community to model a neighborhood community. For both lesson plans, I was able to implement them into my internship classroom, which was 1st grade, and was able to reflect on my experiences with my peers.
TE 804: Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice 2 Andrea Varricchoine
This course was taken during my student teaching year and focused on incorporating investigative and inquiry-based learning into a science classroom. I learned about a detailed model for lesson planning that begins with a question for students to ponder and a unit of instruction designed to help students arrive at the answer on their own as opposed to having the teacher simply tell them. I was given the opportunity to develop my own lesson plan following this model and implement the teaching into my internship classroom. I learned through this course that switching my mentality away from telling students about science to a more inquiry-based approach will take practice, but is very worthwhile in the end.
Spring 2017
ED 800: Concepts of Educational Inquiry Steven Weiland and Nathan Clason
This course focused on figuring out what truly is learning, what needs to be understood in order to truly reflect on and analyze learning and teaching, and what outside factors play important roles in learning. This course was unique in that it was self-paced with no deadlines except for needing to complete everything within the semester. Therefore, not only was I given the opportunity to critically think about learning, I was also given the chance to learn about time management and planning. Throughout the course, I wrote a variety of papers synthesizing and analyzing written and video sources on the issue of learning.
Fall 2017
CEP 800: Psychology of Learning in School and Other Settings Diana Brandon and Cui Cheng This course focused on understanding the psychology behind learning within school settings, and outside of school, throughout all stages of life. I got the opportunity to learn about multiple theories regarding the psychology of learning in order to see which theory I leaned towards more. During the course, I wrote some papers synthesizing readings, communicated with peers and instructors about the theories, and even got the chance to work towards using research to change an existing personal habit. I loved learning about how our brains learn new things and how I can better understand my students in order to teach them better.
Spring 2018
EAD 877: Program Planning and Evaluation in Postsecondary Contexts Nathan Clason This course focused on the various elements that go into, and are required of, program planning for adult learners. I was given the opportunity to put my learning from the course readings into practice by planning my own professional development workshop within my school setting. I learned how to take into account the stakeholders, time constraints, budgetary issues, and formatting decisions, among other things, when planning a program. I was also given the opportunity to interview my current principal to learn more about how program planning for adults is truly always happening within my own professional context.
Summer 2018
TE 861A: Teaching Science for Understanding Meenakshi Sharma
This course built on TE 804 for me and gave me more practice developing lesson plans that align to the Next Generation Science Standards, NGSS, and the Ambitious Science Teaching model. The approach that the course took was to introduce us to the benefits of inquiry-based learning and then gave me a chance to develop a detailed lesson plan using the model and standards. I loved getting the opportunity to improve a lesson that I taught within my own classroom by making it more inquiry-based as opposed to teacher-led. Throughout the course, I also had the opportunity to engage with my peers through online discussions of readings and peer-reviews of lesson plans.
ED 870: Capstone Portfolio Course Dr. Matthew Koehler, Sarah Keenan-Lechel, Spencer Greenhalgh, and Sukanya Moudgalya
This course focused on providing the opportunity for reflection on the entire journey that was my Master of Arts in Education program. I created this online portfolio through this course, all the while communicating with peers in order to not only practice self-reflection, but practice providing constructive feedback to others. I truly got the opportunity to look back on my experience working towards obtaining my degree, focusing on the things that I have learned and ways that I have implemented my new knowledge into my own classroom. The main thing that this course taught me was that learning and growing in my profession is a life-long journey that I will forever be on, regardless of working towards a formal degree or not.