Coursework

I am currently in my final semester of my Master of Arts in Education degree from Michigan State University. This page summarizes the work that I have done in the courses I have taken.

ED800 Concepts of Educational Inquiry

Instructor: Steven Weiland

In this course, I learned about the history of different opinions on the nature of learning and what constitutes a "good education." I also examined the role of inquiry in many fields by reading and viewing the work of teacher Vivian Paley, psychologist Howard Gardner, professor E.D. Hirsch, Jr., anthropologist Mary Catherine Bates, director Niki Caro, and others. The work I found most interesting was the contrast between Gardner's and Hirsch's definition of education, and Paley's method of using reflections to guide her teaching.

Fall 2011

TE848 Writing Assessment and Instruction

Instructor: Anne Heintz

Writing comes in many genres,and this course helped me to think beyond the "traditional" genres that I teach students, and consider other types of writing that students are expected to use in their school careers and lives. It also introduced me to a method of teaching that asks students to analyze samples of writing to discover the features that make that type of writing effective. I created and taught a writing unit with my students, as well as participated in a unit of writing myself.

Spring 2012

TE816A Teaching Science for Understanding

Instructor: William Struck

Traditionally, science teaching has focused on knowledge of discrete scientific facts. As standards shift to a more complex way of understanding content, I need to shift my teaching as well. This course helped me to develop my understanding of what "understanding" looks like in school science. Below you will find a link to my summary of the major ideas of the course. You can read about how I applied my knowledge on my Showcase page under "Integrating Literacy and Science."

CEP802 Educating Students with Challenging Behaviors

Instructor: Evelyn Oka

Students can often exhibit behaviors that can make educating them difficult. In this course, I learned to identify the type of difficulty students are experiencing, including withdrawn/shy behaviors, hostile/aggressive behaviors, impulsive/active behaviors, and academic challenges. In each case, I learned about possible underlying motivations and interventions that may be successful with different students. I did a case study on a student in my class with a challenging behavior.

TE842 Elementary Reading Assessment and Instruction

Instructor: Annie Whitlock

In this course, I examined my beliefs and practices in teaching reading. I examined the major areas in reading instruction and how to assess them effectively. In one fun assignment, we were asked to write a magazine article on the topic of student motivation in reading. The work in this course inspired a major change in my teaching. As a result of my research on the benefits of integrating subject areas into literacy instruction, my teaching team and I have been creating and teaching combined reading/science and reading/social studies units. You can read more about this on my Showcase page under "Integrating Literacy and Social Studies" and "Integrating Literacy and Science."

TE846 Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners

Instructor: Paul Crutcher

Students learn to read and write at different rates. This course helped me to develop tools to assess and instruct students at different levels of development. We examined strategies for teaching the 5 major areas of reading (phonetics, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency), as well as writing. For my final project, I did a case study of a struggling reader. I used assessments to determine his difficulties with reading and designed interventions based on his areas of need.

Summer 2012

Fall 2012

TE861B Inquiry and the Nature of Science

Instructor: Amelia Gotwals

Inquiry is an important skill in science. In this course, I learned about different types of inquiry used by scientists in real-world studies, as well as the essential elements of inquiry in the science classroom. We participated in our own inquiries, analyzed examples of classroom inquiries, and developed our own lesson sequence for our classrooms.

TE855 Teaching School Mathematics

Instructor: Kevin Simpson

In this course, we studied several aspects of teaching mathematics, including the history of "reform" math, issues with problem-solving, the impact of literacy on learning math, and RtI (Response to Intervention) in math. Using this information, we analyzed teaching videos from many countries, comparing them to our experiences. We also analyzed a video of our own teaching and evaluated our districts' curriculum. As my final project, I focused on developing persistence in problem-solving with my third grade students.

CEP805 Learning Math with Technology

Instructor: Ralph Putnam

In this course, we examined the ways that technology can support and enrich students' learning in mathematics. We looked closely at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' recommendations for each area of math, as well as the Common Core Standards for Mathematics, and considered how to use technology to enhance student learning in each area. As our final project, we created an online resource library, with links to pages that analyzed each resource.

ED870 Capstone Seminar

Instructor: Matthew Koehler

The Capstone Seminar for my degree gave me the opportunity to review what I had learned in all my courses and reflect on how my teaching has improved. It also provided me with experience in web publishing. This site is the result of the Capstone class.