Annotated Transcript
Fall 2013
Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice I
Instructor: Dr. Laura Hopkins
Spring 2014
Professional Roles and Teaching Practice II
Instructor: Soo Bin Jang
Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice II
Instructor: Dawnmarie Ezzo
Fall 2016
Spring 2017
Summer 2017
Fall 2017
TE 803 had six central topics that framed the course. I learned how to teach students how to learn and participate with social studies. Cross curricular integration helped me learn how social studies could be applied in other contexts. I also learned about the importance of professional and ethical responsibilities as a teacher as well as accommodating to the special needs of students. My group researched and presented on autism. The course concluded with a lesson study and I used reflective practices to help me improve my teaching practice.
This literacy course was taken during the fall of my student teaching year. Through school-based experiences, I was able to learn about the teaching of diverse academic subjects through the lens of literacy. Literacy is the foundation to all other school learning in academic subjects, so the emphasis on literacy was very important. This course helped me gain a deeper understanding of effective literacy instruction. I was able to apply what I learned into a classroom setting.
During the spring of my student teaching year, I took this course that challenged me to apply science Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCEs) into my first grade classroom. I learned how to plan and design effective science lessons that were differentiated to meet the needs of my students during my science unit focused on weather. Detailed lesson plans, productive discussions, and thoughtful reflections allowed me to push my thinking even further in the teaching of science. I thoroughly enjoyed watching my students' thinking develop and grow throughout the unit. They were able to establish explanations for different weather phenomena (tornadoes, rain, snow, etc.)
Concepts of Educational Inquiry
Instructor: Dr. Steven Weiland
Elementary Reading Assessment and Instruction
Instructor: Dr. Laura Tortorelli
This course allowed me to explore various characteristics of effective, research-based reading assessment and instruction. I improved my teaching of reading through hands-on analysis of student assessments. After analyzing a student's assessments, I was able to develop an instruction plan with targeted goals and instructional routines that would help the child meet their individualized needs. This course gave me an authentic context to apply course concepts. I learned about different types of reading assessments and how to analyze them to obtain useful data.
Dr. Weiland's course focused on concepts of educational inquiry and addressed problems of theory and practice in teaching and learning, administration, and leadership. I learned about various philosophical, psychological, biological, historical, biographical, and ethnographic concepts of educational inquiry through readings and assignments. I applied these learnings into an educational context to help me grow as an educator. I was particularly interested in how Vivian Paley used inquiry in her kindergarten classroom. She transcribed her lessons and would listen to them to help her reflect on a deeper level.
Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners
Instructor: Dr. Dongbo Zhang
Writing Assessment and Instruction
Instructor: Amy Croel-Perrien
Children's Literature in Film
Instructor: Dr. Laura Apol
Psychology of Classroom Discipline
Instructor: Dr. My T. Lien
Capstone Seminar
Instructors: Dr. Matthew Koehler, Brittany Dillman,
Spencer Greenhalgh and Sarah Keenan-Lechel
I learned about the various differences among literacy learners in TE 846. I learned about second language learners, students with cultural or language differences, etc. I also learned about best practices that are most effective in meeting the needs of struggling students. Knowledge about differentiation strategies drastically improved my classroom instruction because I was able to meet the needs of all my students. For my case study, I gave reading assessments to a student in my second grade class. I analyzed her results and designed instruction that was targeted at improving her reading fluency.
This course taught me about many best practices in writing instruction. I learned how to enhance my whole group teaching, make the most of small group instruction, and how to provide effective feedback to students. My final project allowed me to focus on writing conferences with my second graders. I came up with a strong, research-based structure for conferencing. I was able to meet with each student at least once per week. I am very pleased with the growth I have made in my writing instruction.
The focus of this class was on films based on different children's books. I read the books and then watched the films, noting similarities and differences between the two formats and explained why I thought those changes may have been made. I learned about the impact of cultural appropriation, popular culture, and the politics of reinterpretation. The final project allowed me to choose my own book/film pairing and apply course concepts to my analysis. I also discussed how I might teach this pairing in a classroom setting.
I learned about best practices in classroom management and learned many helpful strategies to try out in my own classroom. My group and I read different student profiles and offered suggestions to help the particular students based on weekly readings. The final project was incredibly beneficial for me because I was able to reflect on my own classroom management. I aligned my current practices to suggestions from researchers. This reflection allowed me to make necessary changes to improve my overall classroom management approach.
This was the final course in my master's program and it allowed me to reflect on my courses and what I learned along the way. This online portfolio helped me reflect on my goals and realize how they have evolved throughout this program. It has been very helpful to communicate with my peers to give one another valuable feedback on our portfolios. I am proud of the final website I produced because it really highlights the hard work I have done in my Master's courses.