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Annotated Transcript
Fall 2011
Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice I
Instructor: Sarah Little
Grade: 4.0
The Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice I course was a part of my student teaching internship year at Michigan State University (MSU). This course focused on how to teach literacy to elementary students. During this course, I read about and participated in discussions regarding the importance of how a well-balanced literacy curriculum includes the six literacies of viewing, speaking, language, listening, writing, and reading. From this, I learned how to teach literacy using the writer’s and reader’s workshop models. Also, I learned how to incorporate these literacies into the instruction of every subject area, which was very helpful considering science was my main focus. I then designed and carried-out a detailed literacy unit plan, which focused on teaching my third grade students how to use the comprehension strategies of visualizing and making inferences using the Making Meaning curriculum (2003).
Spring 2012
Professional Roles and Teaching Practice II
Instructor: Betty Okwako
Grade: 4.0
The Professional Roles and Teaching Practice II course was a part of my student teaching internship year at MSU. This course focused on how to teach social studies to elementary students. During this course, I read about and participated in activities regarding the use of lesson studies and adapting lessons to help students with learning disabilities, specifically in social studies. I learned how to carry out a lesson study by teaming up with a group of student teachers to discuss the objectives of a lesson on the constitution, develop an actual lesson, have the other student teachers observe me teach the lesson, and then finally debriefing what went well and what changes we could make. I also teamed up with a student teacher and researched students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and then gave a presentation regarding our research, which included the symptoms, misconceptions, modifications, and resources surrounding ADHD. I then designed and carried-out a detailed social studies unit plan, which focused on teaching my third grade students the history of Michigan in terms of Native Americans and European influence in Michigan, how Michigan became a state, and how Michigan grew.
Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice II
Instructor: Rochelle Rubin
Grade: 4.0
The Professional Roles and Teaching Practice II course was a part of my student teaching internship year at MSU. This course focused on how to teach science to elementary students. During this course, I read about and participated in discussions regarding the use of cooperative learning groups, the Experiences, Patterns, and Explanations (EPE) model of student learning, and the Inquiry Application Instructional Model (I-AIM) for instruction. I learned how the use of cooperative learning groups involves students working together in groups where they must use one another’s strengths to complete a common goal while the teacher facilitates their learning as opposed to direct instruction. I also learned how designing hands-on inquiry-based science lessons using the EPE and I-AIM models allows students to develop deeper understandings of concepts. I then designed and carried-out a detailed science unit plan using cooperative learning groups, the EPE model, and the I-AIM model, which focused on teaching my third grade students about the properties of rocks and minerals.
Fall 2014
Inquiry, Nature of Science, and Science Teaching
Instructor: Sarah Stapleton
Grade: 4.0
The Inquiry, Nature of Science, and Science Teaching course focused on explaining what the nature of science means, introducing teachers to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which were being adopted by many different states at that time, and how science is limitless. During this course, I read about and participated in online forum and Skype discussions regarding what the process of science actually looks like and the framework of how the NGSS are set up including the eight science and engineering practices, the crosscutting concepts, and the patterns. I learned that previous science standards taught science as a rigid step-by-step process that is finite, whereas the NGSS reflects science as a constantly evolving process that can be repeated at any moment when new information is discovered. I then chose a fifth grade NGSS related to developing models to explain the seasons and moon phases and created lessons to guide my students in meeting this standard. This allowed me to determine how to change my instruction to better meet the NGSS’ vision of what science actually is.
Technology, Teaching, and Learning Across the Curriculum
Instructor: Paul Morsink
Grade: 4.0
The Technology, Teaching, and Learning Across the Curriculum course focused on how new media is affecting students’ cognitive load, how to prepare our students for the ever-evolving new medias, and how to appropriately integrate them into our classrooms. During this course, I not only read about and participated in online forum discussions regarding different forms of new media affect students’ cognitive load and reading strategies, but I also learned how to use various forms of new media. I used Screencast-O-Matic to record myself performing searches online to determine what reading strategies and deep-web learning elements I used and Diigo to annotate readings online. I also used WIX to design and create a website to guide my students through a new media-integrated lesson about gravity and our solar system. This website guided students through using the new media tools of Popplet, a Screencast video, Create A Graph, a gravity interactive, and Google Forms.
Spring 2015
Teaching Science for Understanding
Instructor: Tamara Smolek
Grade: 4.0
The Teaching Science for Understanding course focused on the latest reform in science education with inquiry-based instruction to better meet the NGSS and formative assessment. During this course, I read and participated in online forum discussions regarding the differences between the Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCE) and the NGSS, what teachers need to do to adapt their curriculum and instruction to match the NGSS, and how to effectively use different types of formative assessment. I learned how to use the NGSS to develop inquiry-based lessons, such as the Prediction, Observation, Explanation (POE) instructional model, aimed at helping students to not just memorize facts, but to actually develop meaningful conceptual understandings. I then designed and developed a big idea question formative assessment for my students to complete at three different points during a unit to see how their knowledge of what scientists believed the earth was like and how organisms evolved in the time period of 4.5 billion years ago – 544 million years ago changed overtime.
Summer 2015
Concepts of Educational Inquiry
Instructor: Dr. Steven Weiland and Nathan Clason
Grade: 4.0
The Concepts of Educational Inquiry course focused on traditional and progressive educational belief systems, different forms of inquiry, and how each form of inquiry can be used for different purposes. During this course, I examined several books, websites, and a movie to determine the different forms of inquiry that were evident in each artifact. I learned there are ethnographic, autobiographical, historical, curricular, and educational forms of inquiry. After reading and reflecting on these different forms of inquiry and their intended purposes, I was able to perform autobiographical inquiry into how technological innovations have helped me in my educational career. This allowed me to reflect and I found several significant events in how I learned to live and use new information and communications technologies to help me in my formal education, informal education, and career.
Fall 2015
Teaching School Mathematics
Instructor: Michael Weiss
Grade: 4.0
The Teaching School Mathematics course focused on how to effectively teach mathematical concepts to students at varying grade levels. During this course, I read articles and participated in online forum discussions regarding procedural understanding versus conceptual understanding. I learned that the difference between the two is that if a student possesses a procedural understanding of a concept, they know the steps to go about solving problems, whereas if a student possesses a conceptual understanding of a concept, they know what solving the problems mean and how to explain it. I then chose a research question related to this topic and conducted a research project around my question. I researched whether or not the instructional strategy of using pictorial representations/models of fractions and eliciting meaningful student discourse would help students develop a conceptual understanding of how to find equivalent fractions and how to add/subtract fractions with unlike denominators by developing and carrying out lessons.
Spring 2016
Capstone Seminar
Instructor: Dr. Matthew Koehler, Spencer Greenhalgh, and Sarah Keenan
Grade: 4.0
The Capstone Seminar course was a culminating course for the end of my Master of Arts in Education program, which focused on reflection of what I accomplished during the program. During this course, I gradually learned how to develop an online portfolio using the online hosting platform, WIX. I created a portfolio to show colleagues and potential employers what I have accomplished in my professional and educational life throughout the program. I spent time reflecting upon my original goals from entering the program, my future goals for after the program, and what I learned throughout the program. I also organized a resume to explain my education/professional experience as a teacher and a showcase to display the projects I have completed and am proudest of.
Summer 2016
Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners
Instructor: TBD
Grade: TBD
The Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners course focuses on how to support students who struggle in literacy. Particularly, I will learn about the different reasons and ways students can struggle in reading and writing and how to differentiate my instruction and assessment to better meet my students’ needs. I feel this will be extremely valuable for me because I have very little experience and knowledge pertaining to literacy and how to accommodate different types of learners having always been a science and math concentration. With this said, I hope to learn how to accommodate struggling literacy learners in the literacies that they will encounter in math and science particularly. I will also be completing a case study with one of my students where I will use some of the strategies I learn from this course to help them with literacy.
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