Annotated Transcripts...

for Jessica Francis' Master of Arts in Education with a focus in Literacy

 

 

Over the course of my teaching internship at Michigan State University, I partook in graduate level courses. These included TE 802 (Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice) with Susan Florio-Ruane , TE 803 (Professional Roles and Teaching Practice) with Susan Florio-Ruane, and TE 804 (Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice 2) with W. Hewitt. While I was enrolled in these courses and participating in my year-long internship, I learned how to devise comprehensive and cross-curricular units of study in all subject areas. I discovered how to integrate multi-culturalism and technology into my lessons and studied best practices in instruction. Additionally, I learned how to pace through lessons appropriately and use the gradual release of responsibility with my students. All of this was uncovered as I was working and discussing collaboratively with peers. This year in my teaching career was pivotal in me learning about using researched based approaches but also how to be a member of a school community.

 

 

 

ED 800: Concepts in Educational Inquiry
Steven Weiland

This course focuses on using inquiry in education and how beneficial it is. I learned about the history of educational philosophies and strategies regarding how students learn most effectively. This helped to shape my outlook on best practices for my students and showed me that providing opportunities for both children and teachers to ask questions about their outside world is of utmost importance. It reminded me to not settle into a monotonous trend of talking at students as a teacher but consider what is really best for students.

 

 

TE 846: Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners 

Jennifer Knight

This course was pivotal in my learning about literacy (as it is my focus for my Master's). It also satisfied the state requirement for all teachers. I found this course very useful because it helped me understand the multiple ways to help struggling readers. It showed me that there are many different facets involved in the reading process and helped me to be able to identify those in my students. I also used the strategies I picked up through this course to tutor multiple students. It even helped me to be able to push students who were on grade-level to the next level and made me realize that comprehension is key in students' reading abilities.

 

 

TE 842: Elementary Reading Assessment and Instruction
Chad Waldron

As I moved forward into learning even more about literacy, I decided to take this course to help me understand the best practices in assessing students' skills. This course has definitely stuck with me as I have progressed through the program. During my time spent in this course, I analyzed student data to devise plans on where to go next. I also used  reading assessments on my own students and my eyes were opened to the steps to take next. The number one thing that I took away from this course was a book club in which I participated in learning more about Words Their Way (a spelling, phonics, and vocabulary program I use in my own classroom today). I was also able to converse with collegues as I participated in digital conversations.

 

 

 

TE 836: Awards and Classics of Children's Literature
Laura Apol

Next, I had the opportunity to dive into award winning children's literature. I now understand how a book can become an award winner and had the chance to analyze multiple different award-winning texts. Our class examined multiple different awards that have been established for diverse reasons. I was reinstated with a sense of multi-culturalism that I had first uncovered in my internship year. I noted that all books that I read to my studnets need to be high quality and be purposeful. I learned that many high quality books are not award winners, and many award winners are not considered high quality in today's age. This course gave me a greater sense of what I can bring to my students in read alouds and allowed me to uncover many great pieces of children's literature.

 

 

 

TE 831: Teaching School Subject Matter with Technology

Doug Hartman

With the infusion of technology in the lives of the upcoming generation, I found it necessary to be involved in a course that focused on incoroprating technology with education. I learned a great deal of web-based programs that I can easily incorporate into my teaching. I also uncovered that the way that students learn in today's age is different than when I was in elementary school. Using the techniques and ideas from this course, I have certainly been able to reach more students. I also developed a deeper sense of technology myself by having to produce classroom through programs like Edmodo, VoiceThread, Glogster, and many others!

 

 

 

CEP 840: Policy, Practices, and Perspectives in Special Education

Carol Sue Englert

Since my undergraduate work, I have always wanted to learn more about special education as every general educaation teacher has special education students in his or her classroom. This was a very enlightening class that took me through many aspects of special education. We delved into creating our own Individualized Education Plans based off of student data and observations. This course also taught me about modifications and accomodations for students with disabilities. This course also uncovered many different technologies to be used in the classroom to aid students with disabilities.

 

ED 870: Capstone Seminar
Matt Koehler

The very last class of my journey to obtain my Master's degree was the Capstone Seminar. It gave me an opportunity to reflect on all of my accomplishments and see the growth I have made as an educator. This course was, like many of the last ones, revolved around technology and has opened my eyes to the new educational technology that is out there today. I am glad that I get the opportunity to create a final product that shows my knowledge from Michigan State University.