Showcase of work
Master of arts in education - Literacy concentration
Welcome to my showcase page! Here you will find the work that I am most proud of, extracted the most learning from or was the most passionate about. Each project highlights the great need for literacy education among teachers as we strive to educate students in the skills of reading, writing, reasoning, thinking and speaking. The methods that we use and the passion that we bring to the table as teachers make a difference in the quality and genuineness of the learning each student receives. My MAED journey has given me both quality methodology as well as passion to teach students literacy on a whole new level.
Teaching Language Arts with technology
mixing literature, History & technologyThis assignment was to create a lesson plan that effectively incorporated technology with pedagogy and content knowledge fulfilling the whole TPACK framework. My technology of choice was an interactive timeline through dipity that I used to arrange in chronological order the events of Donna Lynn Hess's book, A Father's Promise, and to highlight specific dates and events of WWII. Using this technology added a whole new dimension of emotion that I could not capture with a written timeline, textbook pictures, or simple verbal descriptions. Many students are apprehensive when it comes to class reading assignments and need extra motivation to prompt them to become engaged intellectually and emotionally. One affordance of using dipity as part of the lesson plans for A Father's Promise is that it prompts a deeper reflection by accommodating videos, pictures, additional resources and media interactions via the web. Not only can this technology strengthen students' abilities to learn, but it can also strengthen the teachers ability to teach in a quality, thorough manner that is engaging and fun!
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A visual Introduction to prewritingThe purpose of this assignment was to create a digital story that would enhance the learning experience of the students and give them a deeper understanding of the topic being addressed. In this case I chose "pre-writing" as my topic. My goal was for students to recognize how the power of brainstorming can turn an everyday word like "hands" into a creative work of art. In this brief digital story, students are encouraged that they have this same ability to cause their thoughts to "blossom" if they simply take the time to look at ideas and topics from multiple angles and perspectives during their own pre-writing process. Ironically, digital storytelling can be used to do the same thing for teaching everyday concepts by adding an element of creativity that can help the student's understanding of the concept to blossom. Ultimately, this project ignited more inquiry into how digital storytelling can be used in education which later grew into a twenty-page research paper that got me even more excited about this educational tool.
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Writing with your head and your heart
a passion for writingIt was in TE848 that I unleashed my inner writer. By doing this, I learned how important it is for teachers to be trained as writers before we train our students to write. One valuable lesson I learned about teaching students to become writers is that the focus must be on quality rather than quantity. Multiple writing assignments do not necessarily make students better writers, but teaching them to care for a piece of writing and to spend precious time nursing it to health... to life, will train them to pay attention to the details. It will be the "quality writings" that help them see their potential and stir in them a passion to write more. This lesson was true for me as well as I birthed and nurtured this poem of my own. I learned a great deal specifically about poetry and about writing in general. I also learned a great deal about myself as a writer and am excited to share my newly ignited passion with my students!
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When theories and ideologies become practice
Life lessons from eleanor RooseveltA valuable lesson that Mrs. Roosevelt teaches us by her life example is the importance of using knowledge to initiate change in the world. Mrs. Roosevelt's example is an inspiration to me as an educator and a life-long learner, for it was her desire to learn that opened up for her doors of leadership, and it was her desire to learn that kept fueling the flames of her passions. Already I have seen how learning has opened doors of leadership for me and ignited my own passions for teaching; this is truly an exciting discovery. But in writing this brief paper, I learned an even more valuable lesson about what it takes to be a good teacher. Mrs. Roosevelt's knowledge would have been useless had she not learned how to share it. She taught the world by interacting with it. She served others and genuinely cared about them. Because of this, people were drawn to her, they listened to her, and her passion stirred up the passions in many others. What a great example of what learning and teaching should look like!
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Multicultural ConsequencesTruly one of the most impacting lessons about literature that I learned while at MSU was during my TE849 class: Methods and Materials for Teaching Children's and Adolescent Literature. I learned about the devastating consequences of placing the multicultural literature label on literature that is stereotypical. What surprised me the most was just how difficult these stereotypes are to identify as individuals and groups allow themselves to be manipulated from the truth causing stereotypes to become the "norm". I saw how critical teacher inquiry is when embracing multicultural literature. I learned that I cannot always trust my own interpretations or instincts and that thoughtful research and review are very important steps in choosing quality multicultural literature that promotes genuine cultural awareness -- especially among those that have been marginalized, silenced or misrepresented within literature for so long. This paper is my reflection after being challenged to think deeply about this growing topic.
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a classroom without walls
Discovering the benefits of online learningAfter completing CEP820: Teaching K-12 Students Online, I had a new respect for educational technology as well as a more defined understanding of the benefits of teaching and learning in an online environment. If done well, asynchronous learning combined with varying technologies can provide students opportunities to evaluate and re-evaluate the learning material until they have reached a greater level of understanding. What is particularly exciting about this method of learning is that it does not have to be independent from the traditional classroom style of learning, but can be integrated to form a successful hybrid learning environment. The course I created here is an example of this style of blended learning and is an example of what twenty-first century learning can look like. (To log on as a guest use the username guser1000 and the password xXpWR4Rt.)
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*Photo courtesy of Google Images