Annotated Transcript
Here you will find a list of the courses I have taken in MSU's Master of Arts in Education Program. This includes course descriptions and my biggest takeaways and learning moments.
Course Code Guide
CEP: Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education
TE: Teacher Education
ED: Education
Instructors: Spencer Greenhalgh & Colin Gallagher
Fall 2015
This was the first course I took as I began my work in this master's program. The main focus here was the concept of assessments that support learning through the use of technological tools. This course was the beginning of my inspiration to pursue my Online Teaching and Learning certificate. The work in this course challenged me to consider how assessments that are developed through tech tools such as Minecraft and content management systems such as Schoology can provide affordances for assessments for learning and assessments as learning. Another big theme and takeaway from this course was using digital tools such as screen casts to provide students with frequent and supportive feedback on their learning. It was in this course that I created a creative assessment through Minecraft, and my first assessment using Schoology; this encouraged me to think deeply about how technology can offer various methods of assessment that supports learning that go way beyond what are typically consider assessments in the classroom.
Instructors: Dr. Steven Weiland & Nathan Clason
Spring 2016
A requirement for graduation from the Master of Arts in Education at MSU, this course laid the foundation of engaging in deep reflections in issues surrounding education. One of our focuses was understanding the differences between the instruction paradigm and the learning paradigm. The work in this class was writing intensive, particularly strengthening my skills in persuasive writing, which challenged me to consider multiple points of view in educational concepts such as inquiry and technology integration. My culminating work was an autobiographical inquiry paper where I delved deep into my own experiences with technology in my own schooling in k-12 and synthesized how these experiences influence my current perspectives on using technology in my teaching.
Instructor: Dr. Douglas Hartman
I was eager to learn more about integrating technology into mathematics to enhance student understanding in ways that may not be able to occur otherwise; this course helped me grow in this area. I engaged in many discussions with classmates about issues surrounding using technology to teach subject matter, such as advantages and disadvantages. Various frameworks were focused on, such as Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) and Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition model (SAMR). Some of my work includes analyzing the applicability of certain tech tools like Class Dojo and creating a vod cast to convey trigonometric concepts.
Summer 2016
Instructor: Michael Gundlach
Fall 2016
The overarching theme in this course was the practice of mathematical reasoning in our teaching and how to help students reason mathematically. I considered what it means for students to deeply understand mathematical concepts through looking at case studies. Another main idea I focused on was student meta cognition in mathematics. In this course I was challenged to not only synthesize how I reason about mathematics, but also how I anticipate students to reason about mathematics - whether correctly or incorrectly. The biggest task that enabled me to engage in deep consideration of these topics was a math task analysis, where I went into detail about how I would do it, how I anticipate students to solve it (including mistakes), and how I would expect students to demonstrate mastery of the content, based on studying mathematical reasoning and meta cognition. I would say this was one of my favorite courses.
Fall 2016
Instructor: Meenakshi Sharma
As the title of the course suggests, this class's overall focus was how to use an inquiry-based approach in teaching science. This was the only class in my master's where my focus was on science teaching, and it was useful for me to have a somewhat different perspective on teaching than usual, as my main teaching interest is mathematics. This course was very beneficial in that I finally took a deeper look at inquiry learning. Throughout the months in this course, I analyzed a video case study from Ambitious Science Teaching. This enabled me to thoroughly consider and learn techniques used to achieve ambitious science teaching through inquiry. This course also made me reflect on incorporating inquiry learning in mathematics teaching and its potential enrichment to students' understanding of concepts.
Instructors: Dr. Ralph Putnam & Brittany Dillman
Spring 2017
This was a course I thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from. I felt challenged to engage in deep thought about mathematical education concepts and how technology can enrich learning and enhance student procedural and conceptual understanding. My peers and I had meaningful discussions about important topics such as the relevance and importance of students studying algebra, and how calculators can be both an advantage and disadvantage in the learning of math. Throughout the course, I analyzed a collection of tech tools, considering aspects such as how the math is represented in the tech tool, considerations of technical costs, what role the technology plays in teaching the mathematics concept, and how it fits into the social context of learning. This helped develop my sense of judgement for using technology in my math teaching, as I gained experience in effectively analyzing potential advantages and disadvantages to using a tech tool in teaching a mathematics concept.
Spring 2017
Instructors: Carmen Richardson, Cui Cheng, Diane Campbell, & Dr. Aman Yadav
It was through this course that I was introduced to a completely new concept to me: the Stanford Design Process. Learning about design has been an incredibly useful experience, as the skill of designing is a tool that can greatly improve my teaching, whether it is designing lessons, classroom seating, or an online portion of class learning. I took the time to really understand and apply the five stages of design - empathy, define, ideate, prototype, and test - by creating an online library of mathematics teaching resources. From engaging in brainstorming ideas to using my creativity in an incubation journal, I am sure many of the skills learned in this course will influence my teaching.
Summer 2017
Instructors: Dr. Troy Mariage, Courtney Chamberlain, Emma Nathanson, & Danielle Wexler
I consider this course one of the most valuable ones I've taken for the wealth of knowledge I gained. What I particularly enjoyed about this class was that the atmosphere of the class was inspirational, encouraging, and positive. The focus of study was on Positive Behavior Support and Intervention (PBIS), through which I learned more about Functional Behavior Assessments and behavior management techniques. I feel that this course gave me a fresh and more confident perspective on classroom management, through the focus on PBIS and learning effective methods to build positive relationships with students. My concluding piece of work in this course was a presentation about home-school communication, enabling me to learn more about techniques to fulfill this incredibly important aspect of student behavior management.
Instructors: Anne Heintz & Bret Staudt Willet
Fall 2017
In this class, I designed an online course module in Schoology while applying the concepts and ideas of effective online teaching as I learned them in the class. This was an incredible opportunity for me to design a module for sixth grade mathematics students using a flipped learning format. Throughout the course, I engaged in thoughtful activities such as how to respond to students' and parents' concerns that would most likely arise in an online learning environment. This enabled me to strengthen my written communication skills to both parents and students. This course also encouraged me to consider how I could design an online learning environment that would enhance learning of mathematics in a way that may not be possible otherwise.
Spring 2018
Instructors: Dr. Matthew Koehler, Brittany Dillman, Spencer Greenhalgh, & Sarah Keenan-Lechel
The final course of my master's, the capstone seminar's goal was for me to create this portfolio website. It is a demonstration of my work in the Master of Arts in Education program. This has allowed me to engage in reflection on what I have learned and how I can apply it all in in my teaching. A big focus throughout the design of this portfolio was giving and receiving feedback from my peers. I received beneficial feedback about the strengths of my design and content, as well as the areas that I need to improve in. This has all contributed not only to creating a better website, but to my practice of accepting and applying feedback from others, as well as my skill in giving it to others.