Coursework
ED 870 Capstone Seminar
Instructor: Dr. Matthew Koehler
Fall 2011 In the Capstone Seminar I discussed and reflected on my learning in the Master of Arts in Education program. I created a Web-based portfolio that presents my work and thinking in the program. This website and all of the capstone essays are a result of the work from the course. |
CEP 820 Teaching K-12 Online
Instructor: Leigh Graves Wolf
Summer 2011 This course examined ways in which K-12 teachers can bring the world into their classrooms with technology to better meet the educational needs of students. The course focused on ways in which teachers and students can broadcast their ideas and information to the outside world for purposes of collaboration and communication. The course included discussions of various online learning management systems including their functions, strengths, and weaknesses along with the exploration of various teaching methodologies and how they should be used in the online environment to ensure teaching and learning success. In this course I developed an 4th grade online science unit about matter using Schoology.com as my course management system. Please view the screencast and my Developer's Notebook. |
EAD 866 Teaching in Post-Secondary Education
Instructor: Dr. John Dirkx
Spring 2011 The course focused on those who will teach or are teaching in some capacity in higher or adult education contexts, or who work in positions of instructional leadership within these contexts.We explored the following themes: 1) various conceptions of teaching; 2) key factors that relate to teaching, including the characteristics of learners in post-secondary educational settings, the learning process, and learning environments; 3) instructional design and planning; 4) strategies to encourage active, involving learning, including strategies involving lecturing, small groups and discussion, experiential learning; and educational technologies; 5) approaches to assessing learning; and 6) approaches to improving teaching through assessment and faculty learning and development. I gained experience with creating an online lesson with my group, creating a prezi about and doing a case study about engagement, creating a syllabus, and re-examining my teaching philosophy. Samples of work can be found here. |
EAD 801 Leadership and Organizational Development
Instructor: Gerald Jennings
Fall 2010 The course explored leadership as the challenge of helping members of organizations learn, gain new capabilities and reach improved outcomes. The course examined the shifting definitions and understandings of leadership, the influences of formal and informal leaders, leadership as actions that take place in particular contexts, and competing perspective on leadership strategy as it applies to organizational turnaround or improvement. This course allowed me to reflect on who I am and want to be as a leader as well as create case studies with a partner surrounding leadership issues. Samples can be found here. |
EAD 876 Budgeting and Finance in Higher Education
Instructor: Patricia Farrell
Spring 2011 In EAD 876 I was introduced to the fundamentals of higher education finance including: the private and public benefits of higher education, the cost of higher education, the role of the federal government in financing higher education, the role of state governments in financing higher education, and the implications of various financing strategies on access and affordability of higher education. In this course, I did a fiscal outlook on higher education in Ohio, interviewed my superintendent to find out about how budgeting in our district is handled, and did research about how Historically Black Colleges and Universities are funded. Samples of these pieces can be found here. |
TE 846 Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners
Instructor: Zoa Bonofiglio
Summer 2011 This course helped me to become a better literacy instructor. The course was organized around five broad topical areas and associated literacy instruction and assessment practices: cultural and linguistic differences, individual motivation differences, neuropsychological differences, instructional arrangements to accommodate learning differences, and core components of effective literacy instruction.I learned about the principles of instruction and remediation in reading and writing, classroom assessment techniques for reading and writing, and materials and adaptations for reading and writing instruction. I also learned how to critically evaluate materials, curricula, programs, and practices used in literacy instruction, and how to select, modify, and design literacy materials, tasks, and teaching techniques to meet the specific needs of struggling readers and writers. As a part of this course, I did a student study using a few of the techniques learned in the course. You can find the term paper and video here. |
CEP 841 Classroom Management in the Inclusive ClassroomInstructor: Dr. Troy V. Mariage
Summer 2011 In this course we did more in-depth work with understanding the role of leadership in the classroom, learning how to use Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, using Functional Behavior Assessments, implementing Behavior Intervention Plans and developing habits for thinking about instructional accommodations. As my final project for this course, I create a prezi called, "Help Has Arrived! Or Has it Been Here All of the Time," that can be used to help teachers and schools implement PBIS. |
ED 800 Inquiry, Interpretation and Criticism (EAD 991B)
Instructor: Dr. Steven Weiland
Spring 2008 This course allowed me to reflect on the purpose of education, education's traditions, characteristic activities, and its problems and efforts at reform. Questions including: How do we learn, what do we want from teaching, and from education outside of schools and beyond the years of formal schooling? Some assignments required us to watch video make observations about the learning and to make connections to the theorists we read about. Please view a sampling of those responses here. |
CEP 883 Psychology of Classroom Discipline
Instructor: Dr. Jean Baker
Summer Semester 2007 In this course, I learned various strategies for classroom management. This course allowed me to do case studies with my group to figure out accommodations that would help students exhibiting various behaviors. It introduced me to Functional Behavior Assessments and Positive Behavior Supports. My final project I created was a resource document for teachers of students with ADD/ADHD. |
EAD 882 Issues in Urban Education
Instructor: Dr. Christopher Dunbar
Fall 2007 This course provided opportunities to take into account different views of public urban education. We read from three texts that had radically different ideas about what works in schools in urban environments: Noguera and Wing's (2006) Unfinished Business: Closing the Racial Achievement Gap, Thernstom and Thernstrom's (2003) No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning and Kohl's (1995) I won't Learn from you and Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment. My final project, Addressing the Achievement Gap Through University Prep, was an examination on how my school district can use parental support, social networks, teacher's expectations, the discipline gap, professional development and active not-learning to our advantage. |
Some course descriptions provided by the MSU Masters of Arts in Education Course page.
Image of The Girl with the Brown Crayon from http://images.betterworldbooks.com/067/The-Girl-with-the-Brown-Crayon-9780674354425.jpg
Image of The Girl with the Brown Crayon from http://images.betterworldbooks.com/067/The-Girl-with-the-Brown-Crayon-9780674354425.jpg
***NOTE: This page showcases work that was done in my MAED program at Michigan State University from 2007-2011.