ANNOTATED TRANSCRIPT
SPRING '14
ED 800
This course set a solid foundation for the Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program ahead. In it I was able to take a closer look at the history of education and the psychology involved, with a focus on the progressive versus traditional lines of thought. By reading articles and books and the viewing of a movie, we were to apply those thoughts, ideas, and connections to write six papers. In the end, these books, articles, and movie gave us varying viewpoints on the benefits of each way to learn.
Grade: 4.0
Educational Inquiry with Dr. Steven Weiland
SUMMER '14
EAD 864
Adult Career Development with Dr. Steven Weiland
This class provided students with the opportunity to take a look at various different careers and the pathways they took to get there. From Billy Beane in Moneyball to Steve Jobs (amongst many others), I was able to see what inspired and motivated these people and how they ended up in the career they did. By taking a closer inspection of various different people, careers, and personalities, I was able to make connections to the bigger theme of Boyatzis and Kolb’s “Three Modes of Growth and Adaptation in Life and Career” (Performance, Learning, and Development.) Throughout, I wrote six papers, synthesizing the ideas and concepts presented.
Grade: 4.0
FALL '14
EAD 860
Concepts of Learning Society with Dr. Steven Weiland
This class took a closer look at what Robert Maynard Hutchins’ called The Learning Society (1968). Throughout the course students had the chance to take a look at the many ways people learn, especially over the course of a lifetime. Much of this class was about applying concepts of educational professionals (through the form of writing papers) to a theme or narrative found in a nonfiction book and/or memoir. By doing so, I was able to form deep connections between the reading material to the educational concepts of professionals such as Bryans and Smith, Boyatzis, King and Kitchener, etc.
Grade: 4.0
SPRING '15
TE 849
Methods and Materials Teaching Children and Adolescent Literature with Dr. Laura Apol
In this course I covered a wide variety of books: picture books, graphic novels, verse novels, and young adult novels. The topics ranged from Nazi Germany to LGBT literature. Through these readings, my class had intellectual and thought provoking discussions, challenging one another to think deeper. We also frequently wrote papers, anywhere from reflections, to opinion pieces, to critical thinking papers. Throughout the course I also conducted a semester long Teaching Log in which I introduced the topics learned in class to the children I was working with.
Grade: 4.0
SUMMER '15
TE 822
Issues of Culture in Classroom and Curriculum with Dr. Niral Shah
In this course I learned a lot about culture and all that it entails. With the aid of Christine Sleeter’s Un-Standardizing Curriculum and H. Richard Milner IV’s Start Where You Are, But Don’t Stay There, I was able to understand the role and impact of culture in the classrooms/education. Through group discussions on our readings along with our various experiences, we learned much from one another. Personally, we were to push our own thinking in regards to writing a paper about our own experiences with culture in our classrooms (positive or negative) as well as a paper dedicated to qualitative and quantitative analysis to a textbook or novel: What representations of culture are found? Are they misleading? Are they shed in a positive or negative light? What message does it send?
Grade: 4.0
FALL '15
EAD 824
Leading Teacher Learning with Dr. Melissa Usiak
This course focused on leadership in education and what that means in the context of leading learning among teachers. Through this we took a closer look at teaching protocols (Lois Brown Easton’s Protocols for Professional Learning) and group learning strategies (Gregory and Kuzmichs’ Teacher Teams That Get Results). We also spent plenty of time discussing and reading about what makes a good leader. Throughout our time I was challenged with shadowing another teacher, creating a make-believe budget plan, as well as formulate a proposal for a yearlong teacher learning plan.
Grade: 4.0
SPRING '16
EAD 850
Issues and Strategies in Multicultural Education with Dr. Riyad Shahjahan
In this class we focused on multicultural education, with a deeper look at privilege, power, and oppression, interconnections of meaning making, critical reflections on existing practices in classrooms/school systems, and overarching policies. We did this by reading certain books/texts, watching a movie, group discussions, writing papers, and creating our own website (Storify). The main text used in this class was Sensoy and DiAngelo’s Is Everyone Really Equal?: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education, a text that will stay with me as a resource going forward.
Grade: 4.0
SUMMER '16
TE 836
Awards and Classics of Children's Literature with Dr. Laura Apol
This course had us take a closer look at the awards given in children's literature alongside books that are considered classics: What are they? When were they established? Who is on the committee? What are the qualifications? By reading books, group discussion, and paper writing I was able to think critically about these awards and classics. Walking away from the class, I am now more aware and cognizant of the politics, issues, and history surrounding award selections, giving me the understanding that there is always more to the story than what is on the surface.
FALL '16
ED 870
Capstone Seminar with Dr. Matthew Koehler
In this class we are tasked with creating our own professional portfolio as a way to connect and display the culmination of work accomplished in our Masters program (in my case, the Master of Arts in Education.) We are challenged to see the big picture and decide who are audience is to be. Moving at a steady pace with attainable goals, we create our portfolio page by page, week by week, with the guidance, encouragement, and feedback from our peers (and instructors). The end goal is to have a professional portfolio website that is proof of our educational journey and all that has been learned.
Issues in Urban Education: Racial Acheievement Gap with Dr. Terah Venzant Chambers
SPRING '17
EAD 830
Although I haven’t yet taken this class, I expect to learn about the racial achievement gap. The course description on the website states this: “Students will examine institutional, class and race systemic factors that contribute to the racial achievement gap. Students will learn strategies for improving urban schools and uncover areas of study for future research interests.” Working at a community college with a fair amount of diversity, I expect this class will give me plenty of beneficial information regarding the racial achievement gap.