Synthesis of Graduate Work
Path to Becoming a Teacher
As a young student in elementary school, I always had the dream of one day becoming a teacher myself. I have had a love for learning and being part of the school community ever since I stepped foot into my first elementary school classroom as a kindergartener. I was eager to make new friends, learn new things, and impress my teacher. Throughout my days as an elementary school student, one thing that stands out to me is that I always had very caring teachers who helped me to feel acknowledged, heard, and safe. I was usually the shy student who did not speak up often yet was always quietly observing and absorbing all of the learning to be done around me. My love for school and learning sparked my interest in becoming a teacher one day!
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Once I had finalized my decision to become a teacher, it was fairly easy to choose Michigan State University (MSU) after hearing positive reviews and experiences of the university’s Teacher Preparation Program, one of the top ranked programs in our country. When it came time to choose the teaching subject that I wanted to focus my undergraduate degree on, it was an easy choice for me- Language Arts. This subject area had always been a strength of mine as well as very interesting to me. My undergraduate degree fully prepared me for what came next, the Teacher Preparation Program. One thing that had drawn me to MSU’s Education program was the requirement of a student-teaching internship that lasts almost the full duration of the school year; unlike other universities that only require one semester. On top of that, the courses that I took during the internship could count toward my graduate degree.
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After completing the Teacher Preparation Program and acquiring two years of full time teaching experience in a first grade classroom, I decided to pick up where I left off by enrolling in MSU’s Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program. I chose to complete the MAED program with a concentration in Literacy Education. One reason I chose this concentration is because I knew it would give me the opportunity to expand upon my knowledge and skillset gained in this subject area as an undergraduate student. Another reason I chose the Literacy Education Concentration is because I have come to understand the profound role that literacy holds in education. I believe that literacy is the foundation for learning, understanding, and communicating knowledge in any subject area. As a teacher of young elementary students, I could also see the importance of teaching strong literacy skills starting at a very young age.
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Overall, the courses I took during the MAED program provided opportunities for me to fully analyze current teaching practices, learn about research-based best practices in teaching literacy, collaborate with colleagues, and apply my knowledge of best teaching practices in the classroom. Each course in the program provided me with new knowledge and a new perspective on my role and responsibilities as a teacher. While every course in the program has benefitted me and taught me something new, there are three courses from the program that stand out to me as having the most impact on my thinking and teaching practices.
Differentiating Instruction
Throughout my journey to becoming a teacher, differentiation is a word that I heard and learned about very often. To differentiate means to provide instruction in many different ways in order to meet the varying needs of many students. As a student-teaching intern, learning more about how to differentiate instruction was a goal of mine. It can prove to be a very challenging task when I am faced with 20+ students who come from different backgrounds, who come to school with varying amounts of academic knowledge, and who learn and gain knowledge in many different ways. While I struggled to grasp this concept as an intern, it became a bit easier to manage and understand once I had my own classroom. However, I will admit that I still did not feel that differentiating instruction was a strength of mine.
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One of my TE (Teacher Education) courses, titled “Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners” helped to make this concept of differentiating instruction much more clear and manageable. This course helped me gain detailed knowledge about the best teaching practices for literacy and how literacy strategies can be used to differentiate instruction for all different learners. Before diving right into the latest and greatest instructional practices, it was important to carefully analyze the teaching practices I was already using and reflect upon how I could improve those strategies. As a beginning teacher, I was providing quite a bit of instruction in a whole group setting. While this type of instruction may be helpful for some or maybe even most of my students, it is not always going to reach all of my students.
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As a first grade teacher, it was apparent to me that the students in my classroom would present a very wide range of academic abilities. In every group of students I would have some that were still working hard on basic literacy skills while others would be reading and writing far beyond the grade level expectations. The challenge lies in meeting the needs of all of my very diverse young learners. Throughout my first few years of teaching, I utilized literacy centers in my classroom as a way to provide small group instruction while the rest of the class was engaged in meaningful literacy activities. However, I found myself continuously changing the way I implemented literacy centers, not ever quite landing on a method that I thought worked really well.
After taking this TE course, I was able to gain a better understanding of the different literacy needs that individual students may have. I was able to use what I learned in this course to create literacy lessons for individual students or small groups to target academic skills that each student needed more focus on. I also learned how to complete the detailed process for creating such targeted lessons. This process includes gathering background information about each student’s learning and home environment, conducting pre-assessments for the targeted skill, implementing lessons with explicit instruction, and assessing the results of the student’s learning. This process can be used for individual students, small groups, or the whole class.
Assessing Instruction
As an aspiring teacher, I often heard about the importance of assessments and using the results of them to inform my instruction. The word “assessment” is often linked with the idea of “teaching to the test” or focusing on standardized test results. However, this is not always the case and assessments play a very important role in the classroom. As a first grade teacher, weekly tests and unit tests are built into our curriculum to assess student knowledge and check whether or not individual students are “on track” toward meeting the grade level goals. The role of formative assessments is to check in with students throughout their learning. This type of assessment could be an informal observation of academic performance during an activity or a weekly quiz to assess knowledge of that week’s target skill. The role of a summative assessment is to check what the student has learned over a longer period of time, such as the test that follows an entire unit of instruction. Of course the goal of all of these types of assessments is to utilize the information from them to understand where the academic needs are and then build instruction around those needs.
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As a beginning teacher, this all felt very overwhelming. First I need to assess all of my students, next I need to review and grade those assessments, and finally I need to implement lesson plans that will help all students meet their needs. I thought, “How is this possible?” In my first couple of years teaching, I had some practice with implementing assessments and using them to inform my future instruction in the classroom. Many of the assessments came from my teaching curriculum or from helpful colleagues. After taking another Teacher Education (TE) course titled “Elementary Reading and Assessment Instruction,” I was able to gain a more detailed understanding of materials and resources that I could use for assessing and implementing literacy instruction. This course provided materials for teaching literacy to many different learners and it also had a heavy focus on effectively assessing student academic knowledge before and after teaching.
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I learned how to analyze individual student data in great detail using student sample assessments of literacy concepts such as phonics, sight words, and reading fluency. I looked at all of the information closely, comparing it with Common Core State Standards, in order to determine the academic strengths of an individual student as well as skills that the individual could use more practice on. After analyzing the data, I used that information to create learning goals and follow up lessons to target the individual’s needed skills. While analyzing assessments has proven to be quite a lengthy process, it is worth the knowledge I will gain in order to build instructional lessons that will benefit individual needs. This TE course has provided me with valuable knowledge about the importance of assessment and the knowledge I have gained can be applied with individuals, small groups, or even the whole group.
Psychology of Classroom Discipline
The third course that I feel I took the most away from was a CEP (Counseling and Educational Psychology) course titled “Psychology of Classroom Discipline.” During During this course, I gained a better understanding of the factors that may impact student behaviors in schools and learned about many research-based strategies and tools that could be used to respond to behaviors effectively and help create a successful learning environment. This knowledge is so important because a student’s behaviors in school can greatly impact that student’s ability to learn. The knowledge gained in this course helped me to better understand the reasons behind student behavior as well as effective strategies for responding to those behaviors so that each student can learn to the best of his/her ability. While there are some factors that affect behavior that I have no control over, there are many factors that I can help students cope with. For example, some factors that I have the ability to improve include: motivation to learn, comfortable environment, and instruction created to fit individual academic needs.
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It is important for me to understand my own role as the adult in helping to create a safe and enriching learning environment for all students. This CEP course provided a lot of research-based information about the creation of an effective classroom management system. I learned that looking at the big picture --the learning environment as a whole-- as well as the small details can make a huge difference in the effectiveness of the classroom’s ability to cater to learning needs. Some of the factors that are included in a successful classroom include: the physical arrangement of the room, carefully planned classroom rules and procedures, and strategies for creating positive relationships between the teacher and students as well as among peers.
Conclusion
Throughout the duration of the MAED program, I have gained new knowledge and obtained new understanding and skills, as well as expanded upon the teaching strategies and ideals that I previously held. One aspect of the program that I enjoyed the most was being able to collaborate with peers who were also full-time teachers. The collaboration piece of the program was so important because it gave me the opportunity to gain new insights from others working in the field. The materials covered in the courses of the MAED program were certainly fruitful and relevant to my everyday work. However, the ability to discuss teaching ideals and strategies that others were using in their classrooms made the information even more relevant. Coursework that gave me opportunities to work with other teachers helped to create an online community of educators who could learn from each other, work together, and support one another.
As I look back on the full experience of my student career at MSU, as well as my career thus far as an educator, I can see the impact that furthering my education through the MAED program has had. The MAED program has provided me with a set of skills that I will continually use as a literacy educator. The program has provided me with knowledge and resources for the best research-based practices for teaching literacy today. I have also been given the knowledge and resources necessary for assessing and differentiating literacy instruction for all students. The program has also helped me to gain a greater understanding of all of the factors that impact the learning environment and the role that I have toward making that environment safe and successful for all. I consider the knowledge I am leaving the MAED program with to be very valuable to me and I will continually use it throughout my career as a literacy educator.