Photo courtesy of www.msu.edu
Lindsey Griffiths' Masters of Education Annotated Transcript
The following is a list of courses that I took through Michigan State University in order to achieve a masters degree in education with a concentration on special education instruction in the general education classroom. Courses taken in 2009 and 2010 were a part of my time as a teaching intern. Any classes in 2013-2014 I took concurrently with working as an elementary teacher in Grafton, VT. Each course is listed, with instructors and course descriptions, to provide you with an idea of my foci going through this process. I have done my best to acknowledge the credentials of my instructors from each course throughout my degree, and I apologize if I have made any errors.
Fall 2009
TE 802: Reflection and Inquiry of Teaching Practices 1
Jennifer Knight
This course was one of the first I took as a graduate student and was geared toward the fact that the class was made up of teaching interns in their first long term classroom position. This class focused on teaching both qualitative and quantitative methods of research and inquiry through the specific lens of literacy. Included topics were several writing genres, reading comprehension, several models of literacy based discussion, and how to conduct an inquiry into the effectiveness of literacy instruction. Additionally, I created a 10 day unit plan that taught five reading strategies that could be used in my second grade internship placement.
Jennifer Knight
This course was one of the first I took as a graduate student and was geared toward the fact that the class was made up of teaching interns in their first long term classroom position. This class focused on teaching both qualitative and quantitative methods of research and inquiry through the specific lens of literacy. Included topics were several writing genres, reading comprehension, several models of literacy based discussion, and how to conduct an inquiry into the effectiveness of literacy instruction. Additionally, I created a 10 day unit plan that taught five reading strategies that could be used in my second grade internship placement.
Spring 2010
TE 803: Professional Roles and Teaching Practices 1
Justin Bruner This course was a part of the culmination of my experience as a teaching intern. The focus was on social studies instruction as part of an integrated unit plan, differentiation, and the development of reflective practices that should be used to further develop our skills as teachers. Also included was how to write a cover letter and the outlining of our professional responsibilities as elementary teachers. As a final project I created a unit plan that integrated social studies and reading instruction to teach how citizens live together in a community. |
TE 804: Professional Roles and Teaching Practices 2
Rochelle Rubin This was the other course that comprised the culmination of my internship experience. In this class we were asked to develop and teach a science unit with assessment as well as an inquiry project. The science unit included standards to be addressed, pre-assessing student knowledge, using the available resources to design an appropriate instructional sequence, and finally assessing both student learning and my own experiences in actually teaching the unit. The unit I created addressed the life cycle and needs of plants. |
Summer 2013
CEP 840: Policies, Practices, and Perspectives in Special Education
Carol Sue Englert and Mari MacFarland This class served as an introduction to special education as it exists in today's school environments. It outlined some general characteristics for a variety of learning and behavioral disabilities, the teacher's legal and professional responsibilities regarding these students, and how best to meet their educational needs in an inclusive classroom. Specific strategies included the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Response to Intervention (RTI), and assistive technology (AT). Major assignments of this course included writing an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), designing a webpage that provided information regarding a specific type of disability and how AT can be used to facilitate instruction, and a developing a website that provides a selection of resources for teachers that cover all of the aforementioned course topics. |
CEP 841: Behavior Management in the Inclusive Classroom
Dr. Troy Mariage, Mei Shen, Nai-Cheng Kuo, and Alisha Brown A myriad of strategies that classroom teachers can use to help manage students with challenging behaviors in their classroom were taught in this course. Included was information about Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), how to conduct a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA), the development and implementation of Behavior Intervention Plans (BIP), and practicing strategies that focused on behavior prevention rather than reactions to problem behaviors. The culminating project for this course was a special topics presentation in which I developed a PowerPoint presentation that delved deeply into BIPs, why they should be used, and effective strategies and resources that should be incorporated into their design. This course particularly connects to my current teaching position due to my school's relatively high percentage of students exhibiting challenging behaviors, and has allowed me to expand my repertoire of strategies and become a resource for my colleagues. |
Fall 2013
CEP 802: Developing Positive Attitudes Towards Learning
Dr. Evelyn Oka and Taylor Hicks CEP 802 discussed several of the primary reasons that students may not be highly motivated to learn. The thought behind taking this course is that once the reason for a student's lack of motivation has been identified a teacher is better equipped to address the issue and help the child to take a greater interest in his/her own learning. Students that are more motivated to learn will generally achieve more than students who are not. The types of motivational issues discussed included behavioral, intrinsic motivation, and cognitive-developmental models. The primary project associated with this course involved selecting a student from my own practice who exhibits motivational challenges, identify the reasons for those difficulties, and finally design and implement a plan to address the problems that utilized knowledge garnered from this course. |
ED 800: Concepts in Educational Inquiry
Steven Weiland and Nate Clason This course focused on the issues associated with both theory and practice in the current educational world. The class was subdivided into six sections, each of the first five addressing one of the following aspects: educational philosophy, inquiry (observer and participant), ethnographic challenges, the implementation of the inquiry process in our own learning, and the psychology of education. This final section required us to use information from each of the first five to write an essay that outlined a specific way that the information could be used in our own practice. My final essay addressed the use of inquiry resulting from a teacher's personal experiences to improve their own practices as exhibited by Vivian Paley in her work The Girl with the Brown Crayon. |
Spring 2014
CEP 832: Educating Students with Challenging Behaviors
Dr. Evelyn Oka and Dr. Vicky Mousouli As stated in the course title, this class specifically addressed how to teach students who exhibit challenging behaviors. The psychological and behavioral characteristics of these students were addressed in addition to effective, research-based strategies for working with these students and their families. Examples of the behaviors discussed include aggressive, impulsive and active, shy and isolated, and failure oriented behaviors. The culminating assignment of this course was to use a student example from your own practice who exhibits one of the behaviors covered in the course and design an intervention plan to support that student's learning and ameliorate their behavior. The direct application of the content of this course into my professional life made me realize just how impactful having a large 'bag of tricks' to pull from is for these students with difficult behaviors can be. Knowing how to approach different types of situations and behaviors can make a large difference to the education that student receives in your classroom. |
CEP 842: Content Area Instruction for Students with Mild Disabilities
Dr. Cynthia Okolo and Caroline Peterson This class specifically addressed how to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of students with mild disabilities in the content areas of science, social studies, and mathematics in an inclusive classroom. Teaching methods, strategies, and resources include the use of UDL, collaborative planning, content enhancement, secondary and transition services, and creating a classroom environment that supports the academic and social success of all students. As a culminating project I worked with two other students to design a professional development program that discussed the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) with regards to mathematics in a general education classroom in a way that would meet the needs for all students in grades 3-5. I believe that any teacher would benefit from having a thorough knowledge of best practice instructional methods for students with mild disabilities because in my experience all classrooms include at least one child that meets this criterion and it is our job to meet his/her needs to the best of our ability.
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Summer 2014
ED 870: Capstone Seminar
Dr. Matthew Koehler
Dr. Matthew Koehler
This course represented the culmination of my masters degree program. In this class I created an online portfolio, this website, that could be shared with potential employers, colleagues, or families of students in my class. The creation of this portfolio has given me the opportunity to revisit my education through Michigan State University and reflect on the amount of learning that has occurred. It has also given me the chance to assemble all of the major information, assignments, and resources that I have accumulated while achieving my masters degree in a way that will be useful to both myself and others in the future. I hope to connect this website with a website I can use for my classroom so that anyone with an interest in my professional life can get a well rounded picture of me. Although this course is still in progress, I am looking forward to completing this process and creating a finished website that represents who I am as a teacher, learner, and individual person.