Ms. Giles: Then & Now
I’ve always been a teacher at heart. Growing up I loved learning, I loved being in school, and I loved helping others learn. I was always around children, whether it was babysitting, entertaining the younger cousins at family reunions, or tutoring my little sister with her homework. As I grew older I realized I had a natural gift with children and belonged in a classroom. I completed my fifth year internship through Michigan State University in Detroit, Michigan and fell in love with the urban setting.
I graduated from Michigan State University majoring in Elementary Education with two minors, ESL and Spanish. My minors were essential with my first teaching job in Detroit. I was a third grade teacher with 28 spanish speaking third graders. It was a wonderful experience and I missed them as I moved on to teach in Chicago, Illinois. I am currently still teaching at the school that brought me to Chicago. I have been teaching second grade at Providence Englewood Charter School for three years. Upon completion of my third year as an educator, I felt confident in myself after my few years of teaching experience, however I attended a professional development for a Math program, and I heard a quote that teachers only reach the middle level of their students, neglecting to enrich the high level students or reteach the struggling learners. This made me ask myself, “Is this true in my classroom?” I also reflected on my craft and realized that I was gifted in the Reading and Language Arts block, however I was interested in enhancing my craft in regards to Special Education, Technology, leadership, working with challenging behavior, and lastly Math. I knew I was an effective teacher, but I wanted to do more. I searched for programs that would benefit me, which ultimately led me back to Michigan State University’s Masters of Arts in Education program with a concentration in Literacy. This program guided me to become a Reading Specialist, however still ensured that I took elective courses to help myself stay well rounded. I was able to select classes that would improve my strategies in regards to classroom management, Special Education, technology, leadership, and working with children with challenging behaviors. These courses improved my instruction and changed the way I approached my job.
I’d like to acknowledge my professors for the Technology and Leadership course, as it taught me professional development strategies, project management, relationship building, and reflecting on ethical and social implications. The course began by deciphering what type of leader you are. (Click here if you’re interested in determining what type of leader you are!) This was interesting to me because although I am a general education teacher, it was important to put yourself in the place of leadership and administration, and understand how to decide on a school vision, and what steps you need to take in order to get the rest of your faculty and staff on a consistent plan with you. I found that I appreciated and respected the administration team at my current school. I applauded them as I read more professional articles and studies on what it meant to be a good leader, and saw them with many of those characteristics. The course also used many scenarios and discussions on how to integrate technology, and placed you in the position of head of the program. It helped me to plan in the role as an administrator rather than a teacher, helping me see the big picture and creating the steps that it would take to have a successful technology plan. I collaborated with a fellow classmate who was also an elementary teacher. We created a Prezi, which we would use if we ever needed a plan on how to incorporate ipads in the classroom. In addition to the leadership role of the course, it also helped me to analyze the district issues we had, and create a school vision. My vision was formed after viewing our data as a school based on NWEA scores. I created a school vision and plan to get our school back on track. It was a very interesting assignment that put me in a hypothetical leadership position and helping me understand the challenges one faces in that position. The class ended with a technology piece, of course, where I created a presentation on the Tpack Model. This presentation shared with fellow educators how to use the TPack model to increase student motivation, make resources of lessons more accessible to students, and make lessons more interactive, engaging and meaningful to students.
The next course, Educating Students with Challenging Behavior came at a perfect time in my career. As this course started, I currently had a group that “kept me on my toes,” and I appreciated the strategies and refreshing ways to manage each one of their individual personalities. With this course’s help I was able to combine evidence-based classroom interventions for students with disruptive behaviors and use effective teaching approaches. The course used readings, scenarios, and discussions to ultimately lead up to a final project (detailed essay) that was a case study with a struggling student in my classroom, essentially getting him back on track. This class came at a beneficial time, as I was able to incorporate all of these strategies to maintain control of my classroom, while simultaneously giving TL* the attention and strategies he needed to help him achieve his academic and social goals.
Although I’ve had several other courses that have benefited me professionally, the final three courses I want to recognize are Awards and Classics of Children's Literature, Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners, and Methods and Materials for Teaching Children's and Adolescent Literature because they aided me in achieving my goal of becoming a certified Reading Specialist. They were specialty classes that gave me outlets to finding authentic literature to bring into my classroom library, and also integrate into various subject lessons.
The first course, Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners, was essentially a 10 week course which directed me in creating a case study unit project of a student in my classroom. First I viewed different strategies, instructional practices and developmental processes that would contribute to effective learning of reading and writing. The professor also gave several resources of teaching methods for accommodating the different needs of individual literacy learners. I worked with a particular student that was a fluent reader, however I used the strategies, methods, and guidance of my professor to help him in achieving mastery in analyzing texts. I created two lesson plans, one which focused on finding the main idea and key details of a fictional text, and the other helped Frazier* find the Author's Purpose. This course was available during the last ten weeks of Frazier’s academic school year, and offered assistance in ensuring quality instruction and strategies needed to become a successful third grader. It was an effective intervention lesson, and our relationship grew stronger as he shared he loved the one on one time with me! After our short unit, Frazier moved onto third grade with confidence and skills in those two objectives needed for third grade, and created authentic assessments to demonstrate his mastery.
I found the last two courses, Awards and Classics of Children's Literature and Methods and Materials for Teaching Children's and Adolescent Literature to be very similar because they each critically examined literary classics and award winning books for children of all ages and evaluated various genres and elements of literature. The Awards and Classics course shared various award winning novels and picturebooks recognized by the ALA program. These awards shared texts that could relate to any student as the Schneider Family Book Award honors an author that embodies a story of a disability experience for a child, Newberry award winners that is given for the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature that year. The Caldecott Medal awards an artist of the most distinguished American Picture Book for Children published in the United States during the preceding year. Using these resources the course wrapped everything back together by assigning an essay in which I was to use the knowledge I had gained from viewing these various awards to critique a classic story known to all, Peter Pan. These two courses resembled one another in the way that it introduced me to diverse books that could relate to any student in my classroom, or introduce a child to another another lifestyle, helping them not only acknowledge it, but appreciate it! This class has helped me evolve my ideas on what literature is, and the role it plays in the classroom. When I started this specific MSU course, I enjoyed teaching literature, my reading and language arts blocks were my favorite subjects to teach, and I enjoyed analyzing a plot with my students. After the countless articles, discussions, novels we’ve viewed and reflected on in this course I now know that literature can be much more than that. Each story can send the students away with a life lesson. A student can relate to a story to remember a wonderful experience, or even help them through a tough time. A story can teach people, young or old, about other people’s lifestyles, and help them learn to accept and appreciate that. The literature pieces have much more to offer to them than just learning how to analyze a text. Literature can be entertaining, informative, but it can also connect students to make personal connections, or connect them to individuals whose lives are very different than their own. I plan on making more real world connections to each literature piece that we view as a class, and I also plan on bringing in more of a variety in books to share with them. It’s important to share different perspectives and experiences with children starting at a young age, so they grow up more open minded and accepting of others. It’s just as important to use literature to connect students to lives very different than their own, and acknowledge and appreciate others’ lifestyles, heritage, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities. Students need the literature to be aware that not everybody has the same families.
The last course that I believe is important to display gratitude for helping me become the educator I am today would be my Capstone Seminar Course. This particular course helped to end my Master’s at MSU with reflection and synthesis of learning experience a creation and exhibition of an electronic portfolio to share with viewers the teacher I have become today.
Each of these MSU Masters courses helped me to better myself as an educator. The program provided me with strategies for challenging behavior, effective strategies that work, and outlets to use when I am in need of a refresher. This MAET program changed the way I approach my job, and I believe it has helped me to become a highly effective teacher. I am no longer solely confident in my Reading and Language Arts concentration, but I am leaving this program with the knowledge needed in the life of an everyday teacher. I will know what strategies to use with a disruptive child, what interventions to use with a struggling reader, what technology pieces can enhance a lesson, or what literature I should include into a unit. Although I have gained much knowledge in the Master of Arts Education Program, I am not finished with my development as a teacher. I will ensure that I am staying up to date with the newest effective strategies, implementing new technology pieces, and keeping my demeanor fresh in the classroom.
I graduated from Michigan State University majoring in Elementary Education with two minors, ESL and Spanish. My minors were essential with my first teaching job in Detroit. I was a third grade teacher with 28 spanish speaking third graders. It was a wonderful experience and I missed them as I moved on to teach in Chicago, Illinois. I am currently still teaching at the school that brought me to Chicago. I have been teaching second grade at Providence Englewood Charter School for three years. Upon completion of my third year as an educator, I felt confident in myself after my few years of teaching experience, however I attended a professional development for a Math program, and I heard a quote that teachers only reach the middle level of their students, neglecting to enrich the high level students or reteach the struggling learners. This made me ask myself, “Is this true in my classroom?” I also reflected on my craft and realized that I was gifted in the Reading and Language Arts block, however I was interested in enhancing my craft in regards to Special Education, Technology, leadership, working with challenging behavior, and lastly Math. I knew I was an effective teacher, but I wanted to do more. I searched for programs that would benefit me, which ultimately led me back to Michigan State University’s Masters of Arts in Education program with a concentration in Literacy. This program guided me to become a Reading Specialist, however still ensured that I took elective courses to help myself stay well rounded. I was able to select classes that would improve my strategies in regards to classroom management, Special Education, technology, leadership, and working with children with challenging behaviors. These courses improved my instruction and changed the way I approached my job.
I’d like to acknowledge my professors for the Technology and Leadership course, as it taught me professional development strategies, project management, relationship building, and reflecting on ethical and social implications. The course began by deciphering what type of leader you are. (Click here if you’re interested in determining what type of leader you are!) This was interesting to me because although I am a general education teacher, it was important to put yourself in the place of leadership and administration, and understand how to decide on a school vision, and what steps you need to take in order to get the rest of your faculty and staff on a consistent plan with you. I found that I appreciated and respected the administration team at my current school. I applauded them as I read more professional articles and studies on what it meant to be a good leader, and saw them with many of those characteristics. The course also used many scenarios and discussions on how to integrate technology, and placed you in the position of head of the program. It helped me to plan in the role as an administrator rather than a teacher, helping me see the big picture and creating the steps that it would take to have a successful technology plan. I collaborated with a fellow classmate who was also an elementary teacher. We created a Prezi, which we would use if we ever needed a plan on how to incorporate ipads in the classroom. In addition to the leadership role of the course, it also helped me to analyze the district issues we had, and create a school vision. My vision was formed after viewing our data as a school based on NWEA scores. I created a school vision and plan to get our school back on track. It was a very interesting assignment that put me in a hypothetical leadership position and helping me understand the challenges one faces in that position. The class ended with a technology piece, of course, where I created a presentation on the Tpack Model. This presentation shared with fellow educators how to use the TPack model to increase student motivation, make resources of lessons more accessible to students, and make lessons more interactive, engaging and meaningful to students.
The next course, Educating Students with Challenging Behavior came at a perfect time in my career. As this course started, I currently had a group that “kept me on my toes,” and I appreciated the strategies and refreshing ways to manage each one of their individual personalities. With this course’s help I was able to combine evidence-based classroom interventions for students with disruptive behaviors and use effective teaching approaches. The course used readings, scenarios, and discussions to ultimately lead up to a final project (detailed essay) that was a case study with a struggling student in my classroom, essentially getting him back on track. This class came at a beneficial time, as I was able to incorporate all of these strategies to maintain control of my classroom, while simultaneously giving TL* the attention and strategies he needed to help him achieve his academic and social goals.
Although I’ve had several other courses that have benefited me professionally, the final three courses I want to recognize are Awards and Classics of Children's Literature, Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners, and Methods and Materials for Teaching Children's and Adolescent Literature because they aided me in achieving my goal of becoming a certified Reading Specialist. They were specialty classes that gave me outlets to finding authentic literature to bring into my classroom library, and also integrate into various subject lessons.
The first course, Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners, was essentially a 10 week course which directed me in creating a case study unit project of a student in my classroom. First I viewed different strategies, instructional practices and developmental processes that would contribute to effective learning of reading and writing. The professor also gave several resources of teaching methods for accommodating the different needs of individual literacy learners. I worked with a particular student that was a fluent reader, however I used the strategies, methods, and guidance of my professor to help him in achieving mastery in analyzing texts. I created two lesson plans, one which focused on finding the main idea and key details of a fictional text, and the other helped Frazier* find the Author's Purpose. This course was available during the last ten weeks of Frazier’s academic school year, and offered assistance in ensuring quality instruction and strategies needed to become a successful third grader. It was an effective intervention lesson, and our relationship grew stronger as he shared he loved the one on one time with me! After our short unit, Frazier moved onto third grade with confidence and skills in those two objectives needed for third grade, and created authentic assessments to demonstrate his mastery.
I found the last two courses, Awards and Classics of Children's Literature and Methods and Materials for Teaching Children's and Adolescent Literature to be very similar because they each critically examined literary classics and award winning books for children of all ages and evaluated various genres and elements of literature. The Awards and Classics course shared various award winning novels and picturebooks recognized by the ALA program. These awards shared texts that could relate to any student as the Schneider Family Book Award honors an author that embodies a story of a disability experience for a child, Newberry award winners that is given for the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature that year. The Caldecott Medal awards an artist of the most distinguished American Picture Book for Children published in the United States during the preceding year. Using these resources the course wrapped everything back together by assigning an essay in which I was to use the knowledge I had gained from viewing these various awards to critique a classic story known to all, Peter Pan. These two courses resembled one another in the way that it introduced me to diverse books that could relate to any student in my classroom, or introduce a child to another another lifestyle, helping them not only acknowledge it, but appreciate it! This class has helped me evolve my ideas on what literature is, and the role it plays in the classroom. When I started this specific MSU course, I enjoyed teaching literature, my reading and language arts blocks were my favorite subjects to teach, and I enjoyed analyzing a plot with my students. After the countless articles, discussions, novels we’ve viewed and reflected on in this course I now know that literature can be much more than that. Each story can send the students away with a life lesson. A student can relate to a story to remember a wonderful experience, or even help them through a tough time. A story can teach people, young or old, about other people’s lifestyles, and help them learn to accept and appreciate that. The literature pieces have much more to offer to them than just learning how to analyze a text. Literature can be entertaining, informative, but it can also connect students to make personal connections, or connect them to individuals whose lives are very different than their own. I plan on making more real world connections to each literature piece that we view as a class, and I also plan on bringing in more of a variety in books to share with them. It’s important to share different perspectives and experiences with children starting at a young age, so they grow up more open minded and accepting of others. It’s just as important to use literature to connect students to lives very different than their own, and acknowledge and appreciate others’ lifestyles, heritage, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities. Students need the literature to be aware that not everybody has the same families.
The last course that I believe is important to display gratitude for helping me become the educator I am today would be my Capstone Seminar Course. This particular course helped to end my Master’s at MSU with reflection and synthesis of learning experience a creation and exhibition of an electronic portfolio to share with viewers the teacher I have become today.
Each of these MSU Masters courses helped me to better myself as an educator. The program provided me with strategies for challenging behavior, effective strategies that work, and outlets to use when I am in need of a refresher. This MAET program changed the way I approach my job, and I believe it has helped me to become a highly effective teacher. I am no longer solely confident in my Reading and Language Arts concentration, but I am leaving this program with the knowledge needed in the life of an everyday teacher. I will know what strategies to use with a disruptive child, what interventions to use with a struggling reader, what technology pieces can enhance a lesson, or what literature I should include into a unit. Although I have gained much knowledge in the Master of Arts Education Program, I am not finished with my development as a teacher. I will ensure that I am staying up to date with the newest effective strategies, implementing new technology pieces, and keeping my demeanor fresh in the classroom.