Eric Vanston's Master's Degree Annotated Transcript
Michigan State University
Michigan State University
TE 802- Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice I
Fall 2008 Instructor: Mike Steele This class was taken in conjunction with my student teaching. We learned a lot about lesson planning, inquiry learning, and questioning. There were assignments in this class, but the most important things that I took out of this class were the strategies that I could implement in my classroom. As stated in the course name, reflection was a big aspect of this class. I learned how to reflect on my practice in many different ways, on an hour to hour basis, a day to day basis, and a unit to unit basis. |
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TE 803- Professional Roles & Teaching
Spring 2009 Instructor: Mark Low We focused on strategies to increase student learning. A big part of these strategies were focused on working with families and in the communities to forge stronger relationships with all parties. I worked on a case study in which I described an important incident in my class and examined it from not only my perspective, but also from the student's perspective. I assessed the way that I handled the situation, and developed a plan to better handle a similar situation in the future. |
TE 804- Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice II
Spring 2009 Instructor: Mike Steele This class was a continuation of TE 802 and taken in conjunction with my student teaching. The assignments broadened to not only planning individual lessons, but planning entire unites as well. After planning these units, I would apply it to my teaching in my student teaching placement. I continued to reflect on my practice, which is a skill I still utilize to this day. This course also taught me how to collect and analyze data from our students. Reflecting on the data received allowed me to better plan and prepare my future lessons in order to achieve a greater goal, which is a big part of education today. |
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EAD 801- Leadership and Organizational Development
Spring 2013 Instructor: Chris Dunbar The goal of this class was for us to learn what proper professional development is, and how to implement it in the future. Oftentimes, professional development is something of a chore for teachers. We learned that teachers must have more of a stake in what they are learning. Effective professional development also requires follow up. Too often, the discussions end when teachers leave, and the conversations are never revisited. To put together everything that we learned about professional development and leadership, we had a group project where we planned and presented a professional development session that was geared towards helping build confidence in novice teachers. |
EAD 822- Engaging Diverse Students and Families
Spring 2013 Instructor: Muhammad Khalifa This course examined the history of education and how diverse students are taught in this country. We read and discussed how social, cultural, and linguistic factors effect the education of these students. We also focused on how to create better relationships with students who are different from the majority white population of educators. This class opened my eyes to the privilege and oppression that exist in not only our education system, but also our society. I believe that being aware of this privilege, and being open to having a conversation about it will be the first, small step in eradicating it. I wrote my final paper on the racial achievement gap at a local high school, and included strategies that we as teachers could use to decrease this gap. |
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EAD 850- Multicultural Education
Spring 2013 Instructor: Riyad Shahjahan This class was similar to EAD 822 in that it focused on privilege and oppression. There are certain groups in this country who remain in power, specifically, white, hetero-sexual, non-disabled males. We examined how to be more aware of the privilege of these groups and use these ideas to promote a fair and balanced multicultural education. We studied the racial achievement gap that exists in almost every high school in America. Deficit Theory was a big idea in this course, which touched on the idea that we often expect our minority students to struggle, resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy. |
ED 800- Educational Inquiry
Summer 2013 Instructor: Steven Weiland This class was a foundational one of this master's degree program, which focused on the history, purposes, and problems with education. We studied the idea of inquiry learning, which we also labeled as discovery learning. This was a self paced class in that there we no due dates, we just had to get all six papers in before the final day of class. We studied many of John Dewey's ideas as well as what is truth in education. The most important thing that I took out of this class is how important it is to foster an inquiry spirit in our students to create stronger links in the things that we teach them. |
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KIN 856- The Physical Bases of Coaching
Summer 2013 Instructor: Scott Riewald This class showed me just how much science is involved in teaching an athlete to reach his or her peak performance. I learned what a proper post game snack should be to give the athlete the correct amount of carbohydrates and protein. I was able to design a dynamic warmup that would allow a soccer player's muscles to be ready for optimal performance during the game. I also designed various workouts that strengthened the most commonly injured areas on the body for a soccer player, to prevent such injuries. This course was not about completing assignments to get a good grade, it allowed me to create a "toolbox" of workouts, diets and contacts that I will be able to utilize when I begin coaching. |
TE 846- Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners
Summer 2013 Instructor: Chad Waldron When I started out as a math teacher, I did not think a literacy class such as this would be important for me. However, from experience teaching, and taking this class, I have realized how important it is for every teacher to be a literacy teacher. Reading strategies can be applied to every class, and math is no different. From this class, I learned strategies the help students with the dreaded "word problems" that are always causing trouble in math. I was also able to learn how to analyze students as readers, and pinpoint what they need work on. I completed a case study with a pre and post test, as well as lessons in between to help my student improve his fluency and reading comprehension. |
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ED 870- Capstone Seminar
Spring 2014 Instructor: Matt Koehler The last class on my journey to a graduate degree was the Capstone Seminar. Many degrees finish with a thesis statement, however, in this program, the assignment was to make an online portfolio rather than a thesis. This portfolio would be something that could not only showcase all of my hard work, but also help sell myself as an educator to potential employers. Finishing this course will give me a portfolio that I am proud of, and allow me to reflect on the things that I have learned throughout the program that have not only changed me as an educator, but more importantly, as a man. |
Image Credits
1. http://sites.saschina.org/tsessoms/2014/03/09/trimester-reflection/
2. http://expatspost.com/creative/convictions-of-a-progressive-teacher/
3. http://www.salesprogress.com/coaching-leadership/bid/87866/Self-Reflection-Planning-Questions
4. http://www.hospitalityleadership.com/The_Leadership_Jigsaw.html
5. http://www.geneseo.edu/health/dos-and-donts-parents
6. http://www.luna.edu/early_childhood_multicultural/
7. http://omprakashtransportcompany.com/inquiry.aspx
8. http://axiomsfd.com/blog/coaching-essentials-read-any-good-spreadsheets-lately/
9. http://www.pinterest.com/mormor717/books-mysterious-readers-who-is-reading/
10. http://vanston.weebly.com
1. http://sites.saschina.org/tsessoms/2014/03/09/trimester-reflection/
2. http://expatspost.com/creative/convictions-of-a-progressive-teacher/
3. http://www.salesprogress.com/coaching-leadership/bid/87866/Self-Reflection-Planning-Questions
4. http://www.hospitalityleadership.com/The_Leadership_Jigsaw.html
5. http://www.geneseo.edu/health/dos-and-donts-parents
6. http://www.luna.edu/early_childhood_multicultural/
7. http://omprakashtransportcompany.com/inquiry.aspx
8. http://axiomsfd.com/blog/coaching-essentials-read-any-good-spreadsheets-lately/
9. http://www.pinterest.com/mormor717/books-mysterious-readers-who-is-reading/
10. http://vanston.weebly.com