Megan M. Kole
Educator. Motivator. Life Long Learner.
Annotated Transcript
Master of Arts in Education
Below are a list of courses that I have taken to complete my Master of Arts in Education degree. Each description contains an overview of what I learned in the course.
Cross-Cultural Study Abroad: Sydney, Australia
Summer 2011
TE 815: Comparative Analysis of Educational Practices
Instructors: Laura Apol and Jennifer Knight
This course was taken at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. In this course, we discussed the similarities and differences between education in the United States and Australia. Mostly a discussion based course, my classmates and I read and discussed articles written on the American education system and the Australian education system. This gave me the opportunity to see what it means to be an educator in another country. This experience gave me new ideas to utilize in my own classroom. I learned that as a teacher, you become a part of a world-wide community of people who all share the same goals.
TE 894: Laboratory and Field Experiences in Teaching, Curriculum, and Schooling
Instructors: Laura Apol and Jennifer Knight
The second course that I took in Australia included our field experience teaching in an Australian school. During my field experience, I got to see and feel what it was like to be a teacher in New South Wales, Australia. I assisted my collabortating teacher in creating lesson plans for our Year 2 students and planned a short unit entitled "Schoolyard Safari," in which my students observed insects that live in the schoolyard. I also traveled to the school in which my host dad taught to speak with his Year 5 students about Michigan and the difference between schools in the United States and schools in Australia. This course also offered the opportunity to discuss with our peers our varying experiences at different schools and grade levels in two discussion meetings.
Internship Year
Fall 2011- Spring 2012
TE 802: Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice I
Instructor: Sarah Little
This course focused on Literacy in the elementary classroom. Throughout this course we learned and discussed a variety of Literacy teaching strategies such as Book Clubs, Reading Groups, Daily 5, CAFE, Reader's Workshop, and Writer's Workshop. During our discussions of the different strategies, we were encouraged to discuss which strategies we observed in our classrooms and which we were interested in utilizing in our future classrooms. The main portion of the course was to create a literacy unit plan. While creating my plan, I learned how to properly construct and manage a Writer's Workshop. The skills that I acquired in this course are ones that I utilize in my teaching every day. This course provided me with a foundation of how to teach literacy not just to my students, but for them.
TE 803: Professional Roles and Teaching Practice II
Instructor: Betty Okwako
This course focused on teaching Social Studies to elementary students and working with students with special needs. This course not only taught me the importance of teaching social studies to elementary students, but how to inspire students to want to learn about social studies through active learning. A classmate and I utilized what we had learned in the course to create a unit for our third grade students about Michigan's economy. The unit we designed was interactive, engaging, and gave students the opportunity to actually experience economic ideals (e.g., interdependence, specialization, trade). This course also provided me with the opportunity to research Asperger's Syndrome more in depth and present my findings to my peers. This course was meaningful to me because I learned the importance of active learning and differentiation to insure the success of all students.
TE 804: Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice II
Instructors: Rochelle Rubin
This course changed my perspective on what it means to teach science to elementary students. As a result of this course, I decided to continue a science focus throughout obtaining my Master's degree. During this course, I learned about "inquiry-based teaching/learning." This teaching strategy is one that I have utilized throughout my teaching career. I was given the opportunity to create an inquiry-based science unit on light that encompassed Experiences, Patterns, Explanation (EPE) and the Inquiry-Application Instructional Model (I-AIM). These two theories focus on allowing students to experience science by asking questions and eliciting prior ideas. From here, students begin to explore patterns in their investigations which allows them to create their own explanations for phenomena. Since learning about EPE and I-AIM, I no longer teach science using the "traditional" scientific method.
Fall 2013
TE 831: Teaching School Subject Matter with Technology
Instructor: Erica Hamilton
One of my favorite courses I took to obtain my degree, TE 831 made me work outside of my comfort zone. I took this course as an elective and taking it made me want to obtain another Master's degree in Educational Technology. During this course, we had to explore technologies new to us and use them with our students. I developed strategies and methods for utilizing technology with the content I was teaching my fifth grade students. This course taught me what it means to teach 21st century learners. I had to step out of my teaching "bubble" and shift my thinking to the idea that students today need to learn differently than I did. The most challenging aspect of the course was testing out different educational technologies myself. However, the result was a rewarding and revealing experience that helped me grow as an educator.
TE 846: Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners
Instructor: Chad Waldron
This course also helped me grow as an educator by providing me with the experience of focusing on one student struggling with literacy and providing interventions and assessments to help meet the specific needs of the student. I studied best practices in literacy instruction and analyzed a variety of assessment practices. Throughout the course, I was able to discuss with other educators from a variety of teaching backgrounds about the strategies that we utilized. This course was meaningful to me because I was able to not just read about differentiating instruction, but to take what I was learning in the course and apply it directly to a student in my class. Learning about the five broad areas related to literacy instruction (cultural and linguistic differences, individual motivation differences, neuropsychological differences, instructional arrangements, and the required components of effective literacy instruction) deepened my understanding of how to plan instruction that better fits all of my students' individual needs.
Spring 2014
ED 800: Concepts of Educational Inquiry
Instructors: Steven Weiland and Nathan Clason
The focus of this course was to present different concepts of educational inquiry throughout history. The course took me through the foundational ideologies of education, how students can better learn through play and creativity, and the importance of why students and teachers should learn through inquiry. This course gave me the opportunity to reflect back on my own teaching and how students are more than capable of driving their own educations with the help of their involved, caring teachers. This course also served as a reminder that education is always changing and teachers should be open-minded to that change.
TE 861A: Teaching Science Understanding
Instructor: Alicia Alonzo
This course built on to my existing philosophies of science teaching. The primary goal of this course was to build a foundation of what it means to "understand science" and how to teach this understanding. Not only did I experience the Next Generation Science Standards for the first time, I was also able to think about my own understanding of science. This course brought out the important idea that in order to teach science, one must understand it as well. The course taught me to broaden my conceptions of what it means to understand science and how to support student understanding of science. This course reintegrated the idea of "teaching with the end in mind" by utilizing a "where are we going (what does it mean to understand science)?", "are we headed in the right direction (how do we know if someone "understands science")?", and "how do we get where we're going (how do we help our students "understand science")?" approach. This approach is now one I use in all content areas.
Fall 2014
CEP 802: Developing Positive Attitudes Toward Learning
Instructors: Evelyn Oka and Taylor Hicks
This course presented a multitude of strategies and approaches to promote the development of motivation to learn. Through the examination of real cases, I developed my own sense of what the word "motivation" truly means. I learned that motivation has many dimensions and a student's lack of motivation can be correlated to a variety of forms such as anxiety, lack of engagment, self-efficacy, low self-esteem, and work avoidance. This course allowed me to observe one student in particular to get to the root of his "motivational problem." Through working with a small group of peers throughout the course, I was able to understand that a child's motivational problem is unique to them. This course taught me that motivation to learn is a singular problem where one size fits all, that in order to inspire students to learn we must approach each student individually. This insight is one that I will continue to apply to my professional life by constantly analyzing and evaluating my own teaching and the characteristics of my students.
TE 861B: Inquiry and the Nature of Science
Instructor: Sarah Stapleton
Developing scientific knowledge is not just about memorizing facts, rather it is a combination of learning content and utilizing scientific practices. This idea was the main focus of TE 861B. Throughout this course, I developed new ideas about inquiry-based scientific learning while building on ideas from prior courses. This course presented me with the new idea that the scientific method is not a linear process and opened my eyes to the debate on the limits of science. I was able to explore my students' ideas about the nature of science and incorporate science practices from the Next Generation Science Standards into my lesson plans. Walking away from the course, I strengthened my knowledge and skills in teaching science content and practice.
Spring 2015
ED 870: Capstone Seminar
Instructors: Matthew Koehler, Spencer Greenhalgh, Sarah Keenan, Brittany Dillman, and Joshua Rosenberg
During the final course of my Master's degree, I was able to reflect on where I started as an educator and who I am today. This course gave me an opportunity to look back at how I previously viewed education and how I have become a better educator for my students because of my completion of my Master's degree. Creating an online portfolio literally capped off everything that I have learned in my Master's, reintegrating the importance of technology and inquiry in 21st century learning. I am proud of the porfolio I have created, presenting not only what I have learned as a student, but how I have grown as educator. As a life-long learner, this digital portfolio will allow me to showcase my growth throughout my career.