Brooke Ramos

Brooke Ramos' Annotated Transcript 

 

Fall 2012

ED 800 ▪ Concepts of Educational Inquiry 

Dr. Steven Weiland 

This course offered a perfect introduction to my Masters in Education.  Dr. Weiland managed to cover the history of education from Dewey to the Common Core State Standards.  We explored a range of theories and best practices through Howard Gardner and the art of reflection and self-improvement through veteran kindergarten teacher Vivian Paley.  We were encouraged to inquire and to continue to do so for the entirty of our careers as teachers, whether it be in the form of personal reflection or published research. 

 

Spring 2013

CEP 832 ▪ Educating Students with Challanging Behavior 

Dr. Vicky Mousouli and Dr. Evelyn R. Oka

Educating Students with Challenging Behaviors was an extremely practical class.  All of the practices were research-based and the assignments required us to exercise our new knowledge with our own challenging students.  We were also coached in positive teacher-parent communication.  The class covered behaviors based on Jere Brophy's text, "Teaching Problem Students" ranging from students with hositlity problems to students with social relationship problems.  The final project spanned over the entire semester as we built a relationship with a challanging student and their parents.  In the end we presented our research and whether our tactics were successful.  

 

TE 848 ▪ Writing Assessment and Instruction 

Kati Macaluso

My love of writing grew in this course, because the more I studied the more fascinated I became.  The goal of the course was to teach our students how to both enjoy and excel at writing.  It allowed for as much exploration as it did creativity.  We studied multiple genres in depth and wrote our own pieces as well as researching how to teach the specific genre.  We also researched pedagogy and how to best assess students.  All of the steps of the writing process were covered in depth from the prewrite to the final published piece in the genres of poetry, narrative, and expository writing for all levels.  

 

Summer 2013

TE 846 ▪ Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners

Kari Richards

I learned how to accomodate a range of differences in this course.  We were taught how to teach English Language Learners (ELLs), students with different levels of motivation, and students with neuropsychological differences.  We then researched and developed how to improve our instruction for these different learners.  We also mastered the foundations of effective literacy instruction.  To practice what we had been learning we performed a literacy learner analysis project with a student.  It required us to study and research how to best improve our instruction to maximize learning in the student despite their struggles.  

 

TE 849 ▪ Methods and Materials for Teaching Children's and Adolescent Literature

Kristen Mcilhagga

I discovered and re-discovered many beloved children's and adolescent books in this class.  It also opened my eyes to the drastic changes in what childen look for in books and pleased me to see that some apsects never changed.  We read as both lovers of books and as teachers.  We learned how to be thoughtful in our book choices for our classrooms and to maximize the benefits each child could retain from each text as well.  It was important to understand the multiple means of reponding to literature including personally, critically, and pedagogically.  As a final project we did a comparison essay of twenty books.  

 

Fall 2013

CEP 818 ▪ Creativity in Teaching and Learning

Dr. Punya Mishra and John Good

This was one of the most valuable courses I have ever taken.  It reminds us of the importance of creativity in a world that is turning away from the arts and into mathematics and the sciences.  This course doesn't bash on any subject, instead it glorifies the role and need of creativity in every course.  It also teaches us how to pass the knowledge of creativity on to our students so that they may be successful in whatever profession they choose.  We explored and practiced the 13 "thinking tools of the world's most creative people" according to Sparks of Genius by Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein.  The thirteen traits equipped me to be a more intriguing teacher.  We presented the traits on a personal website, which introduced me to the world of web design.    

 

TE 865 ▪ Teaching and Learning K-12 Social Studies

Elizabeth Kenyon

This course was especially good at recognizing the differences each of us could bring to the table as teachers based on our experiences and philosophies.  Besides being a study of Social Studies as a subject and what that means in different nations, we also scrutinized the waves of reform in the K-12 school system over the years.  More specifically, we looked at the topics of Foundations and Origins, Citizenship and Democracy, Issues of Justice, History and Perspectives, Global Education, and Current Tensions.  We exercised our learning through thorough reading and discussion as well as action research in our classroom and a thorough review of a chosen social studies text.  

 

Spring 2014

CEP 882 ▪ The Nature and Design of Compelling Experiences 

Dr. David Wong 

In order to dissect what makes an experience compelling we studied both the nature and design of a range of experiences from the architecture of space to commercials on television.  After creating a project in each area we analyzed how we can translate the nature and design of those experiences to our classroom.  This class also demanded a lot of me technologically and I became an expert in making videos using iMovie.  It was also a challenge in being succinct because for three of the video projects we had only two minutes to convince the audience of a feeling or stance.  It taught me how to get to the point and to make it stick, which is crucial in the classroom.      

 

TE 831 ▪ Teaching School Subject Matter with Technology 

Dr. Doug Hartman

We used a range of different technology platforms in this course from web design pages (Wiki and Glogster) to social media (Twitter, Google Hangout).  We became masters of certain platforms that we chose to study further.  I made my own song about pronouns on the program Garage Band and incorporated it into a video I made on iMovie, which I utilized in my ESL class.  I also explored the application of Puppet Pals on the iPad and created a lesson based on application.  So not only were we learning about a range of technologies available to us, we were able to practice incorporating them into our classroom.  

 

Summer 2014

ED 870 ▪ Capstone Portfolio Course

Dr. Matthew Koehler

The Capstone course is designed to bring together all of the work I have done at MSU and display it in the form of this website.  I have become an expert in using the website design platform of Wix as a result.  The course allowed me to bring together all of the work I have done in the form of a showcase, this website.  It also allows me to reflect on all I have learned at MSU, through essays, as well as how I will be applying my new knowledge in the future.