MIchigan State University
Masters of Arts in education courses
Click on course titles for MSU's course description. Here is a complete list of Master of Arts in Education courses.
Fall 2016
This class was based on how to best support students whose first language was not English. This class challenged me to think of my students who were not born into English speaking families and how they had to work hard to decode the lessons, assignments, and texts that I give. Some activities included redesigning lessons we had previously created to accommodate English learners, creating personal language histories according to our own ancestry, and observing students working in an ELL support classroom. Additionally, this class put me in a group with three other students to meet four times during the semester to work on tasks collaboratively. All of these course activities were designed to get us thinking outside of the box and to create effective lessons for students who may sometimes slip under our radar and who have specific learning needs for success.
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Students learn to read, write, speak, and think in different ways, and there is no one size fits all for approaches to teaching and learning. This course was designed to introduce us to many of the avenues through which students learn and develop their skills and provided me with a tool kit of how to work with students of ranging abilities. The most meaningful activity from this course was a semester long case study in which I worked one on one with a student of my selection based on a specific literacy need. We designed a specific assessment task and lessons to help the student grow in a literacy development area. I chose to work with a student who was an English Language Learner, and we set the goal of improving written communication. This project helped me to tailor assignments to meet the needs of all my students, instead of those who are the "majority" of learning ability.
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spring 2017
When assigned the text What the Best College Students Do, I wasn't quite sure what this class would have in store for me as a high school teacher. This class is designed for collegiate level educators and how to consider the contexts in which university students learn. Designed for professionals who are working in student affairs or higher education faculty, this class posed questions such as, "What is learning, and what does it mean to be educated?", "What influences learning in the collegiate context?" This class allowed me to think about my students in preparation for college and how I can adapt my teaching to help them prepare for that next step in their educational journey.
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There are essential questions that drive how we teach and what we value in education, such as: "What are the purposes and traditions of education?", "What roles do personal experiences play in learning?", and many more. ED 800 explored these questions, and provided literature in multiple mediums to discover what we as educators value about this craft. Additionally, there were multiple opportunities for reflection upon our own techniques and values. Overall, this class challenged me to tackle education at its cores and principles to evaluate how I can lead my students through their educational journeys.
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Summer 2017
Kinesiology is the study of mechanical body movements, and I certainly learned a lot about physical movement. This is the first class I took as part of my Sports Leadership and Coaching certification, and it is about the physics of body movement. This is important for coaches to understand because effective, correct body movements are essential for staying healthy in athletics. I hadn't taken a science class in quite some time, and the concepts we explored were fascinating to me; activities and projects were designed around parts of the body and how they move for optimal performance. The end project was to create a six week training program for the sport we coach, and I'm excited to implement this program with my soccer girls this season.
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Writing is often a task students are resistant to tackle as it is often synonymous with the five paragraph essay. Writing Assessment and Instruction provided me with ways to assign writing that is meaningful to students naq and to assess writing in unique fashions. This class was very inquiry based, as we had to research and discover writing assignments that students would want to complete. Particularly, this class imparted ways to make writing tasks authentic so students don't feel like they're writing for just a grade or for only the teacher's eyes. This class challenged me to think outside of the box when it comes to assignments that students can take seriously, and to think outside of the box when assessing student writing.
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fall 2017
When it comes to team sports, there is so much more at play than just athletic ability; mental and psychological factors are big parts of successful team participation. This course was designed to prepare coaches for multiple psychological scenarios that athletes may experience, so we may help athletes through a variety of mental blocks to success. Projects for this course included observation of other coaches and communication strategies with athletes, we addressed topics such as stress, anxiety, insecurity, among other things. In particular, this class allowed me to think about situations athletes face when nerves and anxiety get in the way, and I feel prepared to work with my girls and help them through such situations this upcoming soccer season.
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Whenever we engage with a group of others to function and contribute the good of a whole, we enter into a society of some kind; this class explored what it means to be in a learning society. The course was designed to focus on how learning societies are created and sustained, and what is necessary for success. Specifically, we learned about creating meaningful and engaging learning societies among so many technological advances. This class explored teaching and learning through a lot of different lenses, including medical, international travel, music, and digital connectivity. I gained a lot of valuable information about how to be successful when things get challenging and how to consider the needs of others as I embark on my own learning endeavors.
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spring 2018
As of now (March 2018), this course is still under completion. I am learning a lot about the legal side of coaching high school athletes, which is an area so important to pay attention to. Thus far, I have become aware of a whole realm of requirements, procedures, preventative measures, communication norms, etc; a lot of this information is about things I hadn’t considered before. As I approach my spring women’s soccer season, I feel prepared to conduct all matters carefully and with attention to what state and federal law determines.
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In architectural terms, the capstone is the final stone added in construction; metaphorically, it’s said to be a crowning achievement. This class embodies both ideas as it is the final class of my masters program. For this class (currently enrolled), I am gathering evidence and reflection into a portfolio to display my achievements from my years in graduate school. This course has allowed me to take pride in what I have done over these semesters as I can talk about the accomplishments I’ve made. Additionally, this class is setting me up with a professional collection of material that I can put on display for future employers or current administrators to peruse and get a sense of who I am as an educator.
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