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More than a List:

Learning Over the Years

 

KIN 856 – Physical Bases of Coaching

George Harnick, M.S.

Summer 2012

 

The focus of EAD 856 was to understand the biomechanics and research behind physical aspects of sport to help enhance my athletes’ performance. With this understanding, I researched and created instruction as well as informational handouts for my athletes and their families. My lessons include a warm-up routine, injury prevention workout, and the roles of nutrition and hydration. Additionally, we discussed safe and effective practices for training designs, use of supplements, and need for emergency action plans.

EAD 824 – Leading Teacher Learning

Nancy A. Colflesh, Ph.D.

Fall 2012

 

In this course, I learned about various ways that all school leaders encourage staff to continue professional learning. One key component of leading teachers is developing relational trust among staff. For administrators, this enables them to develop and execute a vision, a professional learning plan for teachers, and a short and long-term budget that fit within the district plan. In addition, I observed and provided feedback to teachers to help them improve their craft with the goal of benefitting student learning.

CEP 832 – Educating Students with Challenging Behavior

Vicky Mousouli, Ph.D. and Evelyn R. Oka, Ph.D., NCSP

Spring 2013

 

The title of this course is apt. Student behaviors affect the classroom environment differently, and so does the teacher’s response. In CEP 832, we discussed research-based effective ways of working these students as well as consider reasons behind these behaviors. A semester project in this course was to develop and utilize effective classroom management strategies for a student behavior that we found challenging. The behaviors that I selected to observe, analyze, strategize, and evaluate were low-achieving and failure orientation. Furthermore, I learned about reaching out to parents in a positive manner to establish a relationship before issues occur.

TE 846 – Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners

Chad H. Waldron, Ph.D.

Summer 2013

 

In this course, I learned about cultural, linguistic, individual motivation, and instructional arrangements to accommodate learning differences. Some techniques include determining student interests and including those in lessons or assessments. Furthermore, I learned about accommodations and modifications to help students. Lastly, I learned about effective instructional techniques for literacy instruction. This course satisfies the Michigan Reading Course Requirement for teachers.

KIN 855 – Psychosocial Bases of Coaching

Daniel R. Gould, Ph.D. and Andy Driska, Ph.D.

Fall 2013

 

Through this course, we identified how to develop a coaching philosophy and a vision for our teams. Since I teach at the high school level, understanding the importance of balancing athletes’ performance, development, and experience in sport is important, as students are involved in extracurricular activities for different reasons. Additionally, we discussed leadership characteristics such as sincere communication, developing relationships with athletes, and taking care of ourselves as coaches. Lastly, we examined ways to improve athletic performance through understanding athlete motivation, confidence and goal-setting, and psychological skills training.

ED 800 – Concepts of Educational Inquiry

Steven Weiland, Ph.D. 

Spring 2014

 

A focus in this course was viewing education through different lenses of inquiry. One perspective was the historical perspective of U.S. education to understand the role and setup of education in our society today. I also had the opportunity to look at education through a cultural or ethnographic lens, as the communities I teach in may vary greatly from my own learning experience. Moreover, I learned to think about what is worth knowing. Especially as technology continues to change rapidly, I learned about finding a balance for using technology and the most effective methods of teaching and communicating. Further, I learned about taking data in the classroom to answer questions of my own while considering that students and their families as a part of the learning process. Lastly, I continue to see the importance of learning throughout my career.

EAD 861 – Adult Learning

William Arnold, Ph.D.

Summer 2014

 

A theme within this course was learning about the difference between teaching younger students (pedagogy) versus teaching adults (andragogy). I discovered that adult learners face numerous issues that can interfere with their learning, such as family constraints, career constraints, cost, lack of confidence, timing, negative previous learning experience, and more. In this course, I learned ways to manage some of these issues with my instruction. One way to retain adult learners is to get to know them and their circumstances. That way, I can support their learning through my course structure, make my instruction meaningful to them, use different modes of learning, and direct them to appropriate resources. Besides the issues that adult learners may face, they also bring in ways to aid in their learning. Adult learners bring in life experience, independence and autonomy, an idea about their learning strategies, and an established self-concept.

KIN 854 – Legal and Administrative Issues of Coaching

Rick Atkinson, J.D.

Spring 2015

 

In KIN 854 – Legal and Administrative Issues of Coaching, I learned about developing and maintaining athletic program policies and procedures in an effort to keep all athletes safe and provide proper education. Through the review of safe athletic policies and procedures, I created risk management and emergency action plans. We also discussed various legal issues for organizations, athletic directors, coaches, and athletes. To reduce liability for legal concerns, I created policies for student and spectator behavior. Through analyzing example and real case studies, I found solutions to legal situations that may arise as a coach.

ED 870 – Capstone Seminar

Matthew Koehler, Ph.D., Sarah Keenan, Spencer Greenhalgh, Chris Seals

Summer 2015

 

In this course, I am creating and maintaining this professional portfolio website to document my learning throughout my master’s degree. In this portfolio, I have a showcase to demonstrate and describe artifacts from my courses. Additionally, I had the opportunity to reflect on how my goals for my master’s degree have changed and determine what I plan to learn about in the future and why, as well as synthesize my learning throughout my master’s program. Moreover, I am continuing to hone my web development skills. Throughout the course, we reviewed and provided feedback to our peers to improve our websites. 

EAD 866 – Teaching in Postsecondary Education

Ginny Jones, Ph.D.

Enrolled for Spring 2016

 

I have not taken EAD 866 yet. However, I hope to extend my understanding of the adult learner from EAD 861 – Adult Learning to learning about effective strategies to put this understanding into practice. I intend to learn about effective teaching strategies in formal postsecondary education, as well as why these strategies are effective. Additionally, I plan to learn about how to assess my teaching and students’ learning. 

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