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Artifact 1: Commencement Speech, Classroom Assessment and Data Literacy EDUF 7134

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Artifact 1: Commencement Speech, Classroom Assessment and Data Literacy EDUF 7134

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In this final exam project for Classroom Assessments, I created an original commencement speech summarizing each module in the course. This course focused on culturally responsive teaching and appreciating students’ abilities inside and outside of our classrooms. For the final exam, students were to demonstrate what we learned from this course in a way that employed our strengths in a unique way.  I chose this artifact because felt this was a fun way to model the learning objectives my class was learning.  I recapped the modules using the persuasive techniques the students were learning while integrating my new knowledge of classroom assessments.  The modules I wrote about included achievement targets, testing the whole student, informal assessments, and culturally responsive assessments. I included this assignment because I use these modules each day as a teacher, and I can reflect on them through this artifact.

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Artifact 2: Learning Theories Summative Lesson, Learning Theories and Applications EDUF 7130

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Artifact 2: Learning Theories Summative Lesson, Learning Theories and Applications EDUF 7130

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This project explained how the course theories and concepts affect the development of an ELA (English Language Arts) classroom. The topics I reviewed included behaviorism, human cognition, motivation, Gagne's learning events, and social cognitive theory. I chose to include this project in my content curation collection because I learned a lot more than I expected to learn in this class. Initially, I felt that the content was psychologically focused, and I was not sure how it would benefit my teaching path. However, by the end of the course and for this final, I learned not only more about the different theories but how I could apply those theories specifically to ELA classes. Additionally, I incorporated audio into my PowerPoint, which is a skill in which I was not proficient, but I am now very comfortable with.

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Simington Final - Learning Theories.pptx

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Artifact 3: Literary Unit Analysis, Enhancing Student Performance EDUF 7131

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Artifact 3: Literary Unit Analysis, Enhancing Student Performance EDUF 7131

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I included this artifact from the Enhancing Student Performance course in my curation project because the reflection and critical questions allowed me to objectively recognize strengths and weaknesses of my unit plan.  At the end of a literary analysis unit, I ranked my abilities in several categories including the tasks and activities created for the project, peer assessment, descriptive feedback, learning targets and goals, and use of evidence to inform instruction.  I realized that I spent a lot of time on the instruction and activities but was not giving enough descriptive feedback in a timely manner to use the evidence for further instruction.  In other words, I was able to visualize how all the dimensions of student performance were linked to my performance as a teacher.  I learned how to constructively criticize my own work to benefit both the students I teach and myself as a teacher.

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Artifact 4: Author Study and Text Sets, Early Adolescent Literature MSED 7331. 

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Artifact 4: Author Study and Text Sets, Early Adolescent Literature MSED 7331. 

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I included an author study project from the early adolescent literature course. In this course, I learned much about how authors' works can provide insight across multiple pieces and also how unconnected texts can build on each other to increase comprehension of the learning targets. I have been able to use this knowledge to design instructional projects and incorporate a diverse collection of works.  For instance, I can connect a literary piece with an informational piece to not only create better understanding of a topic but also to assess both types of skills.

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Artifact 5: Content Curation Project, Foundations of Technology-Enabled Learning ITEC-5233.

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Artifact 5: Content Curation Project, Foundations of Technology-Enabled Learning ITEC-5233.

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The content curation lesson in the Foundations of Technology-Enabled Learning course demonstrated new ways for students to bookmark and access their resources. There are many times where we (teachers, students, everyone) do not know all the information because there are too many ways to receive a message and too many places to look for it. Using Symbaloo, I was able to put all the resources for a project into one place with accessible links. These new types of tools helped me to change the way I organized my lesson plans as well as research sites for me students. This artifact is reflective of my growth in teaching and learning because I was at first hesitant to try new technology and now, I am much more comfortable with it.

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Artifact 6: Immigrant Interview, Cultural Diversity and ESOL/ TCLD 6231

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Artifact 6: Immigrant Interview, Cultural Diversity and ESOL/ TCLD 6231

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For my cultural diversity class, I interviewed an immigrant to gain understanding of the personal journey and motivations of a person from another culture. I interviewed was Sakina Kone, who is a current U.S. citizen but had emigrated from the Ivory Coast when she was 27. I have known her for several years, as we were both moms to basketball players, but only came to learn about her through this formal interview. Sakina is Black, Muslim, divorced, and mother to 5 sons, one of whom is disabled, and she believes the U.S. is the best place in the world. She has access to a high-quality education for her children, many health care resources, and she works at her dream job as a pastry chef at Whole Foods. She says none of those things would have been possible in her home country. I chose this interview as an artifact because it is a reminder that I need to get to know the people and situations around me and not allow all the statistics to cloud my perspective. It helped me grow as a teacher because while we often think we have no prejudices, we do have subconscious ideas about people, and they surprise us with breaking down those preconceptions.

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Artifact 7: Writing for Critical Thinking Project, Readings and Research in the Content Areas MSED 8333

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Artifact 7: Writing for Critical Thinking Project, Readings and Research in the Content Areas MSED 8333

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I included this research project as an artifact of my growth in the graduate program because it includes a specific focus of my concentration: writing for critical thinking. As a high school ELA teacher, I am constantly asked 'how am I going to use this as an adult?'. While I am a proponent of learning for learning's sake, I do want to encourage critical thinking and writing skills that are relevant to students' future endeavors. I researched several studies about this topic, including the lapse in teacher education of critical writing as well as activities to generate students' awareness of the skills they need post-high school.

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Writing for Critical Thinking and Creating Authentic Writing Opportunities

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Artifact 8: Language Functions Activity, Applied Linguistics for ESOL/ TCLD 6233

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Artifact 8: Language Functions Activity, Applied Linguistics for ESOL/ TCLD 6233

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The Applied Linguistics course delved into the semantics of language and the various meanings of words and phrases. I included an assignment about the function of language as an artifact because this lesson was specifically helpful in recognizing how clear I conveyed my meanings in speaking and writing. The example I used was a phrase from Finding Nemo, and depending on the context, tone, images and other factors, how the meaning of the phrase could change. I use this example now in various lesson plans, including both narrative and persuasive assignments. This artifact is included because while I do not focus on the specific linguistics detailed in the assignment, the lesson I learned from it allowed me to encourage students to recognize how these elements affect their own writing.