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Claim:  I took a leadership assessment that indicated what kind of leader I am, and it has helped provided me with insight on how to continue being an effective leader.

According to the survey, my leadership style is that of a Democratic leader (Lewin, 1939 as cited by Cherry,2012). I agree with the results of the survey and believe that I am like that in many areas of my life. Democratic leadership is which members of the group take a more active role in the decision making process. I was surprised to know that this type of leadership is “one of the most effective and leads to higher productivity, better contributions from group members and increased group morale” (Lewin, n.d,). I tend to encourage and ask members for input and will consider and hold value in their ideas. I also feel that the more all contribute the more ideas are sprung and from there we branch out further. I consider myself to be respectful of others opinions and especially value creativity. Sometimes as a leader I may not clearly identify the role of a member and that leads to miscommunication, however, as group, we always seem to work it out.

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Claim: My Philosophy of teaching has changed.

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Capstone C Original and Revised Philosophy

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Claim: I included differentiate instruction in my lesson plans to help all of my students learn and achieve.

Throughout my teaching experience, I have learned that differentiation is a key component with meeting the needs of all my students.  It has been part of my teaching philosophy.  After the course “Meeting the Needs of All Students”, I developed a deeper meaning and understanding of differentiation and it confirmed my feeling that differentiating instruction is essential for student growth.  As Tomlinson (2010) indicated, “The purpose of developing a differentiated classroom is to make sure there’s opportunity and support for each student to learn essential knowledge and skills as effectively and efficiently a possible” (p. 75).  It is essential to get to know each student’s needs in order to develop appropriate goals and expectations.  This will make learning fun and meaningful for all of my students.  This course provided great insight on how I can further structure and differentiate learning to meet the individual needs of my students.  It has allowed me to reflect on the strategies I have used in my classroom to differentiate and meet the needs of my students, and the changes that I need to make, so I can continue to provide my students with lessons to meet their readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles.

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Claim: I am utilizing Effective Assessment in my classroom to ensure that all my students are learning.

As a result of he course “Effective Assessment”, I gained a better understanding to making assessments more meaningful.  “Assessments involve gathering and using information to improve your teaching and your students’ learning” (Nitko & Brookhart, 2007, p. 2). This course has taught me the benefits of authentic assessments, and has helped me incorporate both formative and summative assessments in my classroom.  These assessments help guide my instruction in order to ensure learning is being achieved.  If a student did not understand, I was able to determine what strategy I needed to use to reteach the concept; using a different teaching method.  Nitko and Brookhart (2007) indicated that “Assessment provides teachers with information to make decisions about teaching and provides students with information to make decisions about learning” (p. 1).

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Claim: With the information that I gained from these courses I have implemented multiple strategies to effectively lead my students to success.

My Teacher Evaluation recognizes several new leadership roles I took on that year.  As I was taking Teacher as Leader, I was inspired to step outside of my comfort zone and take on a bigger leadership role in my school.  There were many new teachers to the High School that year, therefore, I was put in a position that allowed me to mentor and coach fellow teachers in the new curriculum.  I recognized the importance of a teacher taking on this role, rather than an administrator, because administrators are often already burdened with many responsibilities and pressures (Danielson, 2006).

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Claim: My action research project on the effects of using Unified Track as a means to improve school climate has helped improve school climate.
The purpose of this action research is to emphasize inclusion opportunities, as well as analyze the impact that Unified Track has on our school’s climate and culture. Students with and without disabilities will be observed. Teachers will also be asked through a survey about changes they may have noticed where general and special education students form bonds. By doing so, special education students will be less reluctant to join other clubs and attend after school functions. This will be taking place at Jefferson Township High School, in Oak Ridge NJ. Observations of other schools began in August and data will be collected until October 17th.

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Capsone C Benefits of Unified Track on the Climate and Culture of High School Students

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Claim: I believe that differentiation is a key component with meeting the needs of all my students and has been part of my teaching philosophy.
Throughout the MAT coursed, I have gained more insight on strategies to use in order to meet the needs of all students. I created writing small groups based on student readiness in order to differentiate instruction.  As students learn and grow, I reflect on the writing groups and adjust them as needed in order to continue to meet the students' instructional needs (Heacox, 2009).  In this way, I am able to provide instruction that meets the needs of the readiness level of each small group.  I try and conference with each group once a week to provide feedback that will help students grow as writers.  By providing students with feedback and time to practice, more learning will occur (Eggen & Kauchak, 2012).

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Claim: Through student SGO results, I am able to determine my students needs and set goals for their achievement.

With the information gained from the this program, I have developed a deeper and fuller understanding of the importance of assessments and how to use them appropriately to help support students learning. Our district has developed SGOs for our district. We give them a baseline and the beginning of the year to determine what they know, and give the assessment again throughout the year.  The initial baseline, gave me an understanding of what the student’s know and what they need to learn. It helped me set up lessons to meet their needs. I was able to set up goals for each child and monitor them throughout the school year. The results are in a program called LinKit and the information can only be printed.
https://jefftwp.linkit.com/

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I have conducted a Needs Assessment  Students’ Academic Readiness and involved my school and community.
The Master in the Art of Teaching program has helped me develop strong leadership skills as a teacher.  During the course “Teacher as a Leader”, I had the opportunity to develop a needs assessment on preschool students’ academic readiness presentation that I shared with my colleagues.

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Claim: I have modified and created a unit plan that is useful for all student learners and was shared with colleagues.
. I teach Special education (Behavior disorder and Learning Language disorder) for Language Arts and Life Skills. The intellectual and developmental levels are similar in the sense that they learn at a slower pace than the average students in the school. Due to the fact that in many cases it is not the fact that the students can't learn at the same pace

as the average student, it is that their emotional concerns that tend are more important to consider. An emotional situation can also cause students to be unfocused. The difference between the LLD and BD courses is that my BD are very capable of reading and analyzing literature at their grade level. My 9th grade LLD students, however, are at a 5th grade reading level.

Strategies and assessments that I used in my lesson asked students to recall prior knowledge on a topic they have covered in history class. I asked students to make personal connections such as “What does it mean to discriminate against someone? When have you felt discriminated against”. By beginning with the personal questions, students at the lower level can make some connection. Since they are special education students, I am sure they have felt discriminated against. Many of them also come from a variety of backgrounds including abusive families and families of substance abuse they are more apt to have some connection to those of the characters. Zander and Zander (2000) states, Often the experience of personal crisis or a failure will constitute a basis for the creation of a persona vision, which in turn becomes the framework for a life of possibility” (p.174). This idea emphasizes the idea of making personal connections to further an acceptance to new characters and historical significance.

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Capstone A Seader EDU 698 Contribution Instruction

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Claim: The RTI process is an idea that should be shared among staff.
The course “Evidence based Interventions” provided me with a variety of strategies with scaffolding and differentiating lessons to assist with proving interventions to meet the student’s readiness levels and needs.  During this course, I was able to conduct an interview with a parent where I spoke about the RTI process and the needs of the students.  We discussed the importance of providing interventions and differentiating learning so all of our students can succeed to the best of their ability. Appelbaum (2009) defined differentiated learning as “…a process in which teachers learn to change their pace, style, and level of instruction in response to student differences” (p. 74).

Support:

Megan Seader
Please follow the video link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGr5BzwY0I0
Week 7 Reflection

Script

Megan: Good afternoon, thank you for meeting with me today to discuss the implementation of The Response to Intervention also known as RTI as your child’s success is important to us.

Parent: Thank you for inviting me. I feel like I do not know enough about RTI and since my child will be taking part in it, I appreciate more information.

Megan:  Of course, I understand. Well, RTI is a 3 tiered approach to identify and provide early interventions to struggling students.  This will provide students, teachers and administrators to begin the year with a positive and effective learning experience.

Parent: You mentioned three tiers. What do they include?

Megan: They are pretty much just three levels of support that we offer students. In the first one, classroom teachers use strategies and materials for students who may need a little extra help. That may include previewing the reading before they read as well as using supplemental interventions such as EBooks.

Parent: Does my son fall in this tier?

Megan: After reviewing the universal screening which lays the groundwork for the entire process, the results concluded that your son will fall under tier two.

Parent:  How is tier two different than the first one?

Megan: Well, tier two we create an individual support plan with additional interventions to help him in any specific weaker learning or behavioral areas.

Parent: I understand a little clearer but could you give me an example of how you will do this in your English class.

Megan:  In class we are going to be using real life lessons and templates to differentiate instruction as well as. When asking students to create a cover letter for their individual projects, I will provide a template for him to reference.

Parent: What if these strategies do not work? What would the next step be?

Megan: For students who still experience difficulty, there is a third tier that provides even more intensive academic and/or behavioral support.

Parent: Would his schedule have to change.

Megan: His schedule may have to be altered to ensure he has the extra help. Instead of a study hall he may have a study skills class that will provide more of a one on one approach.

Parent: Besides teacher observation and grades, how will I know my son in succeeding within that tier?

Megan: In order to know if the Intervention is working, the RTI team has to select a method of progress monitoring for the interventions such as curriculum based measurements.

Parent: Is that specific to a subject matter?

Megan: Yes, it is tied to the school’s curriculum and what students needs to know.

Parent: In what other ways will it be beneficial?

Megan: There are several benefits for utilizing RTI system, however, the principal one is that RTI eliminates the “wait to fail” situation.  Students will get the help they need within the general education setting.

Parent: How long does it take to implement the intervention?

Megan: As soon as the assessment data specifies a problem area for the student the interventions are put in place.

Parent: Thank you so much for providing me more information regarding this system. I look forward to my son’s success.

Megan: It was my pleasure. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have further questions.

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Claim: The focus problem  will find /develop an individual skill at the beginning of the year and will build on for the rest of the year. That int turn will provide confidence and skills that they can apply to other subjects in school and real-life scenarios.

Throughout the course work, I have developed more of an awareness of the importance of assessments.    Developing my student’s social skills is an area of concern yearly.  The course “Evidence based Interventions”, offered ways to address this as an area to focus on, and I developed interventions and assessments.  I developed interventions to help the student develop skills and the assessments that would help me determine their growth.  Through this assignment, I was able to incorporate parent support as well as other colleagues.

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Claim: I can support my colleagues with the Understanding By Design Method.

During the course “Instructional Design”, I was able to gain a better perspective on unit planning and instructional design.  With the information learned with using the Understanding by Design method, I was able to share the backwards design method with my colleagues.  I was also able to discuss how to properly plan, assess, and coach the students for understanding and transfer.  I was able to share the importance of setting clear goals, determining acceptable evidence, and then designing learning experiences and instruction (Wiggins & McTighe, 2006).  Many of my colleagues indicated that they set goals, and then plan their lessons based on their goals.  By presenting the information that I learned, I was able to share the importance of using the three stages of backward design.  I was able to share how to plan engaging and effective learning activities that can successfully measure the student’s understanding and transfer, how to think like an assessor.

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Claim: I shared my findings from my action research project to my Professional Learning Community.
Marygrove College has strengthened me as a teacher and as a teacher leader.  During the course “Teacher as a Researcher”, I began to work on my action research on how Unified Track has a positive impact on school culture.  After conducting this research project, I was able to share the results during our professional learning community meeting.  This gave me a chance to share my leadership skills and conduct a meeting by presenting facts that can help our student grow socially. I can make a difference and be an effective leader to my students and my colleagues.  As Lieberman and Miller (2004) indicate, “Teacher leaders are in a unique position to make change happen.  They are close to the ground and have the knowledge and ability to control conditions for teaching and learning in schools and classrooms” (p. 12). I believe we all learned a great deal from my findings.

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Claim: I shared a lesson on differentiation with my Professional Learning Community.
Differentiation is an important tool in every classroom.  With the course “Meeting the Needs of All Students”, I have developed a broader meaning of how I scaffold and differentiate lessons to ensure that all my students are learning and successful.  This has been an steady and heated topic during all of our grade level meetings and PLCs.  This assignment focused me to see the importance of getting to know all of the student's learning needs to create meaningful lessons.  As I reflected on my Capstone A project on conducting a differentiated lesson on sorting and patterning, I was able to analyze how I conducted the lesson and was able to see how each child was able to work successfully, however I was also able to determine what I can contribute to my next lesson to make it even better.   I was able to share the video (that is embedded in my paper) of my lesson with my colleagues at our grade level meeting, and discuss the strategies I was able to contribute to the education profession by sharing my experiences, and discussing other strategies and techniques that can be done to differentiate for all learners.  We discussed what other ways that I could have differentiated the lesson and shared other techniques to challenge a child or further support them.  As Zander and Zander (2002) indicate, “When you play the contribution game, it is never a single individual who is transformed” (p. 61).  When teaching my students, I hope to be a contribution to all, as well as to my colleagues.

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Claim: I implemented assessment techniques that I can share with my Professional Learning Community
Effective Assessment is essential in determining student's understanding. Assessments can determine the students' needs and learning styles. With the results of assessments, we can prepare appropriate lessons; set goals, select different methods and materials that could reach the learning styles of the students. This framework helps with identifying the purpose of the goals that are set. It also identifies how the student will demonstrate their knowledge and making sure there is necessary scaffolding and support needed to accurately attain the goal. During the “Effective Assessment” course I implemented different assessment strategies and presented it to my colleagues during a department meeting. I created both formative and summative assessments. The assessments consisted of a variety of different strategies. The results of these assessment showed that over time, the students gained knowledge. As I assessed the students in the beginning and again at the end of the lesson, I was able to determine each child’s growth and also determine what teaching strategies work best. Through the assessments, I was also able to plan differentiated lessons to meet my student's needs. I was able to share how I developed different assessments to determine my student’s level of understanding and their needs with my colleagues during our department meeting. I presented my assessment and some samples. As a team, we were able to discuss how we assess the students and compare our organizational techniques. We were able to discuss the standards we work on, activities that we assess, and the types of assessments that we administer.

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Thank you for taking the time read and review all of my claims and artifacts that has helped me grow through the MAT program.  The courses have provided me with new and exciting strategies and skills that will help me throughout the rest of my career.  I have developed stronger leadership skills, confidence and enhanced personal growth in my career. My student's growth, learned to be a contribution to my school and community as well as to the education profession as a result from the courses from Marygrove College.  I will take the information and apply it to my profession and continue to grow every day to ensure that my students receive the best education possible.  Learning will continue to growth with each new strategy and interventions I come across.

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Hello  I am, Megan Seader and I am 41 years old. This is my 16th year of teaching. I started my teaching career as an English teacher in a rural high school, Paterson Catholic, and now have been  teaching in a suburban district for the last 15 years. I taught English for the first 10 years and of all grade levels. Then went back to school for a degree in Teacher of Handicapped. I then worked as an  Co- teacher in various English and History classes. A position then opened for the classroom with students of behavioral disabilities and that is where I have been teaching since. I really respect the dynamics of my classroom and I look forward to utilizing many new strategies learned from this Masters Program. 

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Hello  I am, Megan Seader and I am 41 years old. This is my 16th year of teaching. I started my teaching career as an English teacher in a rural high school, Paterson Catholic, and now have been  teaching in a suburban district for the last 15 years. I taught English for the first 10 years and of all grade levels. Then went back to school for a degree in Teacher of Handicapped. I then worked as an  Co- teacher in various English and History classes. A position then opened for the classroom with students of behavioral disabilities and that is where I have been teaching since. I really respect the dynamics of my classroom and I look forward to utilizing many new strategies learned from this Masters Program. 