Showcase of Work
In this showcase, I compiled a collection of work that I have completed during my Master of Arts in Education program at Michigan State University. For more information on the specific courses I have taken, please see my Annotated Transcript.
Throughout my program, I have had the opportunity to reflect on my own teaching practice and consider how I can maximize student achievement in my classroom. The following projects, organized into two categories: Critical Literacy and Culturally Relevant Instruction, have had the biggest impact on my teaching practice and have enabled me to foster a more student-centered classroom that empowers students to take ownership over their own learning and be better critical thinkers, readers, and problem-solvers in a 21st-century world.
Critical Literacy
Strong literacy skills are paramount to students' success in a global economy centered around rapidly changing technology. While students still need traditional literacy skills, there is a new need for additional literacy skills around the use of technology and new media. What qualifies as "text" is different today than it was in past generations, and students need updated skills in order to be college and career ready. Due to students' increased access to and usage of technology, especially the Internet and social media, many educators assume that students already have the skills they need to be successful. However, many students are seriously lacking the academic literacy skills that they need. The following projects are part of my effort to change the way that literacy is viewed by my students and other educational stakeholders so that my students can be better prepared to analyze the validity of primary and secondary sources, comprehend both traditional and new media texts, and engage as more confident and competent citizens.
Literacy Learner Analysis Case Study Project
In my first years as a classroom teacher, I realized that I could easily recognize when students struggled with literacy, but I didn't know how to help them. For this Literacy Learner Analysis Case Study Project, I identified a struggling reader/writer in my classroom and spent several weeks utilizing graphic organizers, annotation, close reading, and text-based discussion in order to strengthen her academic literacy skills. Not only did this project enable me to help her, but it also gave me the tools to provide targeted and differentiated literacy instruction to all of my students.
Multimedia Literacy
Out of all of the projects I have created during my graduate program, this one has been my absolute favorite to implement. As part of my Church History course, I teach a unit on the Holocaust, particularly focusing on the Catholic Church's involvement. I created a multimedia website for that unit in order to deepen students' understanding of this era in history and empower them to take ownership over their learning experience. The website contains myriad primary and secondary sources, historical accounts, Scriptural reflections, and first-hand testimonies as well as countless links to outside resources in order to challenge students' prior understanding and build their literacy skills with both traditional and new media texts.
New Media Text Redesign
The purpose of this text redesign project was to take a traditional text that my students use for class and redesign it utilizing new media. The original text which included no visual aids was challenging for many students to comprehend and placed a heavy burden on their cognitive load. By incorporating visual aids and new media resources such as video links, I was able to improve students' understanding of the Industrial Revolution and build their traditional and new media literacy skills.
Literacy-Based Inquiry & Textual Analysis
For this Literacy-Based Inquiry & Textual Analysis Project, I redesigned my Church History unit on the Industrial Revolution. In order to engage students on a deeper level, I built the unit around essential questions in order to drive students' inquiry. I also utilized multiple text types in addition to the course textbook such as a primary source document, documentary film, and image analysis in order to improve students' comprehension and build their literacy and critical thinking skills across a variety of historical texts.
Culturally Relevant Instruction
Along with building stronger literacy skills, it is critical that educators also create classrooms that build equity and meet the needs of all learners. As our classrooms become increasingly heterogeneous, many students are being left behind and do not see themselves reflected in their school curricula. The following projects are part of my sincere effort to build a classroom centered around equity, inclusion, and empowerment through culturally relevant pedagogy in film, literacy, and professional development opportunities.
Challenging Systems of Oppression
This analysis of 12 Years a Slave (2013) reflects on the goals of multicultural education and the importance of fostering classrooms that challenge systems of oppression. In the first unit of my World Religions course, my students examine how historical, social, institutional structures have served to disenfranchise groups of people. I use 12 Years a Slave (2013) as an example of how we are often socialized to accept inequality in our communities and to challenge students to approach the study of other people's faiths with an open, empathetic mind free from prejudice and stereotypes.
Professional Development for Teachers of English Language Learners (ELL)
In reflecting on my experience with English Language Learners (ELLs) in various educational settings, I realized that while our school has students from many diverse religious, racial, ethnic, and language backgrounds, we had no official program for supporting ELLs. I created this professional development presentation for my colleagues in order to build our capacity to better support students who do not speak English as a first language. For more information on the rationale and process for creating this presentation, please see my Lesson Plan and Reflection Essay
Books & Films as Cultural Reinterpretation
This project explores the role of film in fostering culturally relevant instruction. I frequently use films in my World Religions and Church History courses in order to support students' knowledge of the content in a visual format. This critical analysis of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory examines how film can be used in classrooms in order to challenge representations of poverty, race, sex, and age in popular culture and build more equitable and inclusive classrooms and communities.
Literacy Inquiry Project: Selecting Texts that Connect with Students' Backgrounds
In this Literacy Inquiry Project, I interviewed several students at my school about their reading habits in order to gain a better understanding of students' literacy backgrounds, interests, and motivations. What I found was that students were far more likely to enjoy and learn from books that reflected some aspect of their identity such as race, ethnicity, religion, age, gender, socioeconomic status, and/or sexual orientation. In my efforts to build a more inclusive classroom and encourage the development of students' literacy skills, this project challenged me to give more thought and consideration to the content of texts I use in my classroom.