I began participating in a research study

with Dr. Lucy Spence in Fall, 2022,

where we transcribed and coded video segments from Dr. Spence's Literacy Lab at the University of South Carolina. 

 Fall 2022--> Dr. Spence shared with me a series of online videos of one teacher with a small group of elementary students; in these videos, the teacher held a literacy lesson in a Zoom meeting. The videos are lessons held with students who wanted extra help with developing literacy skills, and the teachers are graduate education students at the University of South Carolina; the lessons are a part of Dr. Spence's Literacy Lab project at the University. A fellow doctoral student, my advisor, Dr. Spence, and I all watched the videos, loosely transcribed them, and took notes on what we observed, with special attention to actions that would help us answer the research questions. We developed codes inductively and individually. Then, we meet together in a Zoom session to compare our notes. We repeated the process with another set of videos from a different teacher with a different set of elementary students. We compared codes and notes again, but this time, we culled our notes to specific codes that could be used to label actions that would help us answer the research questions. 

December 2022 --> I began transcribing another set of videos and coding those transcripts using our final set of codes.

January 2023 --> Our group met again in January, compared notes, and determined codes for the next step in data analysis.

I studied with Dr. Jennifer D. Morrison, Fall 2021,

as she taught Content Area Literacy PK-12 (EDRD 500)

at the University of South Carolina, College of Education

 How it started--> In the summer of 2021, Dr. Morrison and I met virtually several times as she led me through the process of designing a course. She told me the philosophy of the course, who our students would be, and which texts she prefers. She gave me a copy of her syllabus from the previous semester, and then I began to study - reading the text, examining her syllabus, watching the course videos, etc. As a result of our summer meetings, I not only gained insight into teaching and building undergraduate courses, I also learned how to structure an online course effectively. Dr. Morrison asked me to consider what I wanted to learn as her intern. I centered on three questions, which I have explained in the Prezi video below. 

What I learned --> As I studied the way Dr. Morrison taught EDRD 500, I began to investigate how she handled difficult situations: students who don't show up for class; students who don't turn in assignments; and students reluctant to talk in class. I also observed the feedback she gave to students on their work and how she encouraged them to work with diligence and concern for quality. Finally, I watched how she structured the class to maximize time and to ensure her learning goals were accomplished. 

Here are the techniques I observed from Dr. Morrison that I plan to practice as an instructor of undergraduates:

• Dr. Morrison was vigilant in her pursuit of students who may appear to have 'ghosted' her class or her assignments. She emailed and sent messages and contacted students advisors to make sure she made contact with students. 

• She met with students during scheduled office hours, which I was able to attend and watch her interaction with the students. She allowed them to explain why they were behind, as well as where they felt confused, and then she talked them through missing assignments, set new deadlines, and helped them organize their steps and time management. She focused on helping them building life skills that would transcend the class so that they could not only catch up on class work but also learn how to avoid a similar situation in future classes. 

• Several students described trauma and difficulties resulting from the pandemic, and Dr. Morrison demonstrated grace and understanding, always offering to help figure out a plan for the students to catch up and succeed in the class without diminishing the integrity of the required work. 

• Dr. Morrison had also researched her students' standards and programs and was able to craft her literacy lessons around their needs as future instructors of dance, PE, art, music, etc. 

• She organized the course so that students would complete small steps and assignments that would build into their larger units due at the end of the course. If students completed the small assignments throughout the course, they simply had to put the pieces together to form the larger projects at the end. 

• Dr. Morrison required several preliminary assignments that served as rough drafts or first versions; on those assignments, she gave feedback and allowed others in the class to offer suggestions so that the final grade for an assignment would be a revised version of the assignment. 

• She provided feedback on their work that gave them specific advice on how to improve their work and move forward with the next steps - closer to 'feed forward' instead of 'feedback.' 

• Dr. Morrison crafted the course so that no assignments were 'stand-alone' assignments; all were integrated to build on previous knowledge and move them toward accomplishing the course goals. She required students to return to the essential questions of the course numerous times so they could reflect on the trajectory of their learning and see how the steps built toward achieving class goals. 

• Finally, I noticed Dr. Morrison's genuine affection for her students, despite not being able to interact with them in person. She took time every class to talk to them about their personal and academic pursuits outside of the class. Weekly, students would share information about band and chorus concerts, personal achievements or celebrations, and general frustrations. She even met up with her band students when they attended the football game at Texas A&M.