Projects
Enrichment Portfolio
During one of my field experiences at Messiah University, I developed and implemented an enrichment unit as a form of differentiated instruction for students that excelled in literacy and mathematics. Below you will find the portfolio that I created and details on the approach that was taken.
The purpose of this project was to focus on supporting a group of students with strengths in the area of mathematics and literacy. The goal of the enrichment portfolio was to use data-driven practices and the knowledge of my mentor teacher to aid in selecting a small group of students to which I would teach a short enrichment unit to. The unit that I developed covered literacy, mathematics, and science standards. It consisted of 5 mini-lessons and a culminating project that students worked on throughout the lessons which challenged them to use a variety of skills and creativity.
The Project
The enrichment unit was based around a room redesign project in which students selected a room that they wanted to redesign. In order to accomplish this goal, students were given five mini-lessons and time to work on their project after each lesson. Lesson 1 introduced the project and focused on the importance of organization when completing projects. In lesson 2, students learned about the engineering design process and also reviewed the mathematics concepts of perimeter and area. In lesson 3, students learned about some different research and budgeting skills that they then utilized in their projects. Lesson 4 was all about building scale models. Students were given the choice to create a physical model or a digital model online. In the final lesson, students learned about giving presentations and then had to present their final plans to the class.
Student Work
All of the students in my enrichment group decided to use floorplanner.com to create their models. The results were quite impressive and I was very happy with everything that they learned and applied throughout the unit. Even though they all faced challenges and were pushed in their critical thinking skills, they persevered through the entire project. In the end, it was evident that they were proud of their work and learned a lot through the process. It was a joy for me to see these students fully immersed in and excited about a project that challenged them in many different areas.
Classroom Environment Professional Development
This professional development presentation was created to help teachers think about some of the important things to think about when creating a classroom environment.
The classroom environment is impacted by a variety of different factors and should be considered on a regular basis by teachers. Students and classes grow and change making it important for teachers to adapt their practices in order to foster an inclusive, safe, holistic, and positive learning environment.
Teacher of Readers Website
I created this website as a part of my Children's Literature class at Messiah University. The website includes my philosophy of children's literature as well as a reading diary, an except looking deeply into one of my favorite children's texts, and more! My hope is to share this website with all readers to share some of my experiences and passions when it comes to reading.
