TE 842 Elementary Reading Assessment and Instruction
Summer 2024
Darreth Rice
TE 842 was the first course I took in the program and really helped to get me in the groove of being a Master's student. I had taken classes with Darreth during my undergrad at Western Michigan, so I was really excited to have her as a professor again. Throughout this course, we went over a variety of different literacy assessments. We were able to do our own literacy analysis case study on a student and then create learning goals for them based on their results. This is something I do in my classroom weekly, and this course really helped me to prepare and analyze this data.
TE 838 Children's Literature in Film
Summer 2024
Laura Apol
This course overviewed children's literature and how we can connect it to film in the classroom. Throughout the course, we covered a lot of familiar texts such as Charlotte's Web, Where the Wild Things Are, and Harry Potter, and compared the book to the film. We also discussed ways to incorporate these into the classroom and themes/topics that they can tie into. This course helped me to realize the benefits of adding film to the classroom and how it can benefit students, even at a young age.
TE 846 Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners
Fall 2024
Raven Jones
This course covered learning differences that we may see among learners in our classroom. There are a variety of accommodations to make for different student needs. Throughout the semester, we worked on a Literacy Learner Analysis Project where we chose a student and worked through a variety of literacy assessments with them, while taking into account their background and life experiences. As I worked with the student and used readings and theories from the course, I was able to create an individual reading plan for this student based on his needs.
TE 845 Language Diversity and Literacy Instruction Assessment
Fall 2024
Dr. Patricia Edwards
This course dove into the topic of language diversity in the classroom. At the time of taking, I was a first-year teacher and had not necessarily experienced language diversity among my students, but I did with the parents. Throughout the course, we discussed strategies that we can use to accommodate language diversity in the classroom.
TE 848 Writing Assessment and Instruction
Spring 2025
Janine Certo
This course covered the essential parts of a solid writing curriculum. Throughout the semester, we learned about how exactly students learn how to write and what tools are necessary to help students out with this. We used What a Writer Needs by Ralph Fletcher as our main text throughout the course. Toward the end of the semester, we used all of our knowledge to analyze a writing curriculum and see if it had all of the focal points of a good writing curriculum.
CEP801A Consultation in Special Education
Spring 2025
Dr. Marisa Fisher
This course covered the importance of collaboration, especially with special education. The course provided an in-depth look at the IEP (Individual Education Plan) process, parent collaboration, and para-educators. Throughout the course, we were able to work with and interview parents of a child with an IEP and see their thoughts on the process and what could be improved. This has proven to be extremely beneficial this year and gave me a good look at what exactly goes into an IEP and the importance of these documents.
ED 800 Concepts of Educational Inquiry
Summer 2025
Jada Phelps
Throughout this course, we read a variety of texts to cover "big ideas" such as achievement ideology, character education, indigenous research methodologies, and the use of tangible objects within project-based learning. All of these were topics that I had little to no experience with, and the course activities really helped to bring the importance of them to light. Each unit we read a novel that highlighted one of the topics and did some reflection. At the end of the semester, we had one Final Project to highlight our learning.
TE 849 Methods and Materials For Teaching Children and Adolescent Literature
Fall 2025
Laura Apol
In this course, we discussed methods and materials that we can use to teach literature. Throughout the course, we went over some pretty tough topics and discussed how to deal with them in the classroom. These topics included censorship, why we read, and the children's role in literature. We read a diverse range of books and discussed whether they were appropriate to teach and use. We did a lot of reflective work and created a list of criteria to use when selecting texts for our classroom.
CEP 818 Creativity in Teaching and Learning
Fall 2025
Anne Heintz
This course provided an overview of creativity in the classroom and its importance for our students' growth. Each week, we had a different creative activity to reflect on and add some creativity to our teaching practice. In this course, I learned the difference between teaching for creativity and teaching creatively (each of them is important). I was able to make a creative rubric and learn how to assess for creativity, create a PD on creativity, and edit a prior lesson plan to add creativity to it.
Spring 2026
Matthew Kohler and Megan Eikey
This class is my final course in the Master of Arts in Education program and allows me to reflect on my journey throughout the program. I have created a portfolio that analyzes my learning over my 2.5 years in the program. I analyzed past and future educational goals, reflected on the work I have done and why it was important, and created something that I can be proud of to show off and highlight all of my hard work.