This course was also taken during my student internship year at Michigan State University (MSU), when I was interning in a 5th-grade classroom. The course focused on teaching methods for social studies. We designed a 4-week unit based on the Michigan social studies standards, alternating between science and social studies lessons. My partner and I created a unit on the American Revolution. What stood out most to me was having the students write an essay on the impact of the American Revolution on modern American society and participate in a debate at the end of the unit. This project effectively integrated social studies and English, and it enhanced the students' critical thinking and public speaking skills.

TE804 is about teaching science in elementary classrooms. The focus of this course will be on preparing to be a “well‐started” beginning teacher of science through work on planning, teaching, and assessment aligned with current visions of science teaching and learning, as well as strategies for continuing to learn throughout your career.

CEP 810 introduces theories of learning and broad issues of learning, knowledge, and expertise. There are five major themes: theories of learning and understanding. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). Professional learning networks. Essential mindsets for teaching with technology. Creative uses of technologies for learning.

In CEP 811, we explore what making is and who makers are as we reflect on ourselves as makers and our experience with failure. We explore ethical and legal issues around making and innovating to support us in making difficult choices as an educational technology leader. We consider learning space design and re-design a learning environment that is part of my professional context to help inspire learners to make and innovate.

CEP800 acquaints students with foundational psychological perspectives for understanding learning that occurs in school and other settings. We focus on behaviorism, multiple types of cognitivism, and socio-cultural perspectives. Students will connect theories of learning to their own experiences as learners in a variety of contexts as they work toward the final course project: a professional, polished theory of learning.  

In CEP 816, we will work to figure out how to adapt new technologies for a new kind of teaching practice. Our approach will be driven by learning goals. Developing new mindsets or habits of mind that permit the affordances of new media to achieve important learning goals will be central to the course. We explore how to evaluate the affordances and constraints of technologies in relation to context, audience, and purpose; and create uses of technologies to support particular learning objectives, dispositions, and mindsets.

CEP 812 focuses on the ways that we can use a range of technologies to address a range of teaching and education-related problems. Students reading about human, social, and cognitive dispositions that challenge our abilities to solve big problems smartly. Then, use the research and data from their surveys to position themselves to help tackle the problem.

Goals are to prepare us to be better consumers of existing research, including developing a working knowledge of basic research strategies, methodology, and practices. Also, be better producers of knowledge about teaching through our own systematic inquiry of our educational practices.

Course goal is to help students create a web portfolio that shows in a rich thoughtful way to all the works that I've done in my master's program. It extends to my career and move forward after graduate. For example, the showcase displays some of the coursework and projects that I've completed during my master's program but in a way that emphasizes my professional skills and knowledge.