Megan Terbrack
Learning by Example
I enjoyed the coursework and pre-internship opportunities throughout
my undergraduate program at Western Michigan University. I felt confident
and prepared to enter the world of teaching. However, I knew that I also
wanted to earn my master’s degree someday and become a student again. I
taught for three years before applying for a master’s program. At the time, I
was coaching in the fall and spring so I knew that I needed to find an online
program. I began researching online programs at universities in Michigan.
After three years of teaching I also had a clear vision of the areas that I
wanted to focus my attention during my studies. I found that Michigan State
University was the only school to offer special education and technology as
concentrations and so the journey began.
Although I knew that an online program would be the best fit for my schedule, I did not know if it would fit my learning style. I was nervous, excited, and ready to push myself to become a stronger educator. Even though I did not enjoy online learning on the days that I would print off fifteen page articles so I could highlight and write in the margins, I now know that it was the best learning environment for me. I chose technology as a concentration because it is an area that I did not have much experience with. After teaching for three years I quickly saw the large role that technology plays in my students’ present and future lives. I wanted to learn best practices with technology to better support my students. I learned about technology and online teaching and learning from every course in my master’s even if it was a special education course. I began to see that the strategies my professors were using to teach me, were strategies that I could turn around and use in my own classroom. An online master’s program allowed me to view technology from a teacher’s point of view as well as a student’s point of view. The idea of learning by example was what made the online program the best learning environment for me.
I learned many teaching strategies during my internship and my undergraduate work. However, after teaching for three years I started to see myself fall into some routines so starting my master’s was perfect timing. My course work reminded me to focus on best practices and to try new things. I also learned to critique new strategies before putting them into practice. I learned to analyze, question, and think critically about any new teaching idea or tool. I saw myself using these skills during professional development when I was being introduced to new strategies. I also realized that if I am going to share a strategy with my colleagues, I need to share my ideas with evidence, research, and purpose. These skills were crucial in a course called CEP 805 Learning Mathematics with Technology.
The final project for Learning Mathematics with Technology was to create a resource library with at least 20 tech tools and evaluate at least half of them. As the geometry teacher leader at my school, I chose to create a library that would focus on tech tools specifically for geometry that I could share with my colleagues at my school and across the district. The course began with the professor providing us with math tech tools for us to evaluate. As the course went on we worked together in small groups and as an entire class to create evaluation criteria for tech tools that we found on our own. We had to think critically and realistically about what areas are the most important when evaluating a tech tool. We reflected on questions like, “Can students work at their own pace?” and “Are there other tools or non-tech-heavy activities that might support the learning goals better?” I value the time that we spent creating and using the evaluation criteria because now I look at tech tools through a different lens. I know what features are important to me and my practice so I can quickly and thoroughly analyze a tool and use it with purpose in my classroom. Although the evaluation criteria were created specifically for tech tools, I can use this process when evaluating any new teaching strategy or activity that I come across. As a result, this course exposed me to websites that support teaching and learning about math which has caused me to continue searching for more resources on my own. The list of websites found under teacher resources includes a few.
Another influential course that changed the way I thought about my role and responsibilities as a classroom teacher was CEP 820 Teaching Students Online. I was intimidated before the course even began because I had never seen an example of an online math course taught in my district. If you would have asked me a few years ago, I would have said that an online learning environment is not the best way to support students in math. I realized that online teaching and learning begins with a mental shift. I found that there are affordances of technology that help students interact with the content in a way that is different, and sometimes better, than face-to-face in a classroom. This content for this course was presented with techniques that I could use in my own online course such as screencasts, online journaling, and video conferences. We examined research based on fully online courses, flipped classrooms, and blended learning environments and then chose one that best fit our situation. I created a blended learning environment for my algebra 1 course.
As I designed the hybrid course I started to see how online learning could be a good fit for some of my students. I included components such as small group and whole class discussions. In my face-to-face classroom I see my students for one hour a day and I do not get to hear the thoughts, opinions, and questions of every single student, every single hour. An online discussion is an opportunity for students to communicate and connect with each other as well as an opportunity for me to assess their learning in a way that is not always feasible in class. I also incorporated online tools to support my students’ different needs and abilities. As I visualized my students working through my hybrid course I realized that they would be learning and interacting with math outside of the classroom. It was exciting to think that this might encourage them to actually look for math outside the classroom. They might discuss and share what they are learning with family and friends around them. They could quickly and easily research a topic on their own that they wanted to learn more about. As I do with my in-class lessons, I reflected and analyzed each component that I added to the hybrid course while aligning it to a specific learning objective. I believe that nothing can replace face-to-face interaction but now I see that I can incorporate additional online learning opportunities to support my in-class time with students.
I was able to choose one elective in my master’s program, CEP 883 Psychology of Classroom Discipline. I dug deep in this class and analyzed my own teaching practices and philosophy. I took this course after my fifth year of teaching so it was good for me to reflect and refocus my classroom management strategies. By the end of the course I was re-energized and ready to try several new techniques that I had been keeping a list of here. The ideas that stuck with me the most were to be intentional and to analyze my own behavior as well as the behavior of my students. I needed the reminder of the benefit of being a “warm demander” by holding high expectations and still being intentional about developing a relationship with each of my students. I am in control of the learning environment and community that I create in my classroom from the way I respond to student behavior, to how I make the content relevant to their lives. There was an equation in this class that stuck with me, motivation equals expectation times value times climate. This is a true equation because if any of the components equal zero, then the entire equation equals zero meaning the students will not be motivated. Not only does the combination of these three components encourage and motivate students, but I realized that it can also prevent unwanted behaviors from happening in the first place. If students know what is expected of them, see their value in the classroom and the content, and feel like they are in a positive and supportive environment then they are more likely to succeed.
I tried a few strategies from CEP 883 with all of my classes in the beginning of the year. I had my students write short and long term goals for math class and in general. I demonstrated what the goals should be by writing and sharing my own goals with my students. Throughout the year I had the students revisit and revise their goals. I was pleased to see how well they responded to this strategy. My students were holding each other, and me, accountable for accomplishing our goals. I also made an intentional shift to respond instead of react to student behavior. I had more one-on-one discussions with students about how they thought their behavior was helping them or other students. I worked with students as they brainstormed strategies they thought they could use when they got frustrated or irritated with others. Even at the high school level students do not always not how to respond to the way they are feeling or the behavior of others. I want to help my students problem solve for themselves and develop more self-control.
The final course that I completed in my master’s program was ED 870 Capstone Seminar. This course helped me better understand website design and the value of peer review. The structure of the class and many of the components made it another great course where I learned by example. I have already incorporated some elements and ideas into my hybrid course. However the most valuable part of this course was the journey that I went on back through my master’s work. I enjoyed looking back at my goals and skills at the beginning of the program to see how far I have come. I appreciated, as I also thought it was necessary, that the professors had us think about and actually write out what our future plans as a learner are. This course had me reflect on not only what I accomplished throughout my master’s program but also what I learned about myself. I am proud of my final projects because I have already started to use them in my own classroom. As I was presented the final project for each course I strived to create products that I could immediately apply to my own practice.
I gained a wealth of knowledge and experience with technology and classroom management since I began this program three years ago. I have learned from not only my professors but also from my own peers (most of whom I never even met!) in the program as they are professionals in the field and willing to share all that they know. I know that I still have a lot to learn and more tools to add to my box as I work to problem solve in my classroom to become a stronger leader and educator. However, my master’s program has given me the confidence and skills to move forward and the reminder to learn from those around me. I am grateful to have been a part of such a respected program where I could grow and learn by example.
