Showcase of Graduate Work
This page reflects key artifacts from various course assignments throughout my degree program. I have organized my work into two key categories that reflect my career aspirations: Teaching and Analysis.
ANALYtical
An analysis is a detailed examination of a topic or subject.
Biographical inquiry is a student-centered learning approach that places emphasis and great value on understanding various aspects of a persons life and their experiences to show relevance to the present. In this essay on W.E.B. Du Bois I write about what I believe had the most impact on his life and the impact he had on education. This artifact helped to improve my skills as an analyst and professional writer.
A key aspect to being an educational consultant is the ability to analyze various situations and develop a meaningful and relevant evaluation. In this Narrative Analysis I analyzed some aspects First Lady Michelle Obama's life as written in the book Becoming. This artifact displays how the smallest events in a persons life affects who they can become a skill that allows me to look at clients from a better lens.
This essay required me to reflect on my leadership experiences and write about leadership theories as it related to my past experiences. In this essay I share on transformational leadership, relational leadership and connective leadership. This assignment was very critical to my professional expansion and development. Articulating my own philosophy is very critical to future career opportunities. By establishing my own philosophy I can ensure clients as to how I approach my work.
As I aspire to continue in my career as an adult educator a key assignment was to develop or revise a syllabus. Due to my previous experience I decided to apply the skills learned in my Adult Learner course and revise a syllabus from a previous teaching assignment. This course and assignment reaffirmed and sharpened my curriculum development skills. Studying about curriculum development has influenced how I prepare for meetings with my students and future clients.
TEACHING
This aspect of my showcase reflects key assignments that enhance my skills and increased my knowledge as a classroom educator.
Colleges and universities seek out professionals to provide effective student support. There are rising concerns on student outcomes, graduation rates and enrollment decreases. This essay reflects an example of a training program that I developed in a course. This assignment highlights my abilities to develop training and development programs within an organization. Because of this course I am more confident in my abilities to talk to organizations their overall mission and objectives to work to improve their outcomes.
This assignment provides critical analysis in developing lessons plans. A key theory I respond to in this assignment is the backward design approach. I apply this approach to advising and coaching. Inspiring teachers will enjoy this approach.
My purpose for teaching is to empower students to be self-directed critical thinkers. I help students believe in their ability to succeed in life by accomplishing their academic and personal goals. When I started working at Michigan State University the first question I was asked was, "what is your philosophy of education?" This artifact is similar to my "self-analysis" because they both highlight philosophies. I applied those skills to developing a philosophy for each of the areas I am most passionate about.
A major aspect in obtaining a college education is access, funding, and academic support. This essay is vitally important to my program completion. I learned early on as an undergraduate that when a student cannot eat they more than likely cannot study. This essay focuses on the need to add funding to programs that affect marginalized populations. As an aspiring leader I want to make sure I am doing everything in my power to support students from various backgrounds to overcome any limitation.