~ Synthesis Essay ~
Reflecting Back: Influential Courses
by: Amy Strange
Two years ago I set out on a journey to expand my knowledge of the educational process and how it translates to teaching children with disabilities. Upon starting this journey, I had identified a desire to learn additional techniques, strategies, and procedures that can be used with children who are in special education programs. I hoped to increase my understanding of the typical development of children so that I could better assess the strengths and deficits of children with disabilities. Furthermore, I aspired to be able to utilize this new-found knowledge across personal and professional contexts. When I set these goals, I was confident that Michigan State Universities (MSU) Master's of Arts in Education (MAED) program would help me fulfill each of these goals. Upon completion of the program, I can confidently say that these goals were not only met through the completion of MSU's MAED program, but more importantly I was able to enjoy a quest of enlightenment filled with introspection and inspiration.
Throughout the completion of my MAED program, I have participated in ten courses pertaining to and dealing with education. These courses have afforded me the opportunity to expand my knowledge related to educational inquiry, understanding curriculum in its social context, teaching students with special needs in a general education setting, utilizing effective instructional methods in an inclusive classroom, effectively managing an inclusive classroom, effectively teaching children with challenging behavior, fostering creativity in teaching and learning, accommodating learning for literacy learners, the socio-emotional development of children, and finally creating an online portfolio as a synthesis of my entire program.
Although I have come away from each course with a greater understanding of how to effectively teach students with special needs, upon reflection, there were a few courses that had a marked influence on me.
Throughout the completion of my MAED program, I have participated in ten courses pertaining to and dealing with education. These courses have afforded me the opportunity to expand my knowledge related to educational inquiry, understanding curriculum in its social context, teaching students with special needs in a general education setting, utilizing effective instructional methods in an inclusive classroom, effectively managing an inclusive classroom, effectively teaching children with challenging behavior, fostering creativity in teaching and learning, accommodating learning for literacy learners, the socio-emotional development of children, and finally creating an online portfolio as a synthesis of my entire program.
Although I have come away from each course with a greater understanding of how to effectively teach students with special needs, upon reflection, there were a few courses that had a marked influence on me.
Professor Socal: An Inspiration
Ira Socol had an exceptional formula for creating an online class environment that established a balance between effectively disseminating content in an informative yet challenging format while fostering an interactive group dynamic. CEP 842: Methods of Instruction in Inclusive Classrooms was an integral course in the development of my foundational knowledge about effective ways to teach children with disabilities. Through assigned readings, prompts written to facilitate interaction with and contemplation about the content, and frequent discussion participation, Professor Socol provided me with a repertoire of tools that I can use with children with disabilities. What is more, he provided me an opportunity to contemplate, question, and alter my preconceived notions about many aspects of special education.
Professor Socol’s opening lesson set the tone for the rest of the course by exploring “the language of disability” and the importance of using people-first language. This first exercise allowed me to contemplate and subsequently convey my disdain for professionals in the field of special education who use terms such as “retarded” in a loose manner when referring to something unfair. I am still baffled by individuals in this field who encompass such a lack of sensitivity. From this starting point, CEP 842 continued to explore common components of how to successfully teach students in an inclusive classroom in an often untraditional manner. Some of the thought provoking content that was covered by Professor Socol included the following: what the goal(s) of special education services is(are), what variables come into play when defining / categorizing a disability, the role of motivation in learning, identifying educational supports that are available for students, identifying modifications that are available for students, identifying accommodations that are available for students, defining effective instructional strategies that can be used in an inclusive classroom, and exploring effective teaching methodologies that can be used in an inclusive classroom.
It wasn’t just the content that made CEP 842 stand out for me, it was Professor Socol’s method of instruction that truly challenged me and made me think. Typically Professor Socol would implement the following instructional format: the students would read the assigned material, then they would have an opportunity to reflect upon and formulate a response to the reading material, and then Professor Socol would pose questions or comments about your response in order to create a deeper understanding of the material. One such example still stands out where a prompt was presented asking “What is disability?” where my response to this question involved indication that a disability is a medical condition that is unfortunately mediated by social consequences. Following this assertion, Professor Socol challenged me to further contemplate my reflection by asking: “In your school does a student need an IEP to wear glasses? What if they need a computer to read to them? Why are these two “diagnosable disabilities” treated differently?” He goes on to ask “Is a student who can not carry a tune given an IEP? Why not? Are students put into special education because they run slowly during recess?” The boldness of his response truly made me stop and reevaluate my understanding of the material. This reevaluation process was the essence of learning in Professor Socol's class. It is a component within the educational process that I rarely came into contact with and appreciated so much when I did. After much contemplation about how to respond to his inquiries, I expanded on my initial assertion by concluding that there is a difference between having a disability that is a medical condition versus having a medical condition that is not a disability. Although this conclusion may sound simple, this interactive and contemplative interaction between me and Professor Socol is why CEP 842 stands out as of my most influential courses. Professor Socol led me to a state of inspiration.
Professor Socol’s opening lesson set the tone for the rest of the course by exploring “the language of disability” and the importance of using people-first language. This first exercise allowed me to contemplate and subsequently convey my disdain for professionals in the field of special education who use terms such as “retarded” in a loose manner when referring to something unfair. I am still baffled by individuals in this field who encompass such a lack of sensitivity. From this starting point, CEP 842 continued to explore common components of how to successfully teach students in an inclusive classroom in an often untraditional manner. Some of the thought provoking content that was covered by Professor Socol included the following: what the goal(s) of special education services is(are), what variables come into play when defining / categorizing a disability, the role of motivation in learning, identifying educational supports that are available for students, identifying modifications that are available for students, identifying accommodations that are available for students, defining effective instructional strategies that can be used in an inclusive classroom, and exploring effective teaching methodologies that can be used in an inclusive classroom.
It wasn’t just the content that made CEP 842 stand out for me, it was Professor Socol’s method of instruction that truly challenged me and made me think. Typically Professor Socol would implement the following instructional format: the students would read the assigned material, then they would have an opportunity to reflect upon and formulate a response to the reading material, and then Professor Socol would pose questions or comments about your response in order to create a deeper understanding of the material. One such example still stands out where a prompt was presented asking “What is disability?” where my response to this question involved indication that a disability is a medical condition that is unfortunately mediated by social consequences. Following this assertion, Professor Socol challenged me to further contemplate my reflection by asking: “In your school does a student need an IEP to wear glasses? What if they need a computer to read to them? Why are these two “diagnosable disabilities” treated differently?” He goes on to ask “Is a student who can not carry a tune given an IEP? Why not? Are students put into special education because they run slowly during recess?” The boldness of his response truly made me stop and reevaluate my understanding of the material. This reevaluation process was the essence of learning in Professor Socol's class. It is a component within the educational process that I rarely came into contact with and appreciated so much when I did. After much contemplation about how to respond to his inquiries, I expanded on my initial assertion by concluding that there is a difference between having a disability that is a medical condition versus having a medical condition that is not a disability. Although this conclusion may sound simple, this interactive and contemplative interaction between me and Professor Socol is why CEP 842 stands out as of my most influential courses. Professor Socol led me to a state of inspiration.
A Toolbox for Challenging Behavior
My initial interest in Professors Jana Aupperlee and Angie Maupin’s class came from a desire to expand my professional knowledge about how to intervene with students with challenging behavior. Professors Aupperlee and Maupin’s class had an equally influential but alternative impact on my learning in contrast to Professor Socol’s class. Their course, CEP 832: Educating Students with Challenging Behavior, possessed a few key components that made it stand out from my other courses.
CEP 832 was organized in a concise and easy to follow format that made accessing and understanding the material effortless. The material followed a natural progression by discussing four main categories of children with challenging behavior. These categories included aggressive and angry children; impulsive and active children; shy, withdrawn and socially isolated children; and low achieving and failure syndrome children. Each category of children was further classified into subcategories of specific problem behaviors. This categorization and sub-categorization allowed me to better understand the motives for problem behavior and how to subsequently respond to their behavior accordingly. These subcategories of problem behavior include the following: students with aggressive behavior can be categorized into hostile-aggressive, passive-aggressive, and defiant students; impulsive and active students can be broken down into hyperactive students, distractible students, and immature students; students with peer relationship problems can be grouped into students who are rejected by and isolated from their peers because of deficient social skills, or students who are isolated from their peers because of their own excessive shyness; and finally there are students with achievement problems which can be classified as students who are low-achieving, students who display failure syndrome traits, students who are overly perfectionistic, and students who are underachievers.
For each of these categories of children, definitions of the type of challenging behaviors were provided, examples of children who display the challenging behaviors were given, and multiple intervention techniques that can be utilized with each challenging behavior were offered. One instructional tool that was utilized that was especially helpful was the presentation of a real vignette for each subcategory of problem behavior so the problem behavior could be put into an applicable real-life context. This method of instruction helped me better understand each category of problem behavior and how to respond to it accordingly. Collectively this information helped to establish an informal protocol or guide for how to intervene with a wide array of challenging behavior.
In addition to offering a clear distinction of children with challenging behavior, the reading materials for CEP 832 were extremely resourceful. The reading materials provided multiple exemplars of tools that can be used with children within each category and subcategory of problem behavior. One of the texts also provided blank templates of behavioral systems and interventions that can be utilized with children with problem behavior. This resource has and will continue to be invaluable for me as I work with children with Autism who display challenging behavior. With these resources, I now feel more equipped to manage children with challenging behavior.
CEP 832 was organized in a concise and easy to follow format that made accessing and understanding the material effortless. The material followed a natural progression by discussing four main categories of children with challenging behavior. These categories included aggressive and angry children; impulsive and active children; shy, withdrawn and socially isolated children; and low achieving and failure syndrome children. Each category of children was further classified into subcategories of specific problem behaviors. This categorization and sub-categorization allowed me to better understand the motives for problem behavior and how to subsequently respond to their behavior accordingly. These subcategories of problem behavior include the following: students with aggressive behavior can be categorized into hostile-aggressive, passive-aggressive, and defiant students; impulsive and active students can be broken down into hyperactive students, distractible students, and immature students; students with peer relationship problems can be grouped into students who are rejected by and isolated from their peers because of deficient social skills, or students who are isolated from their peers because of their own excessive shyness; and finally there are students with achievement problems which can be classified as students who are low-achieving, students who display failure syndrome traits, students who are overly perfectionistic, and students who are underachievers.
For each of these categories of children, definitions of the type of challenging behaviors were provided, examples of children who display the challenging behaviors were given, and multiple intervention techniques that can be utilized with each challenging behavior were offered. One instructional tool that was utilized that was especially helpful was the presentation of a real vignette for each subcategory of problem behavior so the problem behavior could be put into an applicable real-life context. This method of instruction helped me better understand each category of problem behavior and how to respond to it accordingly. Collectively this information helped to establish an informal protocol or guide for how to intervene with a wide array of challenging behavior.
In addition to offering a clear distinction of children with challenging behavior, the reading materials for CEP 832 were extremely resourceful. The reading materials provided multiple exemplars of tools that can be used with children within each category and subcategory of problem behavior. One of the texts also provided blank templates of behavioral systems and interventions that can be utilized with children with problem behavior. This resource has and will continue to be invaluable for me as I work with children with Autism who display challenging behavior. With these resources, I now feel more equipped to manage children with challenging behavior.
Spurring Creativity
Upon increasing my knowledge about effective educational methodologies, instructional practices, and contextual influences on education, I was intrigued to learn that there was a course aimed at increasing creativity in the classroom. With some of the basics in place, I was excited to explore a course with a different level of complexity. This course, CEP 818: Creativity in Teaching and Learning stood out as one of my most memorable courses due to the unconventional content and design of the course.
Professors Punya Mishra and Kristen Kereluik organized CEP 818 around a book by Root-Bernstein called Sparks of Genius. The book and course content were broken down into understanding how to and subsequently practicing viewing the world in a creative and often untraditional way. This was achieved by examining and working directly with each chapter of the book. In total these chapters conveyed 13 thinking skills that are needed to achieve creative thinking. These thinking skills included the following domains and sub-domains: perceiving which includes observing and imaging, patterning which includes recognizing and forming patterns, abstracting which includes abstracting and analogizing, embodied thinking includes body thinking and empathizing, modeling includes dimensional thinking and modeling, and playing includes playing and transforming. Within each of these topic areas, Professors Mishra and Kereluik had the following assignments: a zoom in activity, a how do I love thee activity, and a what’s the big idea assignment. These activities involved understanding the thinking skill outlined in the chapter, practicing implementing the thinking skill by looking for and taking pictures of something that captures it, summarizing the thinking skill, and applying the thinking concept to a topic of our choice.
From week to week, while digesting the material presented in Sparks of Genius, I found myself truly “viewing” the world from a new perspective. I became more aware of and perceived beauty in places that I would have previously overlooked. I found myself thinking about how I was engaging with the world. I even felt inspired to increase my creative thinking across daily activities, leisure activities, and relationships with others. I found myself more motivated to be creative with everything I did. As a result of this revelation, Creativity in Teaching and Learning had a significant impact on my learning both during my MAED program and outside of it.
In addition to its novel content, the unconventional structure of CEP 818 is one of the key components that made this course memorable for me. Professors Mishra and Kereluik designed a technologically driven course that forced me to step outside of my technological comfort zone. One of the objectives of this class was to create a website where the activities that I completed for each thinking skill could be displayed. This task was, to say the least, a formidable challenge. Prior to CEP 818, I had no exposure to and experience with website creation. Therefore, this course afforded me the opportunity to develop a foundational understanding of how to find, set up, alter, and publish a website. Due to the technological basis of our current society, I am glad that I gained exposure to this skill set while completing my MAED program.
Professors Punya Mishra and Kristen Kereluik organized CEP 818 around a book by Root-Bernstein called Sparks of Genius. The book and course content were broken down into understanding how to and subsequently practicing viewing the world in a creative and often untraditional way. This was achieved by examining and working directly with each chapter of the book. In total these chapters conveyed 13 thinking skills that are needed to achieve creative thinking. These thinking skills included the following domains and sub-domains: perceiving which includes observing and imaging, patterning which includes recognizing and forming patterns, abstracting which includes abstracting and analogizing, embodied thinking includes body thinking and empathizing, modeling includes dimensional thinking and modeling, and playing includes playing and transforming. Within each of these topic areas, Professors Mishra and Kereluik had the following assignments: a zoom in activity, a how do I love thee activity, and a what’s the big idea assignment. These activities involved understanding the thinking skill outlined in the chapter, practicing implementing the thinking skill by looking for and taking pictures of something that captures it, summarizing the thinking skill, and applying the thinking concept to a topic of our choice.
From week to week, while digesting the material presented in Sparks of Genius, I found myself truly “viewing” the world from a new perspective. I became more aware of and perceived beauty in places that I would have previously overlooked. I found myself thinking about how I was engaging with the world. I even felt inspired to increase my creative thinking across daily activities, leisure activities, and relationships with others. I found myself more motivated to be creative with everything I did. As a result of this revelation, Creativity in Teaching and Learning had a significant impact on my learning both during my MAED program and outside of it.
In addition to its novel content, the unconventional structure of CEP 818 is one of the key components that made this course memorable for me. Professors Mishra and Kereluik designed a technologically driven course that forced me to step outside of my technological comfort zone. One of the objectives of this class was to create a website where the activities that I completed for each thinking skill could be displayed. This task was, to say the least, a formidable challenge. Prior to CEP 818, I had no exposure to and experience with website creation. Therefore, this course afforded me the opportunity to develop a foundational understanding of how to find, set up, alter, and publish a website. Due to the technological basis of our current society, I am glad that I gained exposure to this skill set while completing my MAED program.
The Culmination of this Journey
I have discovered an inherent passion for helping children and a love for making a difference in the lives of others. With these lifelong passions identified, I embarked on the journey of completing my Masters of Arts in Education program. Upon beginning this journey, my goals were to increase my knowledge of the educational process while also increasing my repertoire of effective instructional techniques, strategies, and procedures that can be utilized with children with disabilities. As I began my MAED program I quickly found myself reading scholarly journal articles, newspaper articles, renowned books, and online articles while slowly experiencing the alignment of my lifelong passions with my educational goals.
Upon reflecting back on my MAED program, there were a few courses that stand out as having a marked impact on me both educationally and personally. These key courses helped me question myself, they allowed me to develop a toolbox of techniques that can be used to manage challenging behavior, and they opened my eyes to the beauty in the world. At the culmination of my journey at MSU, I can confidently attest that I have been able to achieve my goals while developing a greater understanding of how to integrate my newfound knowledge with my lifelong passions.
Upon reflecting back on my MAED program, there were a few courses that stand out as having a marked impact on me both educationally and personally. These key courses helped me question myself, they allowed me to develop a toolbox of techniques that can be used to manage challenging behavior, and they opened my eyes to the beauty in the world. At the culmination of my journey at MSU, I can confidently attest that I have been able to achieve my goals while developing a greater understanding of how to integrate my newfound knowledge with my lifelong passions.
References
Root-Bernstein, R., & Root-Bernstein, M. (2000). Sparks of genius: The 13 thinking tools of the world's most creative people. Houghton Mifflin.
