Showcase
The work that brought me here
Throughout my graduate studies, I have accumulated many pieces of work that I have spent a considerable amount of time on. Instead of them figuratively collecting dust in a folder, I decided to display them here! I pursued a Master of Arts in Education degree with a concentration in P-12 School and Postsecondary Leadership and have selected pieces that illustrate that focus.
These first couple pieces illustrate some of the work I did early on in this program. Unit and lesson planning are the backbone of a teacher's skill set and these represent my thinking that goes into this process.
Annotated Unit Plan
I would first like to show you how I go about planning a science unit within a curriculum. Even though my master's program focus on leadership, I am still a teacher. This is a unit plan I made during my student teaching and I still use this piece as an example of what is required to make an engaging unit. The annotations will guide you through my reasoning for each part.
Annotated Lesson Plan
After I plan out my unit, I begin focusing on the individual lesson plans that will get the students to the level of understanding that is expected. I have learned to plan "backwards" in the sense that I will look at the big ideas for the unit plan, design assessments, and then plan actives and lessons that allow them to do well on the assessments. Like the unit plan, annotations will help you follow along with my thinking.
Leadership
Organizational Growth
These are a couple examples of how I view organizational development logistically and as an on going process.
Teacher Learning Budget Plan
This piece is an example of a proposed budget designed to address specific teacher development needs. This project raised my awareness of how to go about financing district wide development. I briefly explain where our teaching staff felt our opportunities for growth were and how each line item addresses those needs.
Moving Toward Action
This piece describes a common general issue within education and what it would take to get closer to a solution. Before you get too excited, my focus is not on the solution itself, but learning how to overcome adaptive challenges within our educational organizations.
Diversity
Acknowledge, Learn, and Change
These essays reflect what I believe our responsibilities are as educators to ensure growth for all students.
Blindly Oppressing
In this writing, I explore how racism is more than just what a few do with their words and actions. I have learned that racism is a system built from prejudices turned into laws and policies. This system continues to still oppress people and many of us fail to see our involvement in this system.
The Other
The former Dean of the School of Education at the University of San Francisco, Kevin Kumashiro, described those who are oppressed as “the other.” While working on this piece, I have unpacked how we, as teachers, forget about "the other" and explore what we can do to give voice and power back to these students.
The First Step of Solving a Problem…
…is acknowledging that one exists. It is difficult for many us that are in positions of power to admit that racism and oppression still exist, especially in our own school system and teaching. During my self-reflection, I have come to understand that much of what we do in education have unintended consequences that can favor one group of students over another. Exploring this idea is crucial if the goal is to teach to all of our students.
Teaching for Social Justice
When discussing such topics as racism and how it has affected our education system, it is easy to become overwhelmed and have a sense of helplessness. How much are we responsible for the injustice we see in education? What is our role in battling against this social injustice? While exploring these questions, I have reached a better understanding of what my role is as a teacher who fights for equity.