Digging Deeper
One of my favorite elements of my master's program was getting to dig deeper into topics that I had a surface level knowledge about. A few courses provided me the opportunity to take a topic and research it in order to feel much more knowledgeable if the topic were to come up in my career. One course allowed me to dig deeper into a special education topic of my choosing, while another challenged me to dive into a literacy topic, such as vocabulary in a young classroom, to become an "expert" on what that looks like. Both courses and projects challenged me to go outside of what I already thought I knew, and open my thinking to truly get the most out of the assignment. With digging deeper into familiar topics, I feel I was able to gain the knowledge necessary to discuss these topics with parents and my colleagues. These courses made me feel more comfortable about my level of knowledge of two key topics in a young classroom.
ADHD ProjectIn this piktochart, I was able to showcase my deeper knowledge on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Prior to the completion of this project, I had an extremely surface level knowledge of ADHD, but would often have parents questioning me on this disorder as a kindergarten teacher. This project was the perfect opportunity for me to dig deeper and gain more knowledge on the disorder, in order to be more knowledgable and a resource for my student's parents.
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Book ReviewIn this book review essay, I was able to dig deeper into the topic of vocabulary and what that looked like in a kindergarten (or younger) classroom. The idea of vocabulary in kindergarten had always been to pick a few key words from a science unit, or out of a themed unit to focus on for a short amount of time. After reading and analyzing the book, All about words: Increasing vocabulary in the Common Core classroom, PreK-2, I found myself gaining a deeper knowledge of how to bring vocabulary into my young classroom in a much more meaningful way.
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