Using My Tools
Having chosen a literacy focus for my master's degree, I knew that I was going to have to analyze student data, write many papers, look at the literacy curriculum as a whole, and use my new and seasoned literacy tools to showcase my learning and growth. I viewed this as the perfect opportunity to take my pre-existing literacy knowledge, combine it with my new knowledge, and create lessons, analyze data, and create a new writing unit that meant a lot to me as a literacy student and educator. It was through these assignments that I was able to put my development to the test, and use my literacy tools. Now, having taken these courses, through my daily assessments with students, collecting data, and finding ways to help my students learn more, I feel I have mastered many of these concepts because of these projects. When I am asked to analyze data and come up with a plan, I no longer feel intimidated, but instead comfortable in my abilities.
Student Case StudyLooking at and analyzing student data is a tricky thing when you do not know the student. When you are able to implement your own lesson on your own students, on the other hand, analyzing student data becomes much more meaningful. In this project, I was able to identify an area of weakness in a couple students, come up with a few lessons, and analyze the data that came from the lessons. By doing this, I was using tools that I already had, while researching how to help my students even further.
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Poetry Unit CreationAfter trying something new and writing my own poetry piece, I was able to use my knowledge and skills on writing units, integrate it with my new poetry knowledge, and create a kindergarten poetry writing unit for my classroom. In doing this, I was able to find artifacts to create a full unit, with lessons, mentor texts, and rubrics for an educator to use (myself included).
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Student AnalysisWhile analyzing unknown student data can be a tricky task, there are many benefits to doing so. Because you do not know the student personally, it forces you to look at every possible angle and scenario to make sure you are coming up with the best course of action for that student. In this essay, I was able to do just that; I looked at unknown student data to come up with a plan to help this student grow and develop. It was easy, then, to see how I could apply what I was analyzing and deciphering into my own classroom.
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