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Claire Miles | Passionate Educator. Lifelong Learner.
Showcase of Graduate Work
Welcome to my Master of Arts in Education (MAED) showcase! On this page, you will find a variety of research, lesson plans, and management plans that I focused on throughout my graduate career. Each of my pieces of work fall into three categories: Best Practices, Literacy Instruction, and Behavior Management. These are three areas that I am passionate about, and will now allow me to be in more of a leadership role within my district. Enjoy!
Best
Practices
Literacy Instruction
Behavior
Management
Research on Today's Best Practices
Michigan State's MAED program is built so that students have the opportunity to research today's best practices. My focus was on Literacy Education. Therefore, below, you will see three prevalent topics pertaining to literacy that I have researched, and look forward to sharing with other teaching professionals.
Quality Literature
One hot topic in teaching reading is quality literature. What constitutes quality literature? How does it affect student growth? Below, I have answered some of these questions to help educators understand the importance of building their classroom library with quality and diversity in mind.
Project Based Learning
As I continue to seek out highly engaging and effective teaching methods, I had the opportunity to join a book club which focused on Project Based Learning. Read below about what this means, and the benefits of using it in your own classroom. My research came from the book Inside Information, written by well-known author and literacy instructor, Nell Duke.
Writing Rubrics
Should teachers be using rubrics to grade their student's writing? I wrote a letter to my principals about using rubrics. This example shows an informational writing piece in the science content area. The goal was to show that I could use both analytic rubrics and a content rubric, with the help of writing conferences, peer review, and individual review.
My Experience with Literacy Instruction
In addition to my research, I put my learned practices to use. Below you will see two examples of literacy assessments I did with students, and then lessons that I created to reach their individual needs. The third artifact I have for you is about how I incorporated a new piece of technology into a literacy lesson with my third graders.
William's Assessment
Data driven instruction is crucial to meeting student's needs. Below, you will find a study that I did on a boy named William. You will read about how I went about identifying learning goals for William based on data provided, and instructional strategies that would zero in on his areas for potential growth.
Sarah's Assessment
Below, you will find a study that I did on a girl named Sarah. You will read about how I went about identifying learning goals for Sarah based on data provided, and instructional strategies that would zero in on her areas for potential growth.
Utilizing Technology
21st century learners should be able to read and write using various forms of technology. I believe that helping kids master these skills should be fun! Through my studies, I found a resource called Off the Charts Web Karaoke. Read about how I used it in my classroom to engage my third graders in a collaborative writing experience below.
Managing Challenging Behaviors
In addition to my literacy instruction, I spent a semester studying how to manage challenging behaviors in the classroom. This was one of the most influential classes that I took, and I am proud to show you some solutions that I carefully implemented to help one hyperactive third grader, and another aggressive student.
Helping Hyperactive Henry
Hyperactivity is very prevalent in today's elementary classrooms, including my own. Therefore, it is important to identify the root cause of this particular behavior in order to create goals for struggling students. One can use these goals to steer their behavior management plan. In this study, I created a plan to help hyperactive Henry reach his own goals.
Aggressive Behavior Study
Here is another example of a case study that I participated in. These weekly case studies allowed me to consider my own reactions to certain behaviors, and then think about the resources I can use to help limit my negative reactions, and inspire struggling students to reach specific behavioral goals.