Erica DiClemente
Educator. Coach. Learner.
Annotated Transcript
This page shows the courses I have taken as part of Michigan State University's Master of Arts in Educational Technology program. All courses are listed in the order in which I completed them and each course includes the following: course title, course instructor(s), and a brief personal description. For the official course descriptions, simply click on the course name!
TE = Teacher Education
CEP=Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education
Fall
2017
I took this course during the Fall of my student teaching internship year. This course guided me in maximizing learning from my experiences of literacy teaching in various content areas and among diverse students. I was given the opportunity and guidelines to conduct a meaningful reflection on unit plans and collaborated with my peers to gain new ideas. This course worked hand in hand with my experience in the classroom which in the end helped enrich the overall experience of learning and teaching.
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Spring
2018
This course was also taken during my student teaching internship year. During this course I focused on myself as a professional fostering student learning. Throughout the semester I developed strategies for working with families and community groups to improve responsiveness of the school curriculum to student needs. The course taught me how to address and support child advocacy in the school and community. Overall, the teaching focus of this course was Social Studies integrated units designed for ALL students.
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In TE804, we focused on teaching science in elementary classrooms. This course helped me learn how to reflect and build on ideas and concepts that I encountered throughout my work in the student teaching program. The most useful part of this class was learning how to go through the process of data collection, reflection, planning, teaching, assessment, and then reflection again. I also developed strategies for continuing to learn throughout my career that I will carry with me moving forward. A new activity that I learned during this course were science talks. I was able to plan and guide my students through their own science talk allowing them to fully run a group conversation on a new topic, respectfully challenging each other's ideas and adding their new insights as the kick off to a new unit.
Summer
2019
This course was my first official course in the Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program outside of my student teaching year. In this course we learned how to repurpose technology in our classrooms to create a shift from students just learning content to students truly understanding content. My biggest takeaway from this course was TPACK (technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge) and how to incorporate this into lessons. One major project was the Network Learning Project (NLP). During these three weeks, we had to pick something that we have always wanted to learn and teach ourselves only using technology. Throughout this process, we had the opportunity to build our Professional Learning Networks (PLN) through Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, etc.
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CEP 811 was all about innovative technology and being a maker and innovator in the classroom. Throughout the entire semester, we worked on a project where you had to capture an image a day to help find your identity and explore your intersectionality. This project really got me thinking about my own classroom and how I might incorporate an idea like this into the school year to better understand each of my students’ intersectionalities. We also had the opportunity to try a new innovative technology. I chose Makey Makey which I learned works nicely in companion with Scratch. My biggest takeaway from this course was facing failure. One of the first assignments we did involved reflecting back on my biggest failure. This was a challenging task at first, but once I completed it, I felt this relief and really realized the importance of reflection and making sure your students know that it is okay to fail because that is how we learn.
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This course was about questions, problems, passion and curiosity. At the beginning of the course, we did a 5 minute question quick fire where we got to reflect on our practice. From there, we picked one “wicked problem” to research and explore possible solutions. This was a major project that taught me great research skills, survey design, how to give positive and constructive feedback to colleagues, and technology skills. One of my biggest takeaways from this course is: (PQ + CQ) > IQ or Passion question plus curiosity quotient is always greater than intelligence question. In summary, this formula says that people who show great passion and curiosity in what they are doing will excel equally or above people with only the intelligence aspect.
Fall
2019
In CEP818 we explored the world of creativity around us and learning how to value creativity in education. During this semester I was able to re-image and create multiple new resources that I used in my Junior Kindergarten classroom. From rewriting the words to a song to creating emotion poems to reflecting on my classroom space, this course allowed me to explore new ideas and enhance the sense of community in my classroom.
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Spring
2020
In this course we learned about learning in different settings and scenarios. To begin the course, we were asked to write our personal theory of learning. Throughout the semester, as we learned new material, we updated our theory of learning. My biggest take away through this experience and course is that learning is constantly changing and varies from person to person.
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Summer
2020
CEP 822 focused on two goals: (1) becoming a better consumer of research​ and strategies to obtain knowledge and (2) becoming a better producer of knowledge based on inquiry. Throughout this semester I was taken through the process of reflection and inquiry to further deepen my understanding the connection between what I have learned and am learning in. my graduate program and my professional career of teaching. This course showed me the difference between a teacher and a professional educator- one who uses credible resources and research to further better themselves as educators.
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A common theme I have seen across my experience teaching is the concept of reflection and this final capstone course pushed me to really reflect on my experience both as a professional educator and as a student. Creating this online portfolio to showcase myself as an educator and the work that I have accomplished allowed me to reflect on my journey through the Master of Arts in Educational Technology program and guided me into creating new goals to continue being a life-long learner even after completing this program.