Respond to at least three of your classmates’ postings.  ( greet my peers please)

Hello Everyone,

My name is Deja, and I have to daughters Genesis and Halo. I have resided in Columbus, OH for the past nine years and graduated from The Ohio State University with a B.S. in Human Ecology. I have no direct experience has a teacher, but I have been working in schools for the past six years as a Site Manager for an after-school program. It was not until this past year where I decided I wanted to get into education and become a principal. 

The MAED Program Learning Outcomes that I believe will be most beneficial and contribute to my career goals are Engage in continuous professional growth through leadership in educational environments and the demonstration of legal and ethical behavior in professional practices. Use knowledge of subject matter and central concepts of the discipline(s) to create technology-enriched learning environments that promote learner achievement and innovation. My long-term career goal is to become a principal at a middle or high school. Being able to grow professionally through leadership will help me develop and maintain the skills I need to be a successful principal of a building and a great leader. I also believe using knowledge of subject matter, and central concepts of discipline to create technology-enriched learning environments that promote leaner achievement and innovation will help me create an environment to enhance learning and growth for my students and teachers. 

Assessments are necessary for education because they keep students and teachers on track and can be used as guides for the teacher to know what information their students are gaining. Assessment can also be used for students to understand what areas they are struggling in and what areas they are doing well. Assessments are also critical in education because it helps the teacher set goals for their students and selves. 

My name is Kaitlin McCarthy. I’m engaged to my fiancé and we have a one-year-old puppy together, Maverick. I currently work and reside in Keene, New Hampshire but am moving to Charlotte, NC at the end of January. Right now, I am the afternoon infant teacher in a Waldorf setting.

After reading the Program Learning Outcomes of the MAED program, I have decided that I am most intrigued by: Design appropriate and challenging learning experiences informed by analysis of how learners develop individually across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical patterns to promote student learning and growth. This outcome, I believe, relates to me the most because I want to teach the younger years such as infants to preschool-aged children.

Assessment is important because it tells the teacher where the student/child is at academically and what the teacher needs to do to help improve the students’ knowledge of certain subjects. The assessment also tells the teacher where the child is in the cognitive realm. This happens often for me in the infant classroom as I am always assessing to see if the child is reaching certain milestones. The assessment then helps me discover what I need to do to make sure the child is sustaining themselves and continuing to grow and not being pushed back.

Hi, all.  My name is Cara Stanley and I am a married, mother of four.  I am in my first year teaching at a middle school in rural Georgia.  But this is my fifth year at the school; I was a paraprofessional for the previous four years.  I expected teaching to be drastically different than being a paraprofessional, but in reality, I think I overestimated the differences.  But I teach Critical Thinking with Current Events, it’s a trial program that replaced Social Studies in 6th and 7th grade, and I have no standards and no formal assessments.  So, that could be part of the ease of my position.  My reason for working so hard and pushing through is my children, they are my world.  I have been a parent since I was 19, and at 37 I still can’t think of anything better in the world.

The learning outcome that most intrigues me is: Design appropriate and challenging learning experiences informed by analysis of how learners develop individually across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical patterns to promote student learning and growth.  I want to be a teacher who reaches all her students, not just the ones who learn easily.  As a paraprofessional, all my students were special education and I lived for the “AHA” moments.  By being able to design appropriate and challenging learning experiences that serve a variety of learners, I will definitely be the best teacher I can be.

My understanding of assessment is that assessment is a check for understanding.  Formatives should be used as progress checks mostly for the teacher, a way to see if they should reteach, move forward, or differentiate more.  A summative assessment is given once the students have a grasp on the concepts, and more often than not students should feel confident when going into them.