In the spring of 2011 I was ready for a new challenge. My third year of teaching was coming to a close and I needed to begin considering options for fulfilling the requirements for my recertification. A neighbor of mine at the time was already a year into the MAED program through Michigan State and always sharing new and interesting material so I figured that looking into MSU would be a good place to start. I knew that I wanted to study within some capacity, language and/or literacy while pursuing a program that would be able to best fit my personal schedule and professional goals. After considering several other universities, Michigan State was far and away the best option, and so the adventure began.
My undergraduate experience began at Kent State University where I earned a BA in Art Education. In my last semester there I had taken the course Reading and Writing for Adolescents. Even while I was participating in the course I wished that I had taken that course years earlier. At that time, as I was preparing to leave college and enter the teaching profession I was introduced to all that the visual arts can do to in support of literacy and language. Going into my Master’s I knew that this relationship was what I wanted to focus on. From the very beginning of my MSU journey making those connections between the visual and the written would be the centerpiece of my studies.
For my first semester of the MAED program, begun in the fall of 2011, I participated in both Secondary Reading Assessment & Instruction (TE 843) and Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners (TE 846). Concurrently these courses showed me the potential for literacy instruction and shed light on the literary needs of my potential students. One such assignment for TE 843 required me to take a reading inventory for my students’ out-of-school reading experiences. I valued the opportunity to better understand my students’ interests as well explore new ways to engage their interests in the content of my curriculum. With these courses being my first in depth study of literacy instruction I initially felt overwhelmed. Particularly because within my curriculum, and previous educational experiences, I was never required to directly address literacy nor was there a place in the schedule to integrate the evaluations necessary to accurately assess the literacy needs of my students. I found that other participating members in these courses were elementary or general education teachers, where teaching literacy, phonic techniques, and other instruction methods were already being implemented. I felt unprepared for this level of involvement with the material.
A requirement for TE 846 was to develop a case study of one of my ELL students and provide recommendations to how to best continue to support their language needs. This assignment was the first time that I developed a case study and initially I was nervous about how I would go about identifying a student that would be willing to participate and what interventions I could offer that would be of any service to them. What this assignment did provide was the opportunity to work across curriculum with the Language Arts teachers and ESOL instructors within my school. Their collaboration in this process not only allowed me access into other aspects of the educational process but brought my attention to a group of students that are struggling with literacy and language that I had previously overlooked. Until this point I had assumed that my students would receive adequate linguistic instruction and support from the English Department or the associated student services. The chance to work with a student needing additional support opened a window to incorporate literacy within my classroom. Additionally, for TE 846 I developed a lesson plan directly related to the use and understanding of literacy as it applies within the visual arts curriculum.
My interest in curriculum was further nourished the following semester when I participated in Curriculum in its Social Context (TE 818). While not directly addressing literacy, this course challenged my understanding of why we teach the things that we do and subsequently question why some things are given more of a focus than others. Of all the courses that I participated throughout the program, this was far and away my favorite. Our investigation of the influences of curriculum development further opened the door to bringing literacy into my own curriculum. It was during this course that I solidified my belief that curriculum, and education in general, should be in place to teach our students how to learn. That learning is a lifetime venture, and that it should be the result of the collaborative effort of society as a whole. By adding literacy into the visual arts curriculum, and concurrently by including the visual arts in support of the language arts, we are providing our students with a more comprehensive set of methods to interpret their environment. No longer should the written and the visual exist through separate ventures. Especially since the modern digital world is already blending what is read with what is seen, one set of analytical systems cannot provide the depth necessary to interpret the complete message being presented to the viewer/reader.
The questions of how curriculum is generated, and just what curriculum should include are issues that before this course I never directly addressed. I have come to believe now that curriculum needs to be a collaborative effort that reflects both the goals of the society and the needs of the students. I also believe that curriculum should be a living and every changing concept that much adapt in order to best serve the students as beliefs, needs, and technology continue to evolve. If my initial exposure to literacy instruction that began during my undergraduate studies influenced my direction toward the MAED in Literacy, I believe that I will credit this course for directing my future studies toward curriculum development. Ultimately I would like to pursue further education that would allow me to take the knowledge gained to support literacy coupled with the content that I already implement in Art Education and influence the development of a curriculum that promotes traditional literacy, visual literacy, and a collaborative societal pursuit of acquiring knowledge.
While TE 818 most directly influenced my future goals, the course that I believe that most directly influenced my classroom instruction though would have been Methods and Materials for Teaching Adolescent Literature (TE 849). Upon entering the MAED program this was, exclusively, the course that I was looking forward to the most. If I had the chance to repeat the program again, or to offer advice for future organization of the program, I would have taken this class prior to TE 843 or TE 846. For a concentration in literacy it would have been more beneficial to have first learned the techniques prior to having to jump into the fire and direct literacy instruction.
In addition to analyzing children’s literature the TE 849 course also dedicated a significant portion of the class to evaluating the significance of format pertaining to how the content was being delivered. Throughout my junior high and high school experience as a student I struggled with literacy and was reading below my appropriate grade level. Even to this day I am a slow reader and struggle with spelling. To have a course that openly addresses graphic novels and cinematic adaptations as not only valuable resources to aid in the development of literacy skills but as effective devices for the transmission of content. Again, from a visual arts perspective, having this addressed in a graduate class focusing on literacy this class provided the most supportive material for bringing traditional literacy into my own curriculum. I feel that with the material presented I can better justify and advocate for the visual art as a valuable facet for a comprehensive secondary education.
In addition to the content offered by the MAED program I feel that the format of it being exclusively digitally focused contributed greatly to this being a very unique experience. Upon the onset of this program I was hesitant of entering into a learning community that was not based in the traditional classroom setting. Being that technology is expanding into more and more avenues of our lives I figured that it would be appropriate to expand my comfort zone while simultaneously preparing for what changes might come to the learning experience in the 21st century.
When I began the program my school was using ANGEL, the same system used by Michigan State and what facilitated the majority of our classes within the MAED program, as our learning management system for our on-line presence and facilitating digital communication with our students and parents. The in-service training that I feel we received was inadequate in relation to all the potential that ANGEL had to offer pertaining to the submission of our work, class discussions, posting of material, etc. It was through my experience with the MAED program where I got to see how successful online learning operated. Though some instructors through Michigan State utilized the system more wholly than others, the experience of learning in an on-line environment was still a valued endeavor.
Looking back on the MAED experience I feel that I have accomplished what I initially intended to do, which was to seek out and find those connections that bridge the written with the visual. The MAED program through Michigan State not only reaffirmed that language and literacy have a place across all educational content areas but additionally led me to question how curriculum is developed and how it could be challenged to be even better. I am thankful for having been able to see this through to completion and believe that my teaching, as well as my students’ educational experience, has benefited and will continue to further evolve from the knowledge that was shared not only by my professors, but colleagues and found in my own personal interaction with the materials.
~ Michael Vasinko, 2013
My undergraduate experience began at Kent State University where I earned a BA in Art Education. In my last semester there I had taken the course Reading and Writing for Adolescents. Even while I was participating in the course I wished that I had taken that course years earlier. At that time, as I was preparing to leave college and enter the teaching profession I was introduced to all that the visual arts can do to in support of literacy and language. Going into my Master’s I knew that this relationship was what I wanted to focus on. From the very beginning of my MSU journey making those connections between the visual and the written would be the centerpiece of my studies.
For my first semester of the MAED program, begun in the fall of 2011, I participated in both Secondary Reading Assessment & Instruction (TE 843) and Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners (TE 846). Concurrently these courses showed me the potential for literacy instruction and shed light on the literary needs of my potential students. One such assignment for TE 843 required me to take a reading inventory for my students’ out-of-school reading experiences. I valued the opportunity to better understand my students’ interests as well explore new ways to engage their interests in the content of my curriculum. With these courses being my first in depth study of literacy instruction I initially felt overwhelmed. Particularly because within my curriculum, and previous educational experiences, I was never required to directly address literacy nor was there a place in the schedule to integrate the evaluations necessary to accurately assess the literacy needs of my students. I found that other participating members in these courses were elementary or general education teachers, where teaching literacy, phonic techniques, and other instruction methods were already being implemented. I felt unprepared for this level of involvement with the material.
A requirement for TE 846 was to develop a case study of one of my ELL students and provide recommendations to how to best continue to support their language needs. This assignment was the first time that I developed a case study and initially I was nervous about how I would go about identifying a student that would be willing to participate and what interventions I could offer that would be of any service to them. What this assignment did provide was the opportunity to work across curriculum with the Language Arts teachers and ESOL instructors within my school. Their collaboration in this process not only allowed me access into other aspects of the educational process but brought my attention to a group of students that are struggling with literacy and language that I had previously overlooked. Until this point I had assumed that my students would receive adequate linguistic instruction and support from the English Department or the associated student services. The chance to work with a student needing additional support opened a window to incorporate literacy within my classroom. Additionally, for TE 846 I developed a lesson plan directly related to the use and understanding of literacy as it applies within the visual arts curriculum.
My interest in curriculum was further nourished the following semester when I participated in Curriculum in its Social Context (TE 818). While not directly addressing literacy, this course challenged my understanding of why we teach the things that we do and subsequently question why some things are given more of a focus than others. Of all the courses that I participated throughout the program, this was far and away my favorite. Our investigation of the influences of curriculum development further opened the door to bringing literacy into my own curriculum. It was during this course that I solidified my belief that curriculum, and education in general, should be in place to teach our students how to learn. That learning is a lifetime venture, and that it should be the result of the collaborative effort of society as a whole. By adding literacy into the visual arts curriculum, and concurrently by including the visual arts in support of the language arts, we are providing our students with a more comprehensive set of methods to interpret their environment. No longer should the written and the visual exist through separate ventures. Especially since the modern digital world is already blending what is read with what is seen, one set of analytical systems cannot provide the depth necessary to interpret the complete message being presented to the viewer/reader.
The questions of how curriculum is generated, and just what curriculum should include are issues that before this course I never directly addressed. I have come to believe now that curriculum needs to be a collaborative effort that reflects both the goals of the society and the needs of the students. I also believe that curriculum should be a living and every changing concept that much adapt in order to best serve the students as beliefs, needs, and technology continue to evolve. If my initial exposure to literacy instruction that began during my undergraduate studies influenced my direction toward the MAED in Literacy, I believe that I will credit this course for directing my future studies toward curriculum development. Ultimately I would like to pursue further education that would allow me to take the knowledge gained to support literacy coupled with the content that I already implement in Art Education and influence the development of a curriculum that promotes traditional literacy, visual literacy, and a collaborative societal pursuit of acquiring knowledge.
While TE 818 most directly influenced my future goals, the course that I believe that most directly influenced my classroom instruction though would have been Methods and Materials for Teaching Adolescent Literature (TE 849). Upon entering the MAED program this was, exclusively, the course that I was looking forward to the most. If I had the chance to repeat the program again, or to offer advice for future organization of the program, I would have taken this class prior to TE 843 or TE 846. For a concentration in literacy it would have been more beneficial to have first learned the techniques prior to having to jump into the fire and direct literacy instruction.
In addition to analyzing children’s literature the TE 849 course also dedicated a significant portion of the class to evaluating the significance of format pertaining to how the content was being delivered. Throughout my junior high and high school experience as a student I struggled with literacy and was reading below my appropriate grade level. Even to this day I am a slow reader and struggle with spelling. To have a course that openly addresses graphic novels and cinematic adaptations as not only valuable resources to aid in the development of literacy skills but as effective devices for the transmission of content. Again, from a visual arts perspective, having this addressed in a graduate class focusing on literacy this class provided the most supportive material for bringing traditional literacy into my own curriculum. I feel that with the material presented I can better justify and advocate for the visual art as a valuable facet for a comprehensive secondary education.
In addition to the content offered by the MAED program I feel that the format of it being exclusively digitally focused contributed greatly to this being a very unique experience. Upon the onset of this program I was hesitant of entering into a learning community that was not based in the traditional classroom setting. Being that technology is expanding into more and more avenues of our lives I figured that it would be appropriate to expand my comfort zone while simultaneously preparing for what changes might come to the learning experience in the 21st century.
When I began the program my school was using ANGEL, the same system used by Michigan State and what facilitated the majority of our classes within the MAED program, as our learning management system for our on-line presence and facilitating digital communication with our students and parents. The in-service training that I feel we received was inadequate in relation to all the potential that ANGEL had to offer pertaining to the submission of our work, class discussions, posting of material, etc. It was through my experience with the MAED program where I got to see how successful online learning operated. Though some instructors through Michigan State utilized the system more wholly than others, the experience of learning in an on-line environment was still a valued endeavor.
Looking back on the MAED experience I feel that I have accomplished what I initially intended to do, which was to seek out and find those connections that bridge the written with the visual. The MAED program through Michigan State not only reaffirmed that language and literacy have a place across all educational content areas but additionally led me to question how curriculum is developed and how it could be challenged to be even better. I am thankful for having been able to see this through to completion and believe that my teaching, as well as my students’ educational experience, has benefited and will continue to further evolve from the knowledge that was shared not only by my professors, but colleagues and found in my own personal interaction with the materials.
~ Michael Vasinko, 2013