Reflection:
The many courses which I have now taken in education and methods for elementary education will definitely serve me well when I enter my first career opportunity. I have learned many of the teaching strategies that are widely believed to produce successful teachers. As I have revisited the content of the four core classes of elementary education I have found myself looking at things from a whole new perspective, and with a much greater sensitivity. One such example was in my Social Studies Methods course where I made a presentation of Christopher Columbus. The research that I presented told the story from entirely different point of view than when I was a student at the elementary level. I have learned through my discipline courses that it is no longer acceptable to present only one side or one viewpoint of a specific topic; but that we now must teach our students that there are many ways to look at a topic or problem. Another course which taught me a valuable lesson about how the content is taught in today’s classrooms was Math 106, which was a teaching elementary mathematics course at SUNY Oswego. We learned to look at a problem from a magnitude of ways to come to a solution. It is apparent to me now that the more ways in which we can look at a problem the more opportunities we will provide for our students to succeed in the classroom.
Evidence:
Below is a list of the courses which I was taken since entering the graduate level at SUNY Oswego, which I believe will benefit me in terms of content in the classroom as a new teacher:
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CED 530: |
Teaching Mathematics Grades 1-6 |
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CED 540: |
Authentic Learning: Teaching Science |
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CED 550: |
Teaching Social Studies: Authentic Literacy and Learning |
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CED 594: |
Integrated Methods |
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LIT 511: |
Language & Literacy Development |
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LIT 514: |
Assessment & Adaptation – Childhood |
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ENGL 201: |
World Literature I |
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ENGL 203: |
American Literature I |
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ENGL 209: |
Children’s Literature |
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HIST 201: |
History of U.S. I |
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MAT 106: |
Number Systems & Operations |
Also, as an example of my aptitude in the content area of elementary education are my score reports for the LAST’s and CST’s:
