COMPELLING QUESTION
Throughout this graduate program, I had one thing at the forefront of my mind: my students. Their struggles and my lack of ability to truly help them is what brought me to continuing my education at NC State, and I found myself thinking of them with every reading, forum post, lesson plan, project, and synthesis paper I completed. This led me to my overarching compelling question: How can I engage and support my diverse, adolescent students?
RATIONALE
This focus was so meaningful and important for me because I learned very early in my teaching career how difficult it could be to engage my middle school students, who are at the stage of their lives where everything seems more interesting than school and learning how to read and write. This fact was compounded by the reality that I teach Special Education, and my students have such reading and writing deficits (caused by intellectual disability, specific learning disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, serious emotional disability, autism spectrum disorder, etc.) that they require an Individualized Education Program with specialized instruction and progress monitoring in order to be successful. I knew I needed to figure out the best ways to engage AND support my diverse, adolescent students, or they might remain illiterate and unsuccessful in school and later life.
FINDINGS
My findings in relation to my compelling question are extensive and span this website. Through all my graduate classes, I was able to take away new understandings that shaped me as an educator and brought me closer to successfully engaging and supporting my students. I learned the importance of digital and media literacy and pushed past my comfort zone with incorporating technology to support learning. I practiced integrating global learning in my classroom through an engaging Project-Based Inquiry unit. I learned how to identify an area of concern and complete teacher action research on that topic to address the problem. I dug deep into the complex processes of reading and writing both online and in print, and explored the best ways to bring those challenging worlds to my students. Through it all, I thought long and hard about my beliefs about education and how I can make my classroom a real, encouraging, challenging, and life-changing place for me and my students. Though I know I will never have all of the answers, I feel worlds away from the frustrated, confused, and overwhelmed teacher I was when I started this program two years ago. I am more knowledgeable, experienced, educated, and inspired, and I truly feel that has made all of the difference for my students.
Throughout this graduate program, I had one thing at the forefront of my mind: my students. Their struggles and my lack of ability to truly help them is what brought me to continuing my education at NC State, and I found myself thinking of them with every reading, forum post, lesson plan, project, and synthesis paper I completed. This led me to my overarching compelling question: How can I engage and support my diverse, adolescent students?
RATIONALE
This focus was so meaningful and important for me because I learned very early in my teaching career how difficult it could be to engage my middle school students, who are at the stage of their lives where everything seems more interesting than school and learning how to read and write. This fact was compounded by the reality that I teach Special Education, and my students have such reading and writing deficits (caused by intellectual disability, specific learning disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, serious emotional disability, autism spectrum disorder, etc.) that they require an Individualized Education Program with specialized instruction and progress monitoring in order to be successful. I knew I needed to figure out the best ways to engage AND support my diverse, adolescent students, or they might remain illiterate and unsuccessful in school and later life.
FINDINGS
My findings in relation to my compelling question are extensive and span this website. Through all my graduate classes, I was able to take away new understandings that shaped me as an educator and brought me closer to successfully engaging and supporting my students. I learned the importance of digital and media literacy and pushed past my comfort zone with incorporating technology to support learning. I practiced integrating global learning in my classroom through an engaging Project-Based Inquiry unit. I learned how to identify an area of concern and complete teacher action research on that topic to address the problem. I dug deep into the complex processes of reading and writing both online and in print, and explored the best ways to bring those challenging worlds to my students. Through it all, I thought long and hard about my beliefs about education and how I can make my classroom a real, encouraging, challenging, and life-changing place for me and my students. Though I know I will never have all of the answers, I feel worlds away from the frustrated, confused, and overwhelmed teacher I was when I started this program two years ago. I am more knowledgeable, experienced, educated, and inspired, and I truly feel that has made all of the difference for my students.