I have selected the elements below as pieces that best exemplify my skills. These range from thinking analytically about my organization, to most effective ways to incorporate technology into the classroom, to using sports to cultivate positive development in youth. I have grouped the pieces below into three categories (leadership, teaching, and coaching) that, although each category overlaps and holds application to the other two, best capture my work in this Master of Arts in Education program. Please click on the buttons under each heading to view the pieces.
LEADERSHIP
This vision statement is a summary of my goals for working in a community of educators. This vision statement enabled me to identify the strongest aspects of my current community and those that I believe we can improve. It is also includes a reflection on the vision of our founding headmaster and an evaluation of our ability to stay true to that vision and how it may have changed as the school has evolved. This writing allowed me to examine both the community around me and my role in that community.
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This essay is the final in a series that I wrote while examining the use and function of the Master of the Day (MOD) position at my school. The purpose of these essays was to identify an area of school that could be more effective and efficient and map out a plan to enact changes to meet those goals. Conducting this examination enabled me to practice principles of leadership around an adaptive challenge and analyze those practices and positions that make for an efficient school that best meets the needs of our students and parents.
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This analysis is an overview of my current school and provides recommendations for educators who are entering the school or aspiring to positions of greater leadership. By examining the environment in which I work and considering recommendations for one who hopes to join that community, I was able to identify that which made our school unique and better appreciate the structures and people in place that enable us to continue our daily pursuit of our mission. It also enabled me to think critically about this community.
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TEACHING
This is a series of recommendations designed to increase parental involvement in a school district. This demonstrates my understanding of the problems facing many school districts attempting to effectively engage their parents as well as the different types of contributions that parents of different backgrounds and education levels can make. This project enabled me greater exposure to these issues and forced me to think about how they are different and similar in a public vs. boarding school setting.
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"Introducing TPACK" is a hypothetical outline for introducing the TPACK and SAMR frameworks to my colleagues during a faculty meeting. TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. These two frameworks are ways to examine the use of technology in education and evaluate the effectiveness of incorporating technology in a daily lesson. This allowed me to identify and evaluate the purpose in using technology in the classroom.
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The "Literacy Learner Analysis" is a cumulative literacy intervention with a high school student. It incorporates a pre-test, post-test, and two lesson plans, as well as the inciting research and subsequent reflection on the entire process. Through my work on the "Literacy Learner Analysis", I was able to better understand an individual and his literacy struggles as well as different groups of students and the literacy struggles they face. I also practiced how to best respond and reach an individual who is experiencing struggles in the English classroom.
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COACHING
"Millbrook Grand Slam" was a summer camp I designed as a culminating project for the course Promoting Positive Youth Development Through Sport. In this camp design, I explain the rationale behind each choice and how that enables the "Millbrook Grand Slam" program to positively impact our campers. The summer after designing this project, I hosted the first "Millbrook Baseball Summer Camp," a week-long day camp for children ages 6-12 that was heavily influenced by my work with this project.
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In this "What's Your Role" essay, I use the Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents to discuss and examine my goals and role as a coach. Using examples such as Quotes of the Day, I discuss ways that I enable and equip athletes in my program to develop more than just physical skills and how to use their participation in our program to develop as strong, positive people, not just athletes. Writing this self-reflective essay enabled me to identify those supportive practices which should continue as well as those with which I could improve.
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"Developing Proper Pitching Mechanics for a High School Baseball Player" is a technical analysis of those mechanical and physiological skills that make for a strong and healthy high school baseball pitcher. Completing this analysis enabled me to better understand how to best develop high school pitchers while maintaining their shoulder health and increasing their chances of longevity as a pitcher. This study focuses on developing a consistent and repeatable pitching motion with a 10th grade subject.
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