Welcome to the pedagogy page of my portfolio.

The term pedagogy refers to the methods that I use for my instruction. It defines how I teach. Therefore, this section of my portfolio provides information about how I teach and the methods and materials that I utilize in my practice. 

Creating an Inclusive and Cooperative Community
From the first day of each semester, I work to create a classroom that students experience as a learning community. I work to implement the theoretical work of Alfie Kohn, Spencer Kagan and Mara Sapon-Shevin into my daily teaching practice. For example, I utilize Kohn's theoretical stance on the importance of creating a classroom community with the practical structures that Kagan provides to implement community builders in my classrooms. Using community builders helps students to get to know each other on a personal level which establishes a background of relatedness for communicating about educational topics in class. In class, I work to have all students' voices heard and understood. I implement inclusive teaching practices that Mara Sapon-Shevin calls for such as establishing a caring community where all voices are valued, no put-downs are tolerated and differences in others are discussed and are celebrated. One of the ways that I facilitate students becoming part of a community is by taking them to SUNY Cortland's Camp Huntington at Raquette Lake. For more information on this activity, please click here.

Connecting and Contributing to the Local Community
I believe that it is important to continually work to have students engage in authentic learning experiences. It is essential that students learn to apply the content and pedagogical knowledge that they are acquiring in our class to the real world experiences of working with elementary school students. Throughout the past two and a half years since I've been at Cortland, I've been developing a partnership with a couple of elementary school teachers from Barry Elementary School in the Cortland City School District to provide time for my preservice students with interactions with 2nd and 3rd grade students. In addition to spending some time in the elementary school classroom, my preservice teachers have also worked to create multidisciplinary learning centers for elementary school students. To display their work and have elementary students engage fully at the learning centers, students from Barry Elementary School were invited to come to the Children's Museum located on campus so they could participate in the centers. Please click here to view a page that provides further information about this project.

Using Multiple and Varied Teaching Methods 
I have learned that in order to maximize preservice teachers' learning, I need to use multiple and varied teaching methods because each of my students will learn in a different way. For this reason, I use a variety of teaching methods, moving in and out of many different teaching methods throughout each class. I use this approach because I want to maximize the opportunities for all students in my class to understand new content. I also use this approach to model ways that my students can use multiple and varied methods with the students that they will soon educate. I use such methods to model utilizing a universal design for lesson planning. Universal Design offers a way for teachers to create a lesson that all students can access, regardless of ability or learning style differences because 'multiple and varied' teaching materials, strategies and assessments are used during each lesson. I've added more information on these principles below.

The following is a list of the methods and a brief description of each that I use in my classroom. In addition, I have provided outside links for more information on each of these instructional methods. 

I often utilize cooperative learning structures for student sharing in class. Many of these structures come from information that I have learned as I've studied the work of Spencer Kagan. In class, I use think-pair-share, rally robin share, round robin share, inside/outside circles, response cards, role plays, numbered heads together, simultaneous round table, and partner interviews to facilitate student interaction with the goal of increasing student achievement. Students participate in team-teaching lessons with small groups of peers so they can help others in their class learn new content. 

I work to include a variety of grouping arrangements in class, using heterogeneous, homogeneous and random group assignments often throughout the course. I use heterogeneous groups to have students learn something new from each other. For example, prior to having my EDU 510 students learn how to incorporate PowerPoint into elementary classrooms, I surveyed students to determine what they knew about technology (click here to view the survey) so I could heterogeneously group students by prior technological knowledge so some students who had more prior knowledge about technology could assist their peers who came with little prior knowledge. Students commented that the groupings were effective and it indicated to me that planning ahead to heterogeneously group students by ability is often important.

I believe in integrating technology into my daily instruction. I believe that it is a tool that, if carefully utilized, can assist in maximizing students' learning. For example, in the Fall 2005 semester, I created an activity called a GeoAdventure that my Teaching Elementary Social Studies students used when they were at Camp Huntington in Raquette Lake. The GeoAdventure utilizes our Global Positioning System (GPS) and GPS receivers so students can geographically identify their location using latitude and longitude coordinates. While designing this activity, I wrote an activity guide so other professors can also implement this activity while at Camp Huntington.
Click here to view the GeoAdventure Activity Guide. When at Raquette Lake, students often mention that this is their favorite activity that they've completed.

I integrate the following in my practice: 

PowerPoint slideshows to enhance class discussions - I believe that PowerPoint presentations can offer visual aides to assist students with understanding new content. When using such presentations, I also believe that it is important that they supplement instruction to serve as a reference point for students. Please click here to view a PowerPoint presentation that I used with my Teaching Elementary Social Studies class (EDU 375) to have students begin to understand the negative impact of stereotyping. Please click here to view an online video and PowerPoint presentation that I used with my Inquiry into Teaching, Research and Technology class (EDU 510) to have students begin to understand differentiation.

Website resources to provide additional information on content. I take all of my students from each class that I teach to a campus computer lab at least once throughout the semester so I can facilitate students' technological skill development while inquiring into specific curricula content. Click here to view a sample resource page that I created for students to use when planning to teach young children to use the Internet as a reference tool.

Class websites to provide students with web-based syllabi, course assignments and grading rubrics, and weekly updated notes on important in-class discussions and assigned readings. To view the website that I used in the past with my students, please click here. When visiting this site, please take some time to view the assignment descriptions and the notes pages for each course. Weekly updating this site took a considerable amount of time on my part but I believe that students benefited from me doing so.  Students continually mentioned how beneficial the course website was throughout the semesters I used it.

Elearning environments to provide students with electronic resources to access outside of class. The class websites that I mentioned above are currently not being used with my students. Instead, I use an elearning environment for the same purpose. Please click here to view a screenshot to showcase the way that students would access course syllabi, assignments and assignment descriptions and grading rubrics.

Videotaped scenarios of elementary students that portray their learning about course content. For more information regarding one of the videotaped clips I've used, please click here.

Using Multiple and Varied Instructional Materials
I am always conscious about the instructional materials that I use in the classroom context. I strive to implement an anti-bias curricula in all courses that I teach. That means that I preview, study and critique all materials including books, articles, videos, guests' presentations, and websites that I use prior to implementation in the classroom to check for stereotyping, cultural bias and mono-cultural perspectives on the content that students are studying. Since I use many different instructional materials, screening and evaluating materials has become a time-consuming but worthwhile and essential part of my job. In addition, I work to have my students understand the importance of using anti-bias curricula in their future preservice classrooms as well. For example, in EDU 375, I have students critique different children's literature books on Columbus to identify the perspectives of the natives (Tainos) and the Europeans to gain a better understanding about whose story is often told. My own learning about this information comes from studying the work of Bill Bigelow and Rethinking Schools. 

I use many primary and secondary documents in the classroom so students can gather information from a variety of sources. Utilizing a variety of sources in the classroom helps students to begin to gain a strength in determining what materials can be used as an effective teaching tool.  

Using Multiple and Varied Assessments and Evaluations
I believe that it is essential to use ongoing and varied assessment tools to determine how well students are learning new material throughout the duration of a course. For that reason, I use informal observations during whole and small group instruction, self-evaluations, formal assessments (mid-term exam), poster presentations, reading reflections, role plays, expository writing, writing revisions, small group presentations, lesson plan and unit plan design, PowerPoint presentations, and website development to portray what students have learned. Weaving different assessment options throughout the course helps me to gain a rounded perspective of what students are learning and allows me to pinpoint areas that may need additional support. I believe that preservice teachers learn through experience so I also take time to observe their early interactions with elementary school children when they implement their activities/lessons in neighborhood classrooms. 

Understanding My Intentions
To best understand the way that I teach, it is important to know that I use critical pedagogical practices throughout my instruction, regardless of the content that I teach. I am committed to implementing social justice education in each of my courses. I believe that educating students is a political act and that together we can work to have a more equitable future for the students we teach. I believe teaching is a political act because teachers have the choice to either recreate the inequitable social structure that we currently have or work toward facilitating a social transformation with the students that we teach. Whether conscious or not, this act impacts the communities in which we live. Through my understandings and commitment to social justice, I believe that it is essential to work for social transformation. I began to collaborate with other SUNY Cortland faculty members to find ways to meaningful implement teaching practices that reflect this stance early in my career. Evidence of this can be seen in the undergraduate Block 1 thematic methods block titled, Educating for Social Transformation (e4st) that I created with other faculty members. In this methods block, participating faculty members worked to help students understand that the act of teaching is much more than educating students about subject area content. To understand my previous work with the e4st thematic methods block, please
click here to view the website I created for our students and other interested members of our educational community. One of the obstacles that I have had during my time at Cortland is finding the resources to have preservice teachers travel to large-scale urban areas to put some of the practices we created in e4st into action. Therefore, while this thematic model is still in its early developmental stages (it was only used for three semesters), it is currently off-line and being strengthened for use again in the near future.

I am committed to creating classrooms that offer all students equal opportunities to express themselves well and have equal opportunities for learning and achievement. As power structures enter classes in much the same way that they are present in our world, this task is not always accomplished easily. However, I believe that it is essential if we want our students to have a future that is truly just. My work is to educate preservice teachers to understand the importance of anti-bias, social justice education in elementary education classrooms.