West Virginia University
I earned my masters degree in Higher Education Curriculum and Teaching at WVU. This program was very flexible and allowed me to take a variety of classes to hone my education knowledge. In my time at WVU, I was able to take three math education classes, an assessment class, two curriculum classes, a statistics class, and three general education classes. I finished this program in May of 2016 and hope to begin my full-time teaching career in Monongalia County this fall.
Graduate Teaching Assistant
In the spring of 2015, I was a GTA for two sections of Educational Psychology 101, Learning Strategies for Academic Success. This course is designed to help students with study skills and time management; classes mainly consist of freshmen and sophomores who are struggling in some way. This course runs for eight weeks and is very structured with many assignments to help students develop these skills as well as responsibility. I had two TAs to assist me with grading, but I graded the large project and organized and taught each lecture. Teaching this course helped me understand the importance of communication with students - there was so much going on in the class that I had to send out frequent emails to make sure no student was confused. Teaching this class also inspired me to find a way to veer from the standard lecture model suggested to more engaging activities for the wide variety of students that I have. Additionally, I had several international students, which required me to think about various diversity issues. Teaching this class really gave me a place and a purpose at WVU.
Graduate Research Assistant
For the 2015-2016 school year, I was a graduate research assistant in the C&I department of the College of Education and Human Services under Dr. Matthew Campbell and Dr. Keri Valentine. With Dr. Campbell, I researched math teacher education, particularly the way future educators talk about math teaching and enact math teaching. With Dr. Valentine, I researched game design and engineering practices among adolescents. I also worked as an editorial assistant on a book about the evolution of video gaming publishing by Dr. Valentine and Dr. Lucas Jensen.
Graduate Teaching Assistant
In the spring of 2015, I was a GTA for two sections of Educational Psychology 101, Learning Strategies for Academic Success. This course is designed to help students with study skills and time management; classes mainly consist of freshmen and sophomores who are struggling in some way. This course runs for eight weeks and is very structured with many assignments to help students develop these skills as well as responsibility. I had two TAs to assist me with grading, but I graded the large project and organized and taught each lecture. Teaching this course helped me understand the importance of communication with students - there was so much going on in the class that I had to send out frequent emails to make sure no student was confused. Teaching this class also inspired me to find a way to veer from the standard lecture model suggested to more engaging activities for the wide variety of students that I have. Additionally, I had several international students, which required me to think about various diversity issues. Teaching this class really gave me a place and a purpose at WVU.
Graduate Research Assistant
For the 2015-2016 school year, I was a graduate research assistant in the C&I department of the College of Education and Human Services under Dr. Matthew Campbell and Dr. Keri Valentine. With Dr. Campbell, I researched math teacher education, particularly the way future educators talk about math teaching and enact math teaching. With Dr. Valentine, I researched game design and engineering practices among adolescents. I also worked as an editorial assistant on a book about the evolution of video gaming publishing by Dr. Valentine and Dr. Lucas Jensen.