Ashli's Portfolio

As a freshman, starting my undergraduate degree, this was the first of many college classes that I would be taking.  I was excited to start this new journey because I had always loved school and learning, but was nervous that I didn’t have a plan on where this journey would lead.  I started my first year of college with an undecided major taking higher level math classes, education classes, and prerequisite classes for pharmacy school to help me decide what path would be best for me.  Into my second year of college I had decided that being a high school math teacher was the route that I wanted to pursue.  In between this time and graduation I also considered becoming an actuary so I took the classes need to specialize in this area too.  After graduation I had made the decision and commitment to pursue the teacher preparation program at Michigan State, which started my professional career as an educator and life-long learner.

 

I chose to earn my master’s degree from Michigan State University for a few different reasons.  The first being, that the high quality education I received from MSU made a lasting impact on my life.  I really enjoyed everything that this school had to offer from the experience, the professors, the class sizes, the courses, and reputation.  The second reason I chose to attend MSU was because by completing the teacher preparation program, I had already begun taking master level courses and felt that the classes that I had taken really prepared me for the career that I was entering.  After finishing the year-long internship, I was well-prepared to enter my first classroom and land my first teaching position, which I did right out of school. Last, and certainly not all, I chose to attend MSU because they have been ranked the number one education program in the country for many years and I truly do believe they do an excellent job preparing educators and helping them be life-long learners.

 

There are a few classes in particular that I have taken in the Masters of Art in Education (MAED) program that I feel have really helped me become a better educator and leader in my classroom and school.  One of those classes was my TE 802 class with Professor Michael Steele.  For one, this was a great class because I was grouped with the same students and professor from TE 407 and TE 408, classes that I had my last year of my undergraduate degree.  Having the same professor and students really helped because we were able to build relationships with one another that we could use to collaborate and share ideas with later on in our careers.  For example, I actually attended the Michigan Council of Teacher of Mathematics conference this past summer where I attended a session that one of these past students presented at.  I went to her presentation and was able to share stories, successes, and challenges with her which was really awesome! Entering the teaching profession at the time that I did, I was entering when the mathematical standards were changing from the High School Content Expectations (HSCE’s) to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  Our professor did a really great job of introducing us to these new standards and how to successfully implement them in a classroom.  We spent a lot of time looking at how the mathematical practices, part of the CCSS, are displayed in a classroom.  Being a first year teacher is very intimidating, but it was really nice starting my career and being able to give some input and advice to my colleagues who didn’t have as much training and practice with the CCSS as I had.

 

Another class that I took with the same group of students and professor was TE 804. This class really prepared me for a career in teaching high school mathematics because we spent a lot of time in this class preparing, instructing, and reflecting upon lessons.  During our internship we had to design a few different engaging common core type tasks and lessons where we spent numerous hours planning.  We had to type up very descriptive twenty page lesson plans for a hour lesson.  This was very helpful because it helped me think about every aspect of planning a successful lesson from the warm-up, to the questioning, to the misconceptions, and to the exit slip.  While we taught the lesson we had to record ourselves teaching and then watch it back.  After watching, we had to reflect on how the lesson went and make a write-up about the lesson explaining what went well, what went wrong, and what we would change.

 

I honestly do believe that Michigan State’s undergraduate and graduate programs have really helped me be a successful educator in the classroom.  Not only did the MAED program help me in the classroom, but it has also helped guide me in the next direction of my life, pursuing a career in athletic directing.  When I applied for the master’s program I had to decide on a concentration that was offered by the school.  The one that stood out to me in particular was the Sports Leadership and Coaching concentration.  Upon starting my masters I was, and currently still am, a high school mathematics teacher.  This is currently my fourth year teaching, and after having gained some experience, while I love working with children and teaching them math, I am not sure being in the classroom for the next thirty years is where I see myself.  I have always enjoyed athletics and love coaching athletes so I turned to MSU’s MAED program to gain some knowledge and insight into becoming a leader in sports as a second career choice after teaching.  I had to take three classes in particular for my Sports Leadership and Coaching concentration.  Each of these classes gave me different and helpful knowledge in a career focused around athletics.  I have learned ways to help athletes, coaches, and how to be a successful director.

 

The first class that I took was KIN 855 which was the Psychosocial Bases of Coaching, instructed by Professor Andy Driska.  This class was very helpful for me because it focused on how coaches can set team goals and individual goals with their athletes.  Not only is goal setting important with the athletes, but as an athletic director, it is important to set goals with your coaches and reflect on these goals after the season.  I also learned how important it is to go through a thoughtful decision making process when making any types of decisions for a team or sport as a coach or athletic director.  I also learned different ways to intrinsically and extrinsically motivate an athlete and why both of these are important for the improvement of an athlete’s or team’s performance. 

 

The next class that I took was KIN 854 which was called Legal and Administrative Issues for Administrators and Coaches and was instructed by Rick Atkinson.  This class was particularly helpful because it was taught by one of MSU’s assistant athletic directors so he gave a lot of important information that was useful for me.  A lot of the topics discussed in this class were about managing risks, preventing lawsuits, and how to increase the safety of athletes, spectators, and coaches.  Prior to this class I did not realize how often and freely lawsuits occur in the athletic departments.  We had to read through a lot of case studies of lawsuits that had happened in the past in high schools, colleges, and major league sports in the country.  From the cases we had to analyze if the plaintiff had an actual case to win the lawsuit and how the lawsuit could’ve been prevented.  We also talked about Title IX laws and how to avoid these types of lawsuits, since a lot of lawsuits are around the Title IX law.  As someone pursuing a career in athletic directing, this is very beneficial to prevent as many lawsuits as possible. 

 

The last class that I took for my concentration was KIN 856 which was Physical Bases of Coaching, instructed by Scott Weiland.  This instructor is a member of the US Winter Olympic Committee and works with training a lot of Olympians.  He also brought a lot of good information to me with his type of background and experiences.  In this class we learned about all of the factors that influence an athlete’s performance and how we, as coaches, can help an athlete improve their performance.  Things that we discussed were from helping an athlete improve their technique performing a skill, improving their nutrition and hydration habits, and strengthening the correct parts of their bodies.  In this class we also talked about how time change and altitude levels affect an athlete’s performance and how you can best suit your athletes to not have their performance affected by these things.  My dream is to work as an athletic director at the college level so having been able to work with professors that coach, direct, and work with athletes at the college level or above was definitely very beneficial for me and my future career path.

 

As you can tell from above, a lot of the classes that I took in the MAED program either helped me in the classroom or helped me gain more athletic knowledge.  Not only did I learn a lot from these classes but I also learned a lot from my capstone portfolio class.  In this class we had to make an online portfolio showcasing who we have become and what we have done through the MAED program.  This helped me look back and reflect on how far I have come since I started the program four years ago.  Not only did it allow me to realize how much I have changed over the years, but it also got me thinking about how this program will help me change in the upcoming years.