Learning Goals

MATC Synthesis Paper

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Master of Arts Degree in Curriculum and Teaching
Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

Elizabeth L. Pauly
PID A416 416 05
April 8, 2018
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Introduction

I am a daughter, sister, friend, runner, traveler, student, and teacher. These are just a few

words that help describe who I am today. I graduated from Michigan State University in 2013

with a degree in elementary education, and this contributed to who I am today. I desired to learn

more about education, and since it was difficult to just choose only one path, I chose to focus my

degree on both mathematics and language arts. After graduating, I was grateful to have the

opportunity to teach first grade for three years in a rural/suburban, Title 1 school in Michigan. It

was here that I was led to my next plan of study as I began my Master of Arts in Teaching and

Curriculum (MATC) in 2016. Once again, I struggled to decide on only one focus, so I ended up

choosing to concentrate on both educational psychology and literacy/language instruction. I am

very passionate about both of these areas of education and am thankful to have learned so much

through these two years of the program. Throughout the nine classes I took during this program,

I focused on, discussed, and worked through many different learning goals. These learning goals

for each class ultimately supported my growth and mastery of the program goals and standards.

Towards the end of my MATC program, I moved to Georgia where I am currently teaching in an

urban, Title 1 school. It is here where I am able to apply all of what I have learned to support my

students in reaching their learning goals as well.

It was when I first began teaching that I remember being introduced to the concept of

learning goals. I remember dissecting various learning goals in class and thinking thoughtfully

about what each part of the goal meant. I remember coming up with and editing learning goals

for lessons I taught. I remember professional development sessions about learning goals and

“learning goals/targets” being a phrase spoken in almost every staff meeting. Alongside these

memories, I also remember hearing veteran teachers discuss how being required to write and
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discuss the learning goal for each lesson, each day being cumbersome, and students learned just

fine before this administrative requirement. I admit, when I first started teaching in my own

classroom, developing, and writing/changing these learning goals on the board each day was

time consuming and it was a part of my planning that I did not look forward to. Looking back,

even with the many classes and professional development about learning goals, I did not

understand or see how powerful these learning goals were for both my students and myself.

Having the opportunity to think back on my MATC program, one thing that stands out to

me is that I developed a stronger understanding of learning goals and how crucial they are for

both students and teachers. After reflection, learning goals have become a token or symbol that I

can use to think about my time throughout the MATC program. The MATC program itself has

three program goals and six program standards that all students are working towards. After two

years of working towards these standards and goals and having this opportunity to dissect them, I

now understand them and will continue to develop them in my field. As I worked towards my

own learning goals in this program, I developed a new understanding for how learning goals can

be used for whole group, small group, and individual learning in academics, behavior, and

social/emotional learning.

Over the course of this program, I learned how important learning goals are for students

to understand what they will be learning and how they will accomplish that goal. Empowering

my students with the ability to take control of their own learning is something that I strive for. I

desire for them to have the skills to value learning and use their unique strengths and weaknesses

to accomplish this. In TE 846, I designed and implemented Artifact 3: Phonological Awareness

Lesson Plan for a student who struggled to segment words. This class and artifact helped me

develop a deeper “understanding of understanding of subject matter, how to teach it, and how to
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design curriculum, instruction, and assessment” (MATC Standard 2). Looking back at this

lesson, the learning goal was, “I can segment words orally and say the first and last sound I

hear”. This learning goal supported my student taking control of her own learning by clearly

describing what she will be learning/doing and how she will accomplish that. When I re-read

Artifact 3: Phonological Awareness Lesson Plan, I realized how important it was that I

understood and held the “pedagogical knowledge, skills, and repertoire” (MATC Goal 2) in

order to teach this phonological awareness lesson. In order to effectively teach this particular

learning goal, I had to understand phonemic awareness skills and the order that students learn

these skills in. I had to thoroughly understand segmentation and how I would explicitly teach

this skill. I also had to understand how to model this skill, lead guided practice, implement

independent work, assess, and plan for next steps. I had to work towards and reach these goals

and standards of the MATC program in order to help my own students reach their learning goals.

Without me reaching my own learning goal of developing an understanding of literacy

instruction and assessment, my student may not have reached her own learning goal of

segmenting words.

I plan for and differentiate my lessons based on content, process, product, ability, and

learning styles, so while in TE 808 I began to wonder why I did not differentiate my classroom

environment and seating for my students. During my second year of teaching first grade,

flexible seating became a collaborative initiative throughout the school I was teaching at. A

group of teachers worked together to learn about flexible seating options, how to initiate the

change for students and their families, and shared thoughts and ideas throughout the transition.

Through this flexible seating initiative and Artifact 2: Mini-Project Report: Flexible Seating, I

had the opportunity to “learn and work collaboratively with colleagues beyond the classroom”
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(MATC Goal 3). My personal learning goal for Artifact 2: Mini-Project Report: Flexible Seating

was to learn about what my students thought and felt about the classroom environment changes

and what they liked most and least about flexible seating. I thoughtfully chose these questions,

gathered data, analyzed the data, and then made assertions and conclusions about flexible

seating. Through Artifact 2: Mini-Project Report: Flexible Seating, I came to the conclusion

that, “what my students like most about flexible seating is that they are able to find a learning

space that is comfortable for them. Each student has their own way to get comfortable, and

flexible seating allows students to explore and find a space that is comfortable for them”

(Artifact 2, 2016, p. 4). I differentiate my instruction every day to support all of my students in

reaching the learning goals of each lesson. To add on to that, I differentiate the classroom

environment and seating in order to allow students to work in a learning space that is most

comfortable for them in order to learn and work their best. After completing Artifact 2: Mini-

Project Report: Flexible Seating, I was able to and am still able to “provide leadership in a

variety of ways among colleagues in their schools and communities” (MATC Standard 6) by

sharing what I learned with my colleagues, allowing them to observe flexible seating in my

classroom, and share flexible seating ideas on a regular basis.

Before this MATC program, my overall thinking was that learning goals were set for

reaching academic standards. Throughout my time in this program, my thinking has shifted to

understanding that learning goals can be set and explicitly taught for behavior as well. Behavior

management can be a daunting task that I have tried very hard to understand and find the “magic

key”. Before my first day of teaching, I read Harry Wong’s 1997 book The First Days of

School: How to Be an Effective Teacher and learned how to be firm, fair, and consistent with

behavior management starting on day one. Advice from veteran teachers was always the same:
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Be “tough”, firm, fair, and consistent starting on the first day. I tried to follow this advice as I

worked through whole group and individual behavior management. I tried clip charts, rewards,

individual behavior plans, read blogs and Jim Fay’s and David Funk’s 1995 book Teaching with

Love and Logic: Taking Control of the Classroom, yet I always had a few students who struggled

to reach their behavior goals and I struggled to know how to best support them. Since I am

“deeply committed to students as individuals, their diversity, their capacity to learn, and their

development as whole persons” (MATC Standard 1), I continued to seek behavior advice

throughout my time teaching. This is the main reason that I chose for one of my MATC

concentrations to be educational psychology because I wanted to “strengthen targeted areas of

his/her professional practice” (MATC Goal 2). Through CEP 883, I was able to strengthen this

targeted area and learned how to be proactive with my classroom management and environment.

For Artifact 1: Classroom Management Elements PowerPoint I developed guidelines for success,

classroom rules/routines, and a class-wide behavior management plan. When I was planning for

the first week of my new classroom just this past school year, I looked back and printed out

Artifact 1: Classroom Management Elements PowerPoint. I utilized many of the ideas and

wording that I had thoughtfully planned out during the first week of school. Due to this, I have

seen a positive impact on student behavior in my classroom as we started out the year positively

with clear learning goals in regard to behavior.

As a teacher, I learned that I also had a learning goal to think about when dealing with

student behavior. In CEP 832, I wrote Artifact 4: ABC Project: Self-Management. Through this

artifact, I was able to learn how to support a student’s behavior through observation, data

analysis, and a behavioral strategy plan. I chose this class and student to work with to reach my

“personal goals to strengthen targeted areas of his/her professional practice” (MATC Goal 2). I
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had a vision to “create learning communities in their classrooms where positive, productive

relationships are formed, and differences are respected and embraced” (MATC Standard 1).

While working on Artifact 4: ABC Project: Self-Management, a challenging student in my class

set one, specific behavioral goal for the day to focus on and we designed a behavior contract to

refer to. This student was working towards her behavior deficit of self-management skills. As

much as I learned about student behavior and how to support her self-management skills, I

“sustained reflection and reexamination of one’s beliefs, values, and practices” (MATC Goal 1)

and ended up learning more about my own self-management skills and professional stance. I had

not realized that my professional stance could impact student behavior so strongly. Creating a

goal and plan for myself was just as important as making a goal and plan for the students with

challenging behaviors. While working on Artifact 4: ABC Project: Self-Management, I thought

about/reflected on my current professional stance, thought about how I wanted my professional

stance to be, and set goals to help me maintain an effective stance. A few ideas that I still use

today to maintain my effective stance are self-talk in my head, taking a deep breath when I feel

frustrated, and think about how this frustration is just a small part of the day and to not let it ruin

my day.

In CEP 800, I had the opportunity to reflect on myself as an educator and what I believe

and value in education. At the beginning of this course, I wrote Artifact 7: Revised Personal

Theory of Learning. I discussed my thoughts about different learning styles, depth of

knowledge, learning through observation and modeling, differentiation, background knowledge,

classroom environment, and relationships. At the time, I thought that I had a firm understanding

of how I felt about each of these ideas. By the end of this course and after “deep, sustained

reflection and reexamination of one’s beliefs, values, and practices” (MATC Goal 1), my beliefs
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became more clear and concise and I had the confidence and data to back up my viewpoints. I

was “critically reflective…into their own beliefs, assumptions, and practices” (MATC Standard

4) throughout the course and as I revised Artifact 7: Revised Personal Theory of Learning. This

time for critical reflection made me think back to the multitude of learning goals I encountered

throughout my MATC program. Throughout all of my courses, the professors had learning goals

for me to learn about learning styles, depth of knowledge, observation and modeling,

differentiation, background knowledge, classroom environment, and relationships. All of the

learning that occurred as I was reading about, discussing, and working towards these learning

goals impacted Artifact 7: Revised Personal Theory of Learning. As I continue to learn about

and be exposed to different perspectives and viewpoints, my Personal Theory of Learning may

change again. Nonetheless, I can say with confidence that I have learned about so many ideas

and concepts throughout the MATC program and Artifact 7: Revised Personal Theory of

Learning is evidence of that.

During TE 842, I learned a great deal about reading/reviewing professional literature and

literacy development. I completed Artifact 5: Professional Book Club Review: Words Their

Way, which was a book review of Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and

Spelling Instruction. This book discusses a word study approach that incorporates phonological

awareness, vocabulary, and decoding/sight-word knowledge. Through this book review, I was

able to “access, use, and evaluate information to enhance their professional understanding,

improve their practice, and share their knowledge with others” (MATC Standard 5). I chose to

read and review this piece of literature because I was interested in learning about, using, and

sharing with my colleagues the components of literacy discussed in the book. I learned a great

deal about student development, spelling stages, and best practices to support students. The
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book also provided many, appropriate learning goals for students based on where they were

developmentally. Additionally, I chose this book because my grade level was thinking about

implementing Words Their Way in our classrooms. I thought that this would be an excellent

way to reach my goal of being a teacher leader and share my knowledge with my grade level

team. After reading the book, I “engaged in critical inquiry in its many legitimate forms (e.g.,

review of and scholarly responses to the professional literature/research)” (MATC Goal 1) by

sharing my literature review and what I had learned with my team.

In TE 848, I had the opportunity to use what I learned to develop a letter and rationale for

a curriculum council about factors of writing motivation in school and how to support students in

“College and Career Readiness (CCR) Anchor Standards”. Artifact 6: The Practitioner Project:

Motivation in Writing allowed me to “situate and analyze issues and problems of practice and

policy” (MATC Standard 3) and see how teachers can make “changes in local policy and

practice that will enhance both teachers’ and students’ learning" (MATC Goal 3). Writing this

artifact allowed me to work through the steps to make a change and gave me the confidence to

make a change in the future. While writing this artifact, I realized that when trying to make a

change I need to be very clear and concise with the goals that I want to change and the rationale

behind why there needs to be a change in the first place. This type of writing also involves

setting clear and concise goals for how the change could realistically happen and should provide

the teachers and staff with possible ideas, resources, and materials they could use. In my artifact

I included a Writing Attitude Survey with instructions, a formative assessment conferencing

form, a motivating lesson plan, and mentor texts that educators could utilize to support their

students in being motivated to write and reach the CCR Anchor Standards. Educators have so
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many amazing ideas to share with the world and we should have the confidence to share

problems and solutions to struggles that we see on a daily basis.

Throughout this program, I have worked towards the six MATC standards and three

MATC goals, and I can say with confidence that I am more reflective about and hold a better

understanding of best practices in academics, behavior, and social/emotional learning. Reaching

my learning goals for this program was an immense accomplishment and I look forward to

continuously working towards new learning goals and supporting my students in reaching their

goals.