Theatre Manager, Educator, and Artist
Director, Choreographer, and Composer
Currently, I am teaching overseas in South Korea at the Gyeonggi English Village. As I explored the various educational resources at my village, I pondered the thought of creating a simulation for learners. A few weeks later, my classes began for my first fall semester at MSU, and I was fascinated with my adult learning course. I realized there is a large audience of learners that may not visit the English Village on a regular basis. These adult learners are still in need of English comprehension in a progressive world. The focus of this paper is not the creation of that simulation; it is a collaboration of research to demonstrate how and why this methodology would be an effective approach to teach these Korean adult learners.
We were expected to draw upon the literature and examples of design and delivery of professional development and training sessions studied in this class to guide the development of our own outline for a session of professional development. I created an annotated outline for the design and delivery of a 60-minute professional development session relevant to my context in Korea (entitled “Culturing Creativity in a Quiet Culture”). This training session was designed for the teachers at Gyeonggi English Village who teach a variety of ESL learners of different ages and nationalities. With its ability to nurture confidence, explore new ways of learning, and offer engaging lessons, what’s not to gain from adding creativity into our curriculums?
A well designed strength and conditioning program can build muscular strength, power, or endurance, improve agility and movement skills, and in other ways enhance performance.
Using strength and conditioning to build core strength, improve muscle balance, and improve flexibility can help keep athletes healthy throughout training. This manual contains two parts:
1) The identification of common sports injuries in the field of swimming – containing the definition of the injury, how to recognize it, how to avoid it, and how to treat it.
2) A 10‐exercise strength and conditioning circuit with a focus on injury prevention specific to the sport of swimming. The purpose of each exercise is explained, and then broken down into an easy, step-by-step description.
The three foundational pillars of coaching are leadership, communication, and motivation. Which is most important? I asked myself this question, and realized that all three are intently intertwined. I find that each pillar is a stepping-stone to the next, from leadership to communication to motivation. I reviewed previously discussed material about these concepts, braided them together, and created a model lackluster swim team that recently lost their transactional head coach. These swimmers need some guidance through these three pillars to transform into dedicated, positive, and hard working athletes. This essay also contains some of my ideologies and philosophies of coaching.
Showcase - Master of Arts in Education
This showcase is designed to provide a sense of the processes and interests that I believe have already improved and continue to enhance my learning. I have divided this page into the specific areas that have had the greatest influence on my practice as an educator - those of Planning and Leadership, Creativity in Learning, and Coaching. Please click each image if you wish to explore further.
Leadership in Education
My initial study of narrative inquiry rose from my fascination with Vivian Paley’s book, The Girl with the Brown Crayon. I chose to expand upon this initial interest in narrative inquiry and explain why it is a fruitful approach to studying education. This essay elaborates on its distinctive approach to inquiry, its suitability for the study of particular kinds of educational problems and issues, its accessibility, and the utility of the results of inquiry to teachers, scholars, administrators, and other groups with interests in education.
Creativity in Learning
Do you recognize the picture above? What famous Disney movie begins with a sunrise? The first step in the process of discovering and understanding creativity is the ability to perceive. I chose a well-known song in my topic area (educational musicals), observed this familiar scene, and then re-imagined it in a new form: what does it look/sound/feel/ taste/smell/move like? The following paper contains: a) my own understanding of the cognitive tool of perceiving (limited to one sentence), b) my original observation, c) my re-imagination, and finally d) how this new understanding impacts my topic of educational musicals.
Throughout my Creativity in Learning and Teaching course, we selected a topic that we were surrounded by in our everyday environment. From my work creating ESL musicals at the Gyeonggi English Village, I chose to explore the topic of children’s educational musicals. This project focused on one of the stepping-stones of creativity: abstraction. I selected a focal area within my topic (storytelling), and then abstracted it via two different mediums. The following paper contains: a) my own understanding of the cognitive tool of abstraction (limited to one sentence), b) the specific abstraction I chose and why, and c) how this understanding impacts my topic of educational musicals.
In my Children's Literature and Film course, we picked a popular movie that was derived from a well-known text. I chose to read the book, The Lorax, as a reminder of the themes and wonderment it contained, and then watched the newest film version starring Danny DeVito as the voice of the Lorax. This essay reflects on: the filmmaker as an independent artist, political interpretations in the movie and its placement in pop culture, and its fidelity to the original text. In conclusion, I was to argue whether or not I would use this movie in my classroom, and discuss the critical role of the teacher as an interpreter of all texts.
