Julia Phillips' Portfolio
"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all."
— Jacqueline Kennedy
Throughout my journey of completing the Masters in Education Program at Michigan State University, I have also been able to live out my dream as an educator. Working as a teacher in a kindergarten classroom has truly been a fulfilling, challenging and educational, to say the least. During my time at Michigan State, the courses I have taken have played a big role in the way I teach literacy in my classroom. The examples below are of things I created to make literacy more fulfilling for young students. I believe these examples represent my passion for students, their success, as well as the use of the skills I acquired from Michigan State's Masters in Education Program.
The letter star program was one that myself and colleague made in order to help teach and assess our students on letter and sound recognition. This program is used on a weekly basis until all the letters and their sounds have been introduced. Every other week four new letters and their sounds are introduced. Student practice learning these letters at school and at home. Every Friday students are assessed on these letters. If they pass the assessment they move onto the next set of letters. If they do not pass, they repeat their work on the current set of letters. This program encompasses using technology, one on one and group instruction and an integrated learning approach. It continues to prove very successful for each student.
Although I feel I am more well versed in lower elementary teaching, TE 843 was a secondary education literacy course that allowed me to experience upper elementary teaching. In this course, I created a unit for the book James and the Giant Peach that accommodates all different literacy learners in a fourth grade classroom. Being able to work in a fourth grade setting really made me think about possibly teaching in an upper elementary setting. Working with this fourth grade classroom, and their teacher, proved how successful a good, comprehensive unit can be for all students. This unit was designed to meet the needs of all different literacy learners needs. It is truly is the essence of differentiated instruction.
While literacy has been my passion since my undergraduate years, I have known and come to love special education as well. After working with the special education teacher in my building, I love the students and the work that comes with special education. I wanted to broaden my knowledge on this subject and that is why I picked a second area of concentration of special education for my Masters in Education Degree. Below you will see some of my work for my courses, as well as work from my classroom.
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
-Albert Einstein
This video was created for my autistic student who had autism. He had trouble distinguishing between food and non-food items. Through my ASD course CEP 843, I was able to use my knowledge to create helpful videos that were meaningful for my student. This is an example of how technology can be really powerful. For my Autistic student, the use of technology proved to be very beneficial.
This written transition plan was created for my autistic student who had a hard time transitioning from part-time preschool to kindergarten. Through this plan, we were able to get the student to transition throughout a typical kindergarten day with less time "shutting down."
This academic intervention plan was one that I created for myself and another teacher to use to help a special education student who struggled in reading. This student came to our building as a first grade student but with knowledge of a entering kindergarten student. This plan helped close the gap, and although she still continues to meet her grade level expectation, this plan proved to be very successful.
Julia Phillips' Portfolio
On this Showcase page you will see my two areas of concentration: Literacy and Special Education. These two areas of concentration, and the work compiled on this page, showcases some of the best examples I have created for each of these areas. Each piece of work is very important to me and showcases some of my strengths. Whether it is through the use of technology, Microsoft Word, or PowerPoint, I have used the skills I learned to showcase what I know.
