The Balancing Act

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

Haley E. Hegarty
A408 62 679
April 3, 2015

I entered the profession with all of the idealistic reasons in tow, choosing a career where the
true compensation comes in the form of small successes achieved each day. My goal was to be a
source of change, and not just within the confines of the classroom. I wanted to be a teacher that
contributes to the profession as a whole and carries the students experience of learning well
beyond the school years. I wanted my teaching to be innovative, my children motivated, and all
of my students to have an equal opportunity to receive a great education. Then, I entered the
classroom.
Kevin was crying, hiding between a window and a bookshelf, not safe. Dante was once again
talking, even after being reprimanded for the third time. Diamond and Kayla were having a deep
conversation that I knew was not about cause and effect, the topic of our discussion, three
students heads were resting on their desks, and Kahlil came to school that day with a necklace
that lights up. Despite the unfocused and disruptive behavior, some of the disciplining would
have to wait until after the dismissal bell because I had only reached the second slide of my eight
slide presentation about cause and effect.
My initial, and possibly nave thought, as an intern teacher was that if I provide my students
with interesting material in a creative and interactive way, they would be motivated to pay
attention, learn, and participate. This was not always the case, despite adjusting my lessons to
cater to students with varying academic achievement levels and learning styles. I needed to find
a way to balance each of my students diverse personalities to involve them in the lessons in
order to shape my teaching and create a classroom conducive to learning development (Standard
1). I looked to the MATC program to provide me that balance between idealism and realism in
teaching (Goal 1). I wanted to learn how to balance the demands of the job while still keeping

the promises I made to myself when I chose to become an educator. Enter the Masters Program
in Teaching and Curriculum.
Despite being a young teacher in the earliest phase of my journey, I have had the benefit of
learning from a curriculum that builds on the experience of veteran teachers, my professors, and
other experts within the field. The program provided me with the support and skills necessary to
continue my development within the profession. This support came in the form of the
established MATC standards. I learned to reflect on past experiences and refine my teaching
practice to allow my growth as a teacher to drive the growth of my students (Standard 4, Artifact
7). I also learned to engage my peers in the MATC program and more experienced teachers to
seek support, advice, and encouragement (Standard 6, Artifact 4). Through discussions, peer
edits, and sharing our work, I learned how different teachers work, teach, cope, and balance the
challenges in teaching.
Setting the Stage
In my Professional Development and Inquiry class, TE 807, we used self-inquiry and peer
coaching to help strengthen our teaching practices (Artifact 4). In this class, we focused on
quality teaching and high leverage practices detailed in the Teaching Education Initiative
developed by the University of Michigan (TeachingWorks, 2004). Using high leverage practices
such as modeling, group activity, and student contribution in class discussions, I was able to
work toward a critical aspect of quality teaching, engaging diverse learners (Standard 1).
It Takes a Village
Jon Wiles (2009) mentions throughout his book, Leading Curriculum Development, read in
my TE 870 class, about a closed door versus open door classroom. After my internship, I taught
fifth grade literacy, filling in for a teacher on maternity leave. This allowed me to continue

teaching the students I had taught during my internship year. While I did not expect this to be an
easy task, I was excited to begin where I had left off. In the prior year, I had achieved success
academically and personally with these students, overcoming learning disabilities and emotional
hurdles. For three weeks prior to my arrival, the students had a different sub each day. By taking
over this position, I felt that I could provide the students with a more stable and productive
learning experience until the return of their full time teacher. Five days and three write-ups later,
the only thing I felt I had accomplished was losing my voice.
Having taught these students for a full year, I felt I should have been capable to manage the
classroom without assistance from other teachers or administrators. After reflecting on the
closed-door versus open door policy introduced by Jon Wiles (2009) in Leading Curriculum
Development (TE 870), I realized that I had chosen a closed-door policy in order to isolate
myself from the judgment of the other teachers, even though going on without assistance denied
my needs and the needs of my students (Goal 1). With a grade level team meeting happening the
following day, I needed to open the door to a new strategy.
A solid curriculum can only truly be achieved through the entirety of a schools staff (Wiles,
2009). It was just as much the principals responsibility as it was mine to make sure these
students were receiving a quality education while their teacher was absent. My role in this
situation required me to swallow my pride and seek assistance from the administration.
Although anxious, I laid it all out on the table, communicating to the principal and vice principal
the woes of the week. I was met with overwhelming support. What I read from Wiles (2009)
was put into action, and I was met with effective conversation and change. The principal offered
to step into my classroom to help maintain order. She also helped me sculpt a five-week plan for
my class to successfully move through its Unit.

I left this meeting realizing I had reached a turning point, not only in my situation as a
substitute, but also in my professional career (Goal 3). A schools success or failure relies on a
curriculum leader that nurtures communication within the school (Wiles, 2009). Seeking open
communication allowed me to improve my development as a teacher and my students
educational experience (Goal 3).
Building Individual Success Within the Masses
I was met with many challenges during my internship year, far beyond what I imagined or
was prepared for. I was teaching a classroom filled with students who had more to worry about
than just memorizing their times tables and understanding the future tense. I was able to see how
social issues these students faced resulted in low motivation, unfinished class work, untouched
homework, and lack of participation in lessons, as well as behavioral issues, talking out, fighting,
and attitude. I chose to challenge the low motivation with interactive lessons, videos,
experiments, and differentiated readings. I instituted a policy using colored cards to address
behavioral issues. Each color represented a different degree of disciplinary action, which would
be addressed at the end of the day. This strategy allowed me to continue teaching without having
to redirect misbehavior and interrupt the flow of the lesson. I also used a rewards system with
movie lunches and popcorn parties to address both behavioral issues and low motivation. Each
strategy worked for some time, but none had a lasting effect. I left my internship with invaluable
knowledge, experience, and progress, but still frustrated and consumed by obstacles I felt I was
unable to overcome.
I turned toward my program plan in MATC for help, using the plan to create a better balance
of learning for thirty unique individuals each with their own personalities, behavior, and learning
styles. Reaching into the Psychology of Classroom Discipline and Developing Positive Attitudes

Toward Learning classes, I was able to extract lessons to help cope with the diversity I was
facing. In CEP 802, we were assigned a Design Project (Artifact 5). We were instructed to
observe a student that had low motivation, to diagnose the reasons behind their low motivation,
and develop an intervention plan. I selected Kai who was reading below grade level and
struggled to keep up with large group literacy discussions. These in depth discussions were hard
for her to comprehend, which caused her stress, and led to low motivation and lack of
participation. My intervention plan included pulling a small group together during large
classroom discussions in reading that were the source of anxiety for Kai. The smaller groups
allowed the students to work on fundamental reading skills and interact with peers, which
provided the necessary academic support while maintaining a lower pressure environment. This
setting also allowed me to employ motivational strategies, such as positive, individualized
feedback, and reading strategies such as chorus reading. Kai went from not speaking during our
large group sessions to offering her own answers after several small group sessions. I created a
safe environment by ensuring there were no wrong answers, because the purpose of the group
was not always for correct comprehension, but for building the students confidence to complete
the work. While working with Kai, I began to see how certain strategies I employed during my
internship year, such as the behavior cards, did not work on all students. Kai had low selfesteem making card flipping an ineffective way to create drive in order to correct behavior.
While generalized praise and classroom rewards were successful for some students, it was
unsuccessful with Kai because she was not able to identify the behavior being rewarded. This
project allowed me to reflect on why certain classroom strategies I employed during my
internship year were unable to have a lasting effect because they werent individualized to

students like Kai. Now that I had achieved individual success on the smaller scale, my desire
was to translate the outcome to the class on a larger scale.
This leads me to CEP 800, Learning in Schools and other Settings. During my internship
year, motivation was low, and participation was even lower; the only enthusiastic person in the
classroom was myself. While investigating different approaches, I discovered Touchpebbles for
elementary, a version of Socratic Seminars that allowed for student led learning. I knew from
my personal experience with Socratic Seminars that this type of forum could allow students to
gain self-confidence and academic support. Employing the Touchpebbles approach was met
with resounding success, and my students pleaded with me to do more. The exercise instructed
the teacher to read the article out loud, and the students worked with partners before meeting in
whole group. Each student was tasked with a job in his or her small groups, not overwhelming
them to complete a whole assignment, but showing them they were capable of completing a
small part of it. This approach offered the necessary academic supports for those students who
needed them, while still allowing the teacher to take a less dominate role that ensured more
student responsibility.
I chose the digital storytelling project on my Socratic Seminars as my artifact for CEP 800,
which called on me to reevaluate a lesson I had previously taught with a new perspective
(Artifact 7). I had to judge the success of my Socratic Seminars in regards to the different
learning theories this type of teaching employed. I discovered that students engaged in social
and cognitive constructivism when learning from this type of teaching. I then decided to take it a
step further and compare it to the type of learning theories that our daily activities, often received
with low motivation, asked them to engage in, which were behaviorism and information

processing. While completing my digital storytelling project, I learned the impact learning
theories I employ in my classroom determine large-scale success.
I had another opportunity to test this conclusion with my action research project (Artifact 2).
For my action research project I decided to create a Jeopardy game as an exam review using
social constructivism, as well as information processing, as opposed to the typical review using
worksheets, which only require behaviorism and information processing. The students active
participation led to a more effective review, which resulted in the highest exam scores the class
had in the subject.
To create student motivation and participation on a greater scale, I needed to balance
motivational strategies (Artifact 5) with differentiated instruction for each individual learner
(Artifact 3); have a classroom built on the learning theories that speak to the class as a whole
(Artifact 7); and deploy lessons that, while not the norm, fit my students abilities (Artifact 2).
While I am still working to find the right balance to carry out these goals simultaneously in a
classroom of my own, I have been equipped with the knowledge and ability to take on the
challenge.
What Happens When We Are Unbalanced
Taking over the fifth grade literacy class in the spring semester of my MATC program
seemed to be the perfect opportunity to apply the skills I had learned throughout the program.
With this class consisting of the same students I taught the year before, I was equipped with not
only the knowledge of the types of learners each individual was, but also the new knowledge I
gained through the program. The type of material that I had to teach could be presented
successfully using interactive discussions, group work and class projects. These lessons
employed social and cognitive constructivism learning theories that I already knew each student

responded well to from CEP 800 (Artifact 2 & 7). I came in with planned discussions,
PowerPoints, group work, and engaging projects. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday passed,
and with those days came failed lessons. I was battling constant chatter, unfinished work,
attitude, low participation, and no motivation. I was employing the same teaching strategies,
learning theories, and behavioral techniques that were successful the prior year with the same
students, but was not achieving the same level of success. Frustrated, exhausted, and questioning
my abilities as a teacher, I called on my more experienced colleagues for assistance. My
colleagues informed me that the teacher I was filling in for was not enforcing CHAMPS, a
structured classroom management plan dictated by the school administration, which each student
had practiced in every class since kindergarten. Without established classroom management
from day one, learning theories that had proven to work on these students the previous year were
unable to take hold without a structured environment. When creating my portfolio, I knew that
my classroom management plan from CEP 883 should be my first artifact. My subbing
experience provided a whole new context for the lessons I learned in my Psychology of
Classroom Discipline class. Teaching is built on the foundation of classroom management, and I
knew that if I did not begin my school year with a strong classroom management plan, student
learning and student achievement would be an uphill battle.
To the Future
Each learning experience I gained through my internship year, volunteer work, and substitute
teaching was made more meaningful as it paralleled with the MATC program. Each class,
professor, and colleague I came into contact with challenged me to reevaluate my past lessons,
beliefs, and ideas. My learning does not come to an end with the conclusion of my masters
program. Michigan States education program has given me a small glimpse at what there is to

learn and gain from our profession. MATC did not teach me to be a perfect teacher with all the
answers, but rather a well-prepared teacher that can find the answers. I have learned to rely on
the community and peer support that the school offers teachers as well as students (Artifact 4). I
have learned to take control of my professional development by relying on current publications
and interactions with my colleagues to discover new ideas and perspectives (Artifact 8). Finding
the balance in teaching comes with time, practice, patience, and the acceptance of change. My
experience gained in the MATC program has provided me with the tools and confidence
necessary to achieve my goals as I grow into the teacher I have always aspired to become.

Reference List
Wiles, J. (2009). Leading curriculum development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
TeachingWorks. (2004). High leverage practices. Retrieved from
http://www.teachingworks.org/work-of-teaching/high-leverage-practices

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