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Finding What Matters

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

Maggie S. Gearns
PID A60 22 5570
July 25, 2021
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On a Tuesday afternoon in my 6th grade keyboarding class students were busy practicing

their typing. I glanced over at Q to see what he was doing. He was drawing, again. I had

already taken away several inappropriate and violent pictures he had drawn in my science class

earlier that day. I walked over to him and picked up the two papers he had been drawing on.

The first had a detailed and beautiful picture of a bird. “He is very talented,” I thought to myself.

I flipped to the next picture to see that he had drawn two halves of a broken heart. In the first

half he wrote “I miss dad”. In the second half he wrote “I hate dad”.

In September, Q appeared to be a happy kid. He seemed desperate for attention but loved

to tell me about his weekend, favorite movies and things going on outside of class. I found out

early in the year that his dad was in prison and his mom was struggling to care for her two boys.

Unfortunately, Q spiraled downward throughout the year. He rarely completed homework,

would not engage in class and refused to sit in his assigned seat. His minor disruptions to class

eventually turned into doing anything he could think of to be removed from the classroom. He

had an obsession with weapons and would often draw pictures or build weapons out of paper. It

was very hard to see a child who was happy but desperate for attention at the beginning of the

year become angry, defiant and withdrawn. I desperately wanted to know how I could make it

better, but I didn’t feel that I had any more tools in my toolkit to help him.

Around this time I began thinking about graduate school and what I wanted to study.

Several colleagues were studying educational leadership, but it didn’t seem like a good fit for

me. What I really wanted to know was how to make school work for kids like Q, and how to

provide the best support and environments to counteract some of the trauma he was facing at

home. I decided to focus my coursework on Educational Psychology, and applied for the MATC

program at MSU.
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William Ayers (2016) reminds us that we are teaching to develop capable, compassionate

and courageous human beings. He states:

The schools we deserve will focus efforts not on the production of things, but on the

production of fully developed human beings, who are capable of controlling and

transforming their own lives; citizens and residents who see themselves as valued and

valuable...people who can open their eyes and awaken themselves and others as they

think and act ethically in an ever-changing world. (p. 77)

This is a quote that I encountered in TE 807 when reflecting on what makes a quality teacher. If

there is one thing that I wanted for Q, it was for him to see himself as valuable and capable of

transforming his own life. Throughout the MATC program, I have learned that there is much

more to developing humans than getting them to engage in class. We need to be mindful of the

curriculum that we choose as well as what is left out. We need to focus our efforts on inclusion,

equity and justice so that all students feel supported and loved. We need to have excellent

teaching skills, including the ability to engage and motivate learners, so that students see

themselves as valuable and capable people.

Creating a Classroom Environment that Works

Throughout the MATC Program I have learned many strategies for working with students

like Q. One course I looked forward to at the beginning of the program was CEP 832: Educating

Students with Challenging Behaviors. The title of this course summed up exactly what I needed,

and I will be honest when I say I was hoping for a magical fix to all my teaching problems.

While I didn’t find an easy solution, I did learn that students with challenging behaviors need

help with socialization to the school environment. Teacher attitudes and dispositions are

important. Teachers need to have an effective teaching stance, which means that they believe
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that their students can be socialized to the classroom and that their actions make a difference.

Brophy (2003) describes several attributes for effective socializers that I was able to apply to my

teaching practice including ego strength, realistic perceptions of self and students, clarity of roles

and comfort in playing them, firm but flexible limits, and modeling and projecting positive

expectations. I also learned about the research behind several effective behavior modification

strategies, including reinforcement and rewards, using effective praise, and shaping behavior

through successive approximations (Standard 3). I was able to put these attributes and strategies

into practice as part of the ABC project (Artifact 1), in which I worked with a challenging

student to better socialize him in the classroom over the course of a semester (Standard 4, Goal

2). In doing so, I became committed to better understanding my student, his unique challenges,

and helping him to grow as a student and as a person. I was able to change some of the practices

in my classroom to make it more welcoming and engaging for students, and to focus on

relationships as a way to create positive learning spaces (Standard 1). Through systematic trial

of different strategies, data collection, and refinement, I was engaged in inquiry to help me better

understand the context in which these strategies are effective (Goal 1).

Following this course, I continued to learn about how to create effective learning

environments where students can thrive in CEP 883 Psychology of Classroom Discipline.

Instead of focusing on socializing individual students to the classroom, this course focused on

the psychology behind behavior and ways to make the classroom work for all students. Students

tend to thrive when they feel a sense of confidence, contribution and connectedness (Jones &

Jones, 2016). All behavior that is reoccurs is reinforced in some way, and it is important to

determine how the misbehavior is serving the student. Sprick (2009) identified four sub-

categories of chronic misbehavior; misbehavior due to lack of awareness, misbehaviors due to

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lack of ability or skill, attention-seeking misbehaviors, and purposeful/habitual misbehavior.

Understanding these subcategories helped me to better understand why students misbehave and

how we can help them to develop the skills they are missing to change the behavior. I also

learned about Adverse Childhood Experiences and trauma-informed teaching practices. These

practices help me to work more effectively with students like Q, and to situate behaviors within

the context of the student’s life.

After learning many strategies and teaching attributes for classroom management, I felt

like I could better support some of the more challenging behaviors in my classroom. Still, I

wanted to know more about how to engage students in learning and make my classroom a

positive space, especially for students like Q who lack these kinds of calm and supportive

environments outside of school. In CEP 802: Developing Positive Attitudes Towards Learning, I

learned principles of motivation and strategies to help students develop intrinsic motivation

towards learning. Throughout the semester, I worked on a case study (Artifact 3) in which I

observed a student, designed an intervention to help increase his motivation, collected data on

the effectiveness of the strategies and analyzed the results to determine implications for future

practice (Standard 4, Goal 2). I learned to analyze the classroom environment by thinking about

the TARGET framework, consisting of of task, authority, recognition, grouping, evaluation and

time (Wentzel & Brophy, 2014). For students to be motivated, they have to believe they can be

successful at the task at hand, and also believe that the task is worthwhile. Teachers can help

foster this motivation by providing tasks that are appropriate to the student’s skill level, sharing

authority by providing students with choices when possible, providing opportunities to work in

cooperative groups, recognizing students for their efforts, providing feedback that is both

positive and constructive, and providing adequate time with breaks when needed. After careful
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consideration of each of the aspects of the TARGET model (standard 3), I was able to make

changes to my classroom structure and routine to help students to develop positive attitudes

towards science. This careful reflection and implementation of changes to my classroom helped

to better my teaching practice and work towards a more engaging classroom.

While these courses focused on strategies to improve behavior, they also taught me to see

beyond compliance and begin to think about what really matters for these kids. When we are

developing humans, the goal is not to get them to comply for the sake of creating a perfect

classroom, but to help them develop the self-control and awareness needed to make the most out

of their educational experience and to see themselves as capable of controlling their own lives.

When we take the time to work with an individual student to improve his or her engagement as

with the ABC and Motivation Design Projects, we tell them that they are valuable, are worth the

extra effort, and are capable of success. These courses helped me to see beyond myself as a

teacher and direct my focus towards developing my students as people.

Creating an Inclusive and Supportive Curriculum

In addition to learning about behavior and motivation, the MATC program helped me to

refine my instructional practices and better understand the historical context of curriculum, how

curriculum decisions are made, and the importance of a well-rounded and inclusive curriculum

with a focus on equity and justice. In TE 818, I analyzed the issue of standardization of

curriculum (Artifact 2). Prior to this course I thought of curriculum as the materials that we use

to teach our content to students. This course opened my eyes to the many different types of

curriculum and the messages that we send to our students through the decisions that are made

about what is included and left out of their education. In addition, I learned to situate these

curriculum issues within the historical context of the purpose of schooling (goal 1, standard 3).
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Historically, the main purpose of schooling in the United States was to build a productive

workforce (Sleeter & Stillman, 2005). However, when we become so focused on the production

of workers, we leave out other important aspects of education that become part of the “null

curriculum” such as a moral focus. The standardization of curriculum creates a sort of one-size-

fits-all model for education that leads to inequities and puts the power in the hands of those who

make decisions about what is included and what is left out. As Ayers (2016) might say, it puts

the focus on developing “things” as opposed to human beings. I realized I needed to be

committed to carefully reflecting on the needs of each of my learners and ensure that I am

including well-rounded lessons from many different perspectives (standard 1). I can also work

to advocate for changes to our curriculum at the school and district level to create a more

inclusive and diverse curriculum, and give some of the power back to our students through

providing more choice.

Another way to advocate for a more inclusive curriculum is to advocate for better

multicultural education. In TE 825 Diverse Learners and Subject Matter, I learned about the

historical inequities that have created many of the gaps we see in our education system and our

society today (standard 3). Learning about these historical inequities and the ways in which

school perpetuate stereotypes even by seemingly innocent lessons embedded in the curriculum

renewed my commitment to student diversity (standard 1). As a final project, I wrote a letter to

my principal critiquing our current practices for multicultural education and advocating for

changes to make our multicultural education better and more well-rounded (Artifact 7). Writing

this letter gave me the opportunity to use my voice to advocate for better curriculum for our

students. This letter demonstrates my ability to write for different audiences and to communicate

what I have learned through scholarly work (standard 5). I was able to get a glimpse of what it
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means to be a teacher leader and to work for change to make school better for all students

(standard 6, goal 3).

Learning about the historical inequities and the oppression of certain groups of students

changed my way of thinking about behavior. Bettina Love (2019) described how black children

in school have been treated with rage. Children can’t develop a sense of confidence and value

unless they are treated with love and respect. Ayers (2016) invites teachers to treat students with

love by sending the implicit and unstated message “because I love you”, even when dealing with

challenging situations. Helping to socialize students to the classroom and improve behavior is

not just about strategies, motivation and reinforcement. It is about seeking to find the good in all

students and to helping students to see the good in themselves.

In order to create a respectful and loving classroom, teachers need to be educated to

understand how their actions and language, without careful consideration, can perpetuate the

marginalization of particular groups. In CEP 801 I studied development of learning differences

and how to support students with various learning challenges. One of these challenges is

dis/abilities, including physical, mental, emotional and learning dis/abilities. I created an

infographic (Artifact 5) to describe my experiences working with students with dis/abilities and

ways that teachers can better support students in the classroom. I learned that ability grants

privilege, and teachers need to be aware of their privilege and use of ablest language, and create

lessons using universal design that work for all students. While creating this graphic, I reflected

on the use of language in my classroom and became committed to educating my students and

eradicating ablest language as much as possible in my classroom (goal 1). This knowledge is a

powerful tool for making my classroom an inclusive and supportive learning environment and

demonstrates my commitment to supporting diverse learners (standard 1). Creating this graphic
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gave me experience with researching and communicating best practices in a visual format

(standard 5). In the future, I can use this knowledge to create other visual representations of best

practices to educate teachers.

In Summer 2020 I took TE 807 Professional Development and Inquiry. This course

challenged me to think about other ways to improve my teaching and create a supportive

classroom. We discussed, read about and analyzed what it means to be a quality teacher and

examined our own teaching practices as well as the practices of our classmates (standard 6). In a

discussion with two of my classmates, I realized that equity in the classroom is more than social

justice. It is how we make the curriculum and instruction accessible to all students. I identified

lack of participation in classroom discussions as a problem of practice in my classroom.

Therefore, one way to increase equity was to make sure all voices were heard in discussions. I

created a classroom inquiry plan to increase the number of students who participate in classroom

discussions (Artifact 8). Through developing this plan, I learned that I can conduct research

within my own classroom to solve problems and determine what works best for my students

(standard 4, goal 1). This form of critical inquiry and reflection allows me to find new practices

that engage and motivate my students. It is my hope that making the effort to include all student

voices in the classroom will be another way to tell my students that they are valuable and each of

their voices matter.

Developing Excellent Teaching Skills

Throughout the rest of my MATC program, I reflected back on the tenets of quality

teaching learned in TE 807 often as I worked to better my teaching practices. I started my

program with wanting to learn more about behavior and motivation, but quickly realized that

creating a classroom where students feel capable requires strong teaching skills. One problem of
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practice that I frequently encounter in my middle school science classroom is students who

struggle to read and make meaning out of our science textbook. This presents a challenge

because reading is a large part of our curriculum and essential to understanding what we learn in

our science labs and activities. In TE 846 I studied disciplinary literacy and ways to embed

literacy skills and reading instruction within the science curriculum. Each discipline requires

different literacy skills, and we can help students to develop these skills by making the

expectations for each discipline explicit. I found this course to be one of the most helpful of my

MATC program when it comes to building my teacher toolkit. I developed an understanding of

how to help struggling readers within my middle school science classroom, as well as a set of

strategies to help all students build their reading and writing skills.

As a final project, I conducted a case study in which I developed and administered three

assessments for a struggling reader, and then developed and taught two lessons based on the

results of the assessments (Artifact 4). This project allowed me to develop my understanding of

literacy instruction and improve my instructional skills in science by embedding disciplinary

literacy into the curriculum (standard 2, goal 2). Through analyzing and reflecting on current

reading instruction within my classroom, I was able to refine my teaching practices to better help

students develop as readers and writers in science (standard 4). In the process, I developed my

own literacy skills as I thought about the disciplinary literacy practices I would need to read

scholarly literature and write my case study for a professional audience (standard 5). This is an

area that I could see myself presenting professional development on in the future, as I often hear

middle school teachers saying that it is “not their job” to teach kids how to read. One of the most

important takeaways from my concentration in educational psychology is that teacher

dispositions matter. If we are committed to producing capable human beings, then it is our job to
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meet students where they are and give them the tools and strategies to be successful. This would

be a great area to seek out opportunities for teacher leadership to help all teachers think about the

specific skills their students need to become proficient readers and writers within their discipline

(standard 6, goal 3).

Another course that helped to better my teaching practice was TE 852: Teaching

Mathematics Through Problem Solving. In this course I learned about the benefits and

challenges to a problem solving approach to teaching mathematics. Problem solving challenges

students to engage in high-level thinking to solve problems that matter. I improved my

pedagogical knowledge by learning to thoughtfully select tasks that are an appropriate skill level,

group-worthy, and problematic. I learned to facilitate productive mathematical discussions by

using specific questioning patterns and setting norms for discussion (standard 2, goal 2).

I worked with two other students to conduct a lesson study. Lesson study is a particular

kind of professional development used in Japan in which one teacher teaches a lesson while a

group of other teachers observe. The group then meets to provide feedback and analyze the

lesson in detail so that they can grow and learn from each other. I took on the role of the teacher

for my group during this project (Artifact 6). This experience pushed me to take on a leadership

role and to open myself to sharing my experience and skills with others (goal 3). I worked with

my group members to develop a lesson and then recorded my 7th grade mathematics class as I

presented and facilitated the lesson. Through the lesson study process, I learned that reflecting

with others allows us to gain new insights into our teaching that we might not otherwise have.

This type of close observation and careful reflection is something I could see myself doing with

colleagues in the future as part of a professional organization (standard 6). The lesson study
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process also provided another opportunity for careful analysis and systematic reflection of my

teaching practice, and how it relates to scholarly literature (standard 4).

As I became more comfortable presenting and sharing my ideas with colleagues, I began

to practice taking on this leadership in the field of education. At the beginning of last school

year, I worked with two other teachers in my department to put together a professional

development session to help colleagues learn some of the online tools that we planned to use

during remote teaching (Artifact 9). Prior to the MATC program, I wasn’t very comfortable

sharing my thoughts and teaching strategies with the entire staff, as I felt I had less experience

and therefore less to offer. The frequent opportunities for discussion and reflection with

classmates in the MATC program helped me to grow in my confidence and realize that everyone

has something valuable to offer. I was able to make the leap from sharing with classmates to

sharing with teachers in my building (standard 6, goal 3). I found that teachers were receptive

and thankful for the help, and I now have the confidence to take on new leadership roles within

my school.

Conclusion

When I started the MATC program I was looking for someone to teach me how to fix the

problems I faced with behavior and motivation in my classroom. I wanted so desperately to be a

successful teacher, and to provide students with a warm and engaging classroom that made it

easy to learn. I learned in this program that there is no easy answer. There is no single strategy

or tool that can address the complex needs of each of our students. We are in education to

pursue the production of human beings. As such, we need to teach with love and compassion

and work to foster competence, connection and contribution to give our kids the best educational

experience possible.
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When I think back on my year with Q, I realize now that getting him to engage in class

for the sake of learning science really wasn’t that important. Most of my sixth grade students

probably won’t remember the functions of each of the organelles in a plant cell long after they

leave my classroom, and I know many fully developed and capable human beings who couldn’t

tell you the function of the endoplasmic reticulum. What my students will take with them are the

skills towards learning and the attitudes and dispositions they develop about themselves as

students and as people. What really matters then, is that we are focused on developing our

students as people, as we teach the content in a way that allows them to think critically, problem

solve, and develop the skills necessary to pursue whatever opportunities they would like to in

their future. What makes a difference for students are teacher dispositions, compassionate and

supportive classrooms, a focus on equity and inclusion and accomplished teaching. More than

anything else, a mindset of helping our students to develop as people first will help us to create

the schools and classrooms that our students, and our world deserve.
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References

Ayers, W. (2016). Teaching with conscience in an imperfect world, an invitation. New York and

London : Teachers College Press: Teachers College, Columbia University. (pp.1-58).

Brophy, J. E. (1996). Teaching problem students. New York: Guilford Press.

Jones, V. Comprehensive Classroom Management. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from

https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780133582468/

Love, B. L. (2019). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of

Educational Freedom. Beacon Press: Boston, MA

Sleeter, C. and Stillman, J. (2005). Standardizing knowledge in a multicultural society.

Curriculum Inquiry, 35(1). p. 27-46.

Sprick, R. S., & Baldwin, K. (2009). CHAMPs: a proactive & positive approach to classroom

management. Eugene, OR: Pacific Northwest Publishing.

Wentzel, K. R. & Brophy, J. E. (2014). Motivating students to learn. New York, NY: Routledge