dhayescapstone.weebly.com · Web viewThis paper concludes a culminating activity: a reflection of the Southwestern College graduate course, Creating Community in the Classroom, course

Running head: PART II, REFLECTION PAPER

Part II, Culminating Activity Reflection: Reflection Paper

Delain Hayes, Jr.

Southwestern College

Author’s Note

Delain Hayes, Jr., Graduate Student, Southwestern College.

Delain Hayes, Jr. is now enrolled into a graduate program pursuing a Master’s

Degree of Education in Curriculum and Instruction. The program consists of 11

graduate courses totalling 33 credit hours starting with the first course, EDUC 540,

Creating Community in the Classroom.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to

[email protected]

PART II, REFLECTION PAPER

Abstract

This paper concludes a culminating activity: a reflection of the Southwestern College

graduate course, Creating Community in the Classroom, course number EDUC 540.

It is part two including personal reflections on the 12-week course.

After a brief introduction, this paper relates personal learning experiences to tenets

learnt about (Kagan) cooperative learning including experiences, recalled, during the

completion of a six-part lesson plan, a required objective, of the EDUC 540 course.

(Part one detailed six lesson plans on gaining employment or enrolling into college.)

Keywords: college admission essays, commonly misspelled words,

cooperative learning, cover letters, covering letters, groups, kagan, management,

managing, functional skills, employable skills, transferable skills, college admission

essay, resume, dress-for-success, dressing for success, job interview, college

interview, 30-second elevator speech, job/career fair day, college fair day,

recruitment, job/employment recruiters, college recruiters, collegiate recruiters.


Part II, Culminating Activity Reflection: Reflection Paper

Introduction

How does one sum up the experiences gained during a fast-paced, 12-week

course? He or she ‘pays it forward,’ by recalling them in a paper helping future

students and faculty understand what transpired during the period. This paper follows

suit, as it will recall my personal learning experiences relating them to Kagan’s

cooperative learning including knowledge gained while completing a six-part

thematic unit on using transferable skills and functional skills to either gain

employment or matriculate into higher education.

Personal learning experience

Personal learning experiences were deep. I could relate to and identify with the

four crises happening in the States, today. What particularly struck a chord within me

was the need to impart employable and functional skills into the students, today, as

the nucleus of family structure has change, immensely, over the past 30 years. The

two-parent family has changed, significantly, equating to less (and less) responsible

supervision and interaction occurring for the youth that are growing up in today’s

society. This has come at a price: loss of social skills, cultural tolerance, ethical

behavior, transferable-skill development, etc.

I was a latchkey child, as both my parents worked; so, my brother and I kept inside

locking the door until our dad came home from work. My extended family was not

close, so I grew up on a combination of teachings from my parents, and TV. Without

the interaction of family, relatives, and the local neighbourhood, social skill

development was lacking. This course helped me see that giving insight into

improving team-based skills within me. Once light is shed on an issue, half of it is

solved, in my opinion. This insight was profound for me, as I learnt more about


myself. By helping myself, I can, in turn, help others. This experience will help me

be a better educator. So, I am thankful for this experience.

Cooperative learning

Cooperative learning, and Kagan’s ‘spin’ on it, was new to me. I had to pick up

his concepts as the course progressed from week-to-week throughout this 12-week

period. It was an enriching and nourishing time for me adding additional tools and

techniques to use in the future. There was a profound thing I read in our textbook,

Kagan’s cooperative learning: teachers must fill the gap in providing skills that

students were lacking in. This affected me deeply, as I realized the gravity of

responsibility an educator had cultivating minds with structured content. Interaction

and collaboration formed the hub to unlocking minds and helping them grow/mature.

The act of building safety into the learning environment helped cement growth

allowing students to express themselves, in aims of learning. These factors, and

others, helped me see the positive and lasting effects a good, structured system can

have on students absorbing its contents.

I was really pleased about learning the cooperative learning system through the

Kagan group’s lenses. Other related thoughts on this course, in relation to, Kagan

structures and cooperative learning, were the importance of ensuring lesson plans are

in accordance with the CCSS. I was impressed and astounded to find out American

educational experts standardized curriculum development throughout the States

making standards and policies consistent throughout the 50 states of America.

This standardization made me really excited to try team-based activities, especially,

after learning more about the Kagan cooperative learning system.

Completing the project


It really ‘clicked’ for me when we began writing, and completing, six lesson plans

in the Kagan system, in the form of structures. The ‘doing’ held more weight for me,

as I gained a great deal from developing lessons the Kagan way. It helped me see

how the content, cooperative learning, all related to itself building concept and

strategic upon one another building a cohesive web of knowledge. Now, I can adapt

this knowledge to my teaching style to deliver qualified, and in-depth curricula to

future students/trainees.

Admittedly, the ‘doing’ had me at breaking points during the course… I

wondered, at times, if I was up to the task, at hand, but endured and persevered

gaining knowledge and depth during this stretching period. And, I gained confidence,

as a result, of this experience.

Summary

How does one sum up what he or she has learned? He or she recalls actions that

led him or her to a conclusion: finishing an assignment. What motivated this writer to

recall personal experiences? A sense of duty to ‘pay it forward’ imparting knowledge

and understanding onto the next student. Also, this insight gives future faculty

teaching this course to make enhancements, as they see fit, to improve the learning

experience for future course takers.


References

Lesson plan one: List 25 common misspellings

Conley, D. (2008). What makes a student college ready? Retrieved from

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-

leadership/oct08/vol66/num02/What-Makes-a-Student-College-

Ready%C2%A2.aspx.

Ask.com. (n.d.). What does the term “.net” mean? Retrieved from

http://www.ask.com/technology/term-net-mean-16329b181c62edb9#.

Author unknown. (n.d.). What internet address endings mean. Retrieved from

http://web.csulb.edu/~ttravis/tutorialinfo/BlackStudies/address-ending.html.

Verisign. (n.d.). How to get online: domain name system. Retrieved from

http://www.verisigninc.com/en_US/domain-names/online/domain-name-

system/index.xhtml.

Verisign. (n.d.). What does .com mean? Retrieved from

http://www.verisigninc.com/en_US/domain-names/com-domain-names/what-

does-com-mean/index.xhtml.

Worcester-Tang, T. (n.d.). Student learning journal template. Retrieved from

http://tammyworcester.com/wp-

content/uploads/2014/02/514ba7957c27495fe3fab844e534cf16.png.

http://tammyworcester.com/student-learning-journal-template/.

Kagan, S., Kagan, M. (2009). Kagan cooperative learning. San Clemente, Ca: Kagan

Publishing; pp. 14.6, 14.13-14.15.

Huitt, W. (2011). Bloom et al.'s taxonomy of the cognitive domain. Educational

Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved

from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cogsys/bloom.html.


Note: I could not find an actual reference for the pre- and post-surveys I adapted from

an evaluation form; but, I’ve attached two documents, Healthy Living Program

Facilitator’s Guide, dated 16 August 2007, and HLP Evaluation form, also dated

8/16/2007. The guide contains information on the evaluation form, on page 19, and

has references on its last page, on page 20.

Lesson plan two: Skills discovery – identify and categorize

University of Kent. (n.d.). What are the top ten skills that employers want? Retrieved

from http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/top-ten-skills.htm.

The Isle of Wight College. (2015). What are functional skills? Retrieved from

http://www.iwcollege.ac.uk/information/what-are-functional-skills/.

Conley, D. (2008). What makes a student college ready? Retrieved from

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-

leadership/oct08/vol66/num02/What-Makes-a-Student-College-

Ready%C2%A2.aspx.


Publishing; pp. 14.6, 14.13-14.15.

Doyle, A. (n.d.). What is cover letter? Retrieved from

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/jobsearchglossary/g/coverletter.htm.

Dressing for success: how to dress for an interview. Retrieved from

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/interviewsnetworking/a/dressforsuccess.htm.

Mt. Hood Community College. (2009). Purpose of a resume. Retrieved from

http://www.mhcc.edu/StudentServices.aspx?id=2164.


Cambridge Dictionaries Online. (2015). Job interview, definition of. Retrieved from

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/job-interview.

The College Board. (2015). College Interviews: Practice Questions and Strategies.

Retrieved from https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/interviews/college-

interviews-practice-questions-and-strategies.

College fair checklist: get the information you want. Retrieved from

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/find-colleges/how-to-find-your-college-

fit/college-fair-checklist.

Author unknown. (n.d.) The 30 second elevator speech. Retrieved from

http://sfp.ucdavis.edu/files/163926.pdf.

WiseGeek. (2015). What is a career fair? Retrieved from

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-career-fair.htm.

Lesson plan three: Creating cover letters or college admission essays

Doyle, A. (n.d.). What is cover letter? Retrieved from

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/jobsearchglossary/g/coverletter.htm.

Hansen, R. (n.d.). Writing the Successful College Application Essay: Tips for

Success. Retrieved from

http://www.quintcareers.com/college_application_essay.html.


Publishing; pp. 11.9, 14.6, 14.13-14.15.

20 Owl: Online writing lab. (1995-2015). Cover letter workshop. Retrieved from

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/723/03/.

Resume workshop presentation. Retrieved from

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/719/06.

Author Unknown. (n. d.). How to write a successful covering letter. Retrieved from


http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/coveringletters.htm.

Hayes, D. (2015). Sample cover letter.

Hayes, D. (2015). Sample college admission essay.

Jacobs, L. and Hyman, J. (2010). 10 tips for writing the college application essay.

Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/professors-

guide/2010/09/15/10-tips-for-writing-the-college-application-essay.

Yourdictionary.com. (n. d.). 100 Most Often Mispelled Misspelled Words in English.

Retrieved from http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/spelling-and-word-

lists/misspelled.html.

Lesson plan four: Creating resumes for employment-recruiters and collegiate-

recruiters

Mt. Hood Community College. (2009). Purpose of a resume. Retrieved from

http://www.mhcc.edu/StudentServices.aspx?id=2164.


Publishing; pp. 11.9, 14.6, 14.13-14.15.

20 Owl: Online writing lab. (1995-2015). Cover letter workshop. Retrieved from

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/723/03/.

Resume workshop presentation. Retrieved from

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/719/06.

Author Unknown. (n. d.). How to write a successful covering letter. Retrieved from

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/coveringletters.htm.

Hayes, D. (2015). Sample cover letter.

Hayes, D. (2015). Sample college admission essay.

Jacobs, L. and Hyman, J. (2010). 10 tips for writing the college application essay.

Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/professors-


guide/2010/09/15/10-tips-for-writing-the-college-application-essay.

Yourdictionary.com. (n. d.). 100 Most Often Mispelled Misspelled Words in English.

Retrieved from http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/spelling-and-word-

lists/misspelled.html.

Note: I could not find the references for the three of the four resumes examples

(chronological, functional and combination; the fourth was a version of my resume

highlighting managerial and educator/instructor/facilitator skills I gained during my

Military Service). So, I placed the actual document, Resume Writing Class 101, in

this document for your review and considerations. Additionally, I added Purdue

Owl’s PowerPoint presentation, as well, for your review.

Lesson plan five: Mock interviews, appropriate mannerisms and dress attire


Publishing; pp. 11.9, 14.6, 14.13-14.15.

Michigan Civil Service Commission, Career Services. (2012). Interviewing tips.

Retrieved from http://www.michigan.gov/documents/interview_26251_7.pdf.

Doyle, A. (n.d.). Dressing for success: how to dress for an interview. Retrieved from

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/interviewsnetworking/a/dressforsuccess.htm.

The College Board. (2015). College Interviews: Practice Questions and Strategies.

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/interviews/college-interviews-

practice-questions-and-strategies.

What to Do Before and After Your College Interview.

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/interviews/what-to-do-before-and-

after-your-college-interview-admissions.


Lesson plan six: Experiences of the job fair and the college fair


Publishing; pp. 11.9, 14.6, 14.13-14.15.

wiseGeek.com. (2003-2015). What is a career fair. Retrieved from

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-career-fair.htm.

http://topics.wisegeek.com/topics.htm?career-job-fair#.

Brizee, A. (2009). Follow-Up & Thank You Letter Overview: part 1. Retrieved from

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/engagement/34/43/135/.


Follow-Up & Thank You Letter Overview: part 2. Retrieved from






Ronald, C. et al. (2000). Job search tools: resumes, applications, and cover letters. The

Putting the Bars Behind You Series. Indianapolis: JIST, 2000.

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dhayescapstone.weebly.com · Web viewThis paper concludes a culminating activity: a reflection of the Southwestern College graduate course, Creating Community in the Classroom, course