SHAWN MCMANN
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Welcome to my pedagogical portfolio
Literacy and Coaching
SHOWCASE OF GRADUATE WORK
I concentrated on Literacy for my graduate work at Michigan State University. It was my hope at the beginning to develop creative and innovative lessons that would improve my pedagogical art. Little did I know at that time, I was on the precipice of a profound journey that would transform my teaching.
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Additionally, I used my elective classes as an opportunity to earn a graduate certificate in coaching sports. As the first decade of the 21st century saw significant new developments in the world of sports, I wished to stay abreast of cutting-edge ideas and information so that I could better mentor my athletes.
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Below are examples of graduate work I completed during my time at MSU. They are separated into "Literacy" and "Coaching" categories, with Literacy broken down further into "Creativity" and "Innovation." I broke literacy into these two categories because student creativity and innovation are being touted as the greatest deficits found in current public education.
LITERACY
Building Student Creativity​
BUILDING COGNITIVE SKILLS: PERCEPTION
When dealing with difficult text, it is often a challenge to have students understand the perspective of a character within the context of the story. In working with early British Literature with students, Beowulf poses this problem. Thus, I created a lesson in which students were required to present an Anglo-Saxon themed "Boast" of their own devising in front of the class. The purpose is to recreate the sensory impression felt by Beowulf when he made his boast.
RE-IMAGINING CONCEPTS: VISUAL ANALOGY
During a lesson on Heroes, my students were tasked with creating a visual analogy to the list of heroic properties established earlier in the unit. One student saw the list as a ladder in which characters climbed; the higher they climbed, the more heroic they were. I asked the student to recreate their analogy on the computer.
LITERACY
Innovation: Teaching with a New Perspective
LITERACY LEARNER PROJECT
I selected a student that was struggling with vocabulary acquisition within my class. I then designed formative assessments driven by diagnostic data that focused on his ability to effectively use context clues within text. After several lessons, I provided a summative assessment that provided evidence of growth in vocabulary. The following project includes the data, lesson outlines, and reflection on the overall process.
EDUCATION INQUIRY: TECHNOLOGY
Teacher Inquiry played a large role in my graduate studies. One specific query synthesized my reflection of my personal history with technology and the inevitable advancement of technology in the classroom. As a literacy teacher, technology presents an opportunity to bring in a diverse library of texts and genres related to student interest, which in turn increases student engagement and achievement.
COACHING
Advancements in the World of Sports
COMMUNICATION WITH ATHLETES
A recent development in sports is a focus on effective communication between the coach and the athlete. This study puts research into practice by meeting with two different athletes about goal setting for the season, then reflecting on the effectiveness of my communication with them.
RECOVERY NUTRITION
Nutrition is paramount in Sports. Unfortunately, with the amount of available information overwhelming most coaches, many athletes are not properly refueling their bodies. Thus, I created a two-page pamphlet that could be used by coaches to get vital information to their athletes in condensed form.
EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION
As research in sports pushes coaches to better understand the more profound aspects of sports, it is easy to forget the importance of being effective at the simple things. Thus, during my Legal and Administrative Issues in Sports class, I developed an informational flyer about a hypothetical "tryout." Its goal was to efficiently convey all information needed by potential athletes in a productive manner.
ATHLETE MONITORING
One method of helping athletes to attain a higher level of performance is monitoring behaviors off the field that can either inhibit or compound improvements. In this report, I monitored three athletes sleeping behaviors via a sleeping app on their phones, to which they reported daily their quantity and quality of their slumber. The results revealed surprising results to the athletes about the connections between sleep and activity.