STUDENT PROFILE

SUSAN'S PROFILE

Susan has been teaching music and physical education, plus tutoring students in reading, in a small K-8 rural school in Illinois for six years. She also serves as the Parent Teacher Organization liaison and cheerleading coach. She enjoys the tutoring very much and would like to learn more about teaching reading. Since she is married with two young children and lives too far from a university to be able to continue her education on-campus, Susan has been hesitant about furthering her education. She is currently due for certificate renewal and has decided that since she can now take courses online, she wants to get a master's degree during the five years of her certificate renewal plan. She is very comfortable using a computer and has used the Internet for research for the last four years.

Her plan:

Susan has decided to make the step of professional development beyond conferences and workshops and take advantage of the structure of formal learning that comes from working towards earning a master's degree. Her familiarity with the Internet means she can easily adapt to online instruction, and by putting the degree into her five-year plan for certificate renewal, she can organize her learning to fit her schedule. Her plan launches her into instructional design methodologies, which she will use throughout her degree, and then moves into her area of interest, reading and literacy. The best part is that in each course she takes, she will be learning practical information that she will apply in her classroom and her tutoring.

Susan's plan is to gain a master's degree in under four years. She will take one course during each semester that she is teaching and two during the summer. Susan is most comfortable in the classroom and has been out of school long enough that she wanted to start with a course where she would feel at ease and could immediately relate to her classroom work. She has designed her course load as follows:

Susan | Ning | Tonya | Manuel | Dave

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