Jennifer Ann Ullrich
5843 Little Spring Court
Frederick, MD 21704
(301) 514-8022
Linked in
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Online learning is a unique environment, in that students come together for class from a variety of locations, educational backgrounds, experiences, and levels of comfort with technology. My philosophy of teaching is that every student should be an active participant in learning, and that each student has unique perspectives and experiences that add value to the online learning environment. As an online instructor, I am passionate about creating an atmosphere that values active student engagement, participation, and interaction.
My philosophy of teaching is evidenced in the classroom through the respectful communication I establish with my students from the very first day of class. I model active engagement in learning by clearly communicating expectations for successful completion of the course using both asynchronous and synchronous interaction. Assignments are detailed and communicated in multiple ways, and rubrics and work samples are provided so students can see exemplary work. Students take responsibility for their own learning by reading course material, completing assignments, and participating in class discussions. As facilitator, I closely monitor discussions in order to provide consistent feedback, and I provide closure after each module by summarizing key learning from the week’s interactions. My goal as a facilitator is that each student reaches the end of class with a solid understanding of course objectives and recognizes that learning is optimized with a high level of engagement and interaction.
PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES
· A highly motivated educator with experience teaching adult learners in an online classroom environment using multiple learning management systems (BlackBoard, Moodle, and Canvas), as well as extensive knowledge and leadership in the elementary classroom setting.
· As a graduate student at the University of New England, completed all coursework in a completely online setting, resulting in a well-rounded understanding of online learning from both student and instructor perspectives.
· A passionate, experienced teacher with excellent interpersonal and organizational skills who quickly adapts to changing technological environments, and uses a variety of technology skills to plan and implement motivating lessons adapted to diverse learners based on curriculum objectives.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Online Education Instructor December, 2014 - Present
PLS 3rd Learning
Buffalo, NY
Instructs elementary and secondary teachers enrolled in online professional development education courses. Facilitates and monitors student learning, evaluates and grades assessments based on course rubrics and anticipated learning outcomes, and provides reflective feedback and correction to students when needed. Monitors course completion, submits grades, and reports credits for professional development documentation. Courses taught include:
Setting Instructional Outcomes – Course 110
Examines how appropriate, measurable, and clear instructional outcomes improve professional practice and effectively support student learning. Describes considerations used to set instructional expectations, identifying connections to prior learning and future discovery, and ensuring alignment to core standards. Explores differentiation of instructional outcomes, considering complexity, depth, and breadth of content that promotes student learning.
Enhancing Content and Pedagogical Knowledge – Course 100
Students explore how to improve content backgrounds, pedagogy, resources, and professional responsibilities in specific content areas. Explores methods for sharing content knowledge and professional development beyond the classroom.
Engaging Students in Learning – Course 365
Examines activities and assignments that promote deep learning, engage all students, and encourage students to initiate or adapt activities to enhance their understanding. Examines instructional materials and resources that engage students, as well as how to provide student choice among materials. Focuses on lesson structure and pacing that allow opportunities for reflection and closure.
Demonstrating Knowledge of Students – Course 105
Explores student cognitive, social, and emotional developmental stages while learning how to address gaps and avoid misconceptions about student development and capabilities. Based on a solid foundation of child development patterns, teachers apply and evaluate strategies designed to engage students effectively with content.
Demonstrating Knowledge of Resources – Course 120
Teachers evaluate resources available to them and their students, including those used in the classroom, available outside of the classroom, and advance their professional knowledge and skills in order to incorporate a wide array of appropriate resources for student and teacher use.
Engaging Instructional Groups – Course 130
Students discover strategies for forming and adjusting engaging, productive instructional groups where students assume responsibilities for their group’s productivity. Focuses on how to assign student roles and responsibilities, and create expectations for effective group work.
Productive Student Grouping – Course 135
Focuses on meeting the intended outcomes of lessons through productive grouping methods that include student choice, student reflection, and complex grouping methods.
Student Grouping and Supportive Resources – Course 126
Examines appropriate uses of technology, groups designed to enhance student learning, and materials and resources that are suitable to all students. Emphasizes the need for student choice and input in the design process.
Expectations for Learning and Achievement – Course 220
Methods for evaluating how teacher, student, family, and school community involvement create accountability for student achievement in which all members support the value of learning.
Participating in Student-Led Discussions – Course 360
Examines techniques designed to ensure that all students successfully contribute to classroom discussions in an environment where students help to ensure that all voices are heard. Explores how to ask high-quality questions that deepen student understanding, methods for promoting student learning through discussion, and practices to ensure meaningful student contributions to discussions.
Creating a Culture of Respect and Rapport – Course 200
Establishes the foundation for creating a classroom of mutual respect, care, and trust. Students explore the qualities that characterize effective, caring teachers and identify ways in which beliefs and expectations about teaching and learning inform and sustain leadership abilities.
Designing Lessons, Units, and Learning Activities – Course 125
Provides an overview of how unit design enhances instruction and connects learning goals with other content areas to facilitate the transfer of knowledge. Course content reflects on best practices for designing units of instruction with a focus on alignment of assessments with objectives.
Discussion Techniques – Course 340
Methods of evaluating discussions in both online and face-to-face environments are analyzed, with a focus on encouraging student self-motivation. Examines how current practices align with teacher criteria in Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching. Participants develop an informational presentation to share with colleagues that identifies effective discussion techniques, with the goal of promoting student engagement with content.
Managing Classroom Procedures – Course 230
Explores how seamless transitions in the classroom enhance student learning, and studies how student-regulated behaviors positively impact the learning environment. Analyzes current classroom management plans, and provides opportunities for educators to revisit established classroom procedures to improve student performance in both instructional and transitional settings.
Foundations for Managing Student Behavior – Course 240
Provides the foundations for managing student behavior as students explore how to determine causes of behavioral issues, learn about students, and set expectations for learning and behavior. Student analyze how and when to create, enforce, and revise standards of conduct to promote an optimal learning environment.
Monitoring Student Behavior – Course 245
Examines subtle and preventative behavior monitoring, including the strategies and skills teachers and students need in order to monitor behavior, offer respectful corrections, utilize appropriate verbal and nonverbal responses, and acknowledge appropriate behavior.
Responding to Student Misbehavior – Course 250
Explores methods for responding to student misbehavior, including intervention strategies, family involvement, use of external resources, respecting dignity, and preventative responses.
Fundamentals of Assessment – Course 145
Analyzes major types of classroom assessments, noting similarities and differences and how they are used in the classroom. Teachers analyze and practice adapting assessments for use in the classroom that accurately correlate to student learning outcomes and help gauge student learning.
Instruction in Assessment – Course 150
Students explore current practices for assessing student learning, how those assessments change subsequent instruction, and create a performance-based task based on specific learning outcomes that can be used in the future. Explores how assessment evidence is used to inform and differentiate instruction.
Sparking Student Engagement – Course 215
Examines how rigor and relevance impact student engagement and learning, and how increased student involvement leads to deeper understanding. Students create an instructional plan that explores student engagement through real-world relevance and personal interest, and develop a plan for incorporating instruction into the classroom, taking into account behavior, motivation, individual and group achievements, and informal assessments.
Supervising Para-professionals and Volunteers – Course 235
Explores how para-professionals and volunteers can make substantive contributions to the classroom environment, and how teachers can acquire the skills to support this valuable resource. Includes strategies for developing guidelines, explaining duties, providing training, and discussing standards.
Student Pride in Work – Course 225
Determines how students can support and encourage one another while also taking pride in their accomplishments. Explores student risk taking in a safe environment using reflection, encouragement, peer review, and goal setting.
Organizing Physical Space – Course 255
Determines the components of ensuring a safe physical classroom environment, examining appropriate resources for classroom and student use, arrangement of furniture for optimal learning structure, designing the layout of the classroom, and selecting resources for classroom and student use that ensure all students benefit from overall organization of the classroom.
Setting Expectations for Learning – Course 300
Explores how to make lesson purposes clear, positioning lessons around key concepts for broader learning, and linking them to student interests. Examines ways teachers can communicate to students the importance of what they are undertaking and clarify what they are learning.
Teacher-to-Student Interactions – Course 205
Examines the teacher’s role of interacting with students in an environment of respect and rapport. Explores how to use effective verbal and nonverbal skills to communicate effectively, enhancing relationships between teacher and student.
Student-to-Student Interactions – Course 210
Explores the benefits of students genuinely caring for one another in a healthy school environment. Includes discovery of how to teach respectful verbal and nonverbal behavior, as well as team building strategies, that support learning.
Communicating with Students: Directions and Procedures – Course 305
Provides effective practices for communicating directions and procedures in the classroom that enables both students and teacher to manage time, task completion, and community in the classroom in a clear and concise manner. Explores strategies for establishing and maintaining procedures that maximize instructional time.
Communicating with Students: Explaining Content: Teacher to Students – Course 310
Students explore how to effectively present, explain, and design activities related to content. Examines strategies and activities that teachers can apply to make connections to student interests, experiences, backgrounds, and prior knowledge.
Effective Uses of Language – Course 301
Analyzes the need for spoken and written language that is clear and correct, with vocabulary appropriate to students’ ages and interests. Explores how language influences students’ understanding of what they are expected to do as well as the rationale behind it. Methods for bring content to life through strategies such as metaphor, analogy, vocabulary, and expressing language are examined.
Questions that Facilitate Taking Action – Course 335
Increases participant knowledge of how teachers can use questioning to advance student learning. Teachers discover how to ask different types of questions that reinforce learning. Advanced level questioning techniques are analyzed, as well as a focus on how to teach students how to ask and identify questions and reflect on peer comments to deepen their understanding.
Teacher and Team Leader December, 2007 – Present
Frederick County Public Schools, Maryland
Second Grade (2007 – 2012) and Fourth Grade (2013 – Present)
Plans and teaches all subject areas, including Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, and Science. Regularly uses a variety of instructional strategies to enhance learning for all students. Lead a co-teaching model for the grade level, designed to address the diverse learning needs of math students. Implements classroom management strategies for the whole class and creates behavior plans for individual students. Incorporates the use of technology to enhance lessons and increase active involvement in learning. Collaborates with Special Education staff, Reading Specialists, Guidance Counselors, Administrators and families to create working goals for students who need extra support to complete class work and manage behavior. Responsible for Team Leader duties, such as planning field trips, producing monthly newsletters, and facilitating grade level team decisions. Responsible for completing all administrative aspects of teaching, such as maintaining an online grade book, administering pre and post-assessments, issuing report cards, conducting quarterly assessments, administering annual standardized tests, and attending professional development opportunities.
EDUCATION
Master of Science (M.S.) in Education, Curriculum and Instruction Strategies
University of New England, Biddeford, Maine, 2011
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Elementary Education
Towson University, Towson, Maryland, 2007
SCHOOL COMMITTEE SERVICE
Teacher Evaluation System Specialist
School Improvement Team Member
Vetting Group Member for implementation of district-wide curriculum, assessments, data collection and technology
Member of the Committee for Family/School Partnerships
Mentor for full-time teacher interns from local colleges
Design and coordinate yearbook production and sales campaign
EDUCATIONAL TRAINING/CERTIFICATES
Advanced Professional Teaching Certificate
Maryland State Department of Education
Certified to teach Elementary Grades 1 – 6 and Middle School
Additional coursework in Reading and Special Education
Online Teaching and Facilitating
Maryland State Department of Education
Successfully completed online teaching and facilitating course, including:
· Navigation of Moodle and Blackboard learning management systems
· Establishing a learning community with a high level of collaboration, including the importance of time management skills, organization, and clear academic requirements
· Utilizing both asynchronous and synchronous modes of communication
· Facilitating weekly online discussions to foster effective communication among students; responding promptly to posts and individual questions; providing feedback and encouraging students to pose new questions to extend learning