In the last few years, I have participated in many professional development workshops and have also made presentations to teachers.

Through my courswork at the University of Mississippi and Michigan State, I have developed my approach to teaching. The following documents were submitted as coursework, and are reflective of this development.

Crisis Management Powerpoint
I presented on ways to prevent verbal and physical altercations in the classroom. This presentation was developed with colleague Joel Harris and included role-plays and discussion.

Welcome to Mississippi Teacher Corps Powerpoint
I had the opportunity to give an overview of the Mississippi Teacher Corps experience to the incoming members in May of 2005. As I was creating it, I was reflecting on all of the challenges of the year, and how I could possibly boil it down into a Power Point. The presentation includes what they can expect to encounter during the summer training, things they should be getting ready to do in the Fall, and advice on how to be successful during their time in the program.

Teacher Corps success story
During my first year of teaching in the Mississippi Delta, I wrote about a successful experience I had with a student. This student was troublesome at first, but later turned out to be a great worker, and an inspiration to me. She has since graduated from high school and is currently attending college.

Fictional School District
For our innovations in education class, we created fictional school districts that were given a certain budget. The goal was to creat innovative ideas to make the best possible learning environment. While completing this assignment, I realized how important certain aspects became to me such as building setup, teacher pay, the role administration, and access to technology.

Community Assessment
The community of Cleveland, MS, has an unique history that affects the school district. In this report, I gathered information about the community and how the leadership in the community influences education.

Service Learning
By having students engage in projects that enhance their awareness of their community, students can learn the importance of making a positive contribution to their surroundings. This paper explores that concept and provides reasoning for including it in a curriculum.

Ridler vs. Olivia (word document)
Ridler vs. Olivia (Power Point)
It is important for teachers to understand their legal rights. This case analysis represents one of the many case studies we engaged in during Educational Law. The Power Point that accompanies the paper coincides with the presentation I gave.

Reflections on my work and the past two years can be found here.