LTETProfiles


Learning, Teaching & Educational Transformation

(non-licensure M.Ed. track)

"providing students with knowledge, tools, experience, and support so they can become constructive, reflective agents of change in education within traditional and non-traditional roles and settings, from a social justice perspective and by embedding reflection within their practice"

Upcoming Courses, Requirements & Graduation, Joining from/with other tracks, Transfering credits, Capstone Options, Advisors, Program developments

LTET graduates: Profiles and testimonials

The former students highlighted in these profiles represent areas of interest in community development particularly for immigrants to our city, urban youth, educational support, use of technology-mediated learning, international education. These students illustrate the strength of LTET in its ability to incorporate graduate certificate and focus areas within the overall Masters course of study, and the intertwining relationship between LTET and teacher licensure programs.

Jane Alwis, M.Ed.
Book award winner 2017:

Caitlin McCormick, M.Ed.
Convocation book award winner 2013:
  • In her LTET studies Caitlin McCormick integrated courses on collaboration and organizational change, preparing her to take her experience leading Out-of-School-Time (OST) programs and develop as her capstone a well-researched plan to foster more positive collaboration among the school, OST partners and funders, students, and their families. In her own words: “When I was young… I never imagined myself where I am now, working with at-risk urban youth... The OST field became important to me because it embodied some of my greatest values: relationship, community, social justice, transformation, and personal growth. [I]t espouses these values not only for the children being served, but for the adults who serve. [T]hese are… powerful forces with the potential to greatly change our nation’s views on young people, those in poverty, and what it means to educate or be educated.” LTET looks forward to watching Caitlin facilitate and lead ongoing educational transformation.

On her capstone experience: "This was absolutely the most fruitful semester... Having to learn so much about how to do a project this size, figure out how to pull together what I want to say, to reflect, summarize, present helped me to clarify my thinking. This totally elective experience [the written capstone] has actually made my graduate degree feel like more than just a collection of classes. It is actually something that has launched me in some important way."

Rachel Gaines, M.Ed.
Convocation book award winner 2012:
  • Over the course of her M.Ed. studies, Rachel Gaines, a licensed middle school teacher, has, in her own words, “learned… the value of risk-taking, dialogue, and continuous learning in order to become a better teacher.” Voicing and reflecting on the discord between what she thought she knew from her prior training as student and teacher and what she was being asked to consider in her LTET studies led to “a dramatic shift” in her “schemas about schools” and to a “looser, more fluid form of teaching.” “What I learned [before] wasn’t wrong, but, in order to thrive, I [needed] to admit that my education was not yet complete.” While teaching and studying, Rachel has also been engaged in school change efforts, using her highly-organized way of managing complex issues as well as learning how to build a constituency to collaborate around shared goals. The Program is confident that these themes of risk-taking, dialogue, continuous learning, and collaboration will continue throughout Rachel’s reflective practice as an educator.

anonymous
From capstone exam:
  • Through stepping back and taking a metaphorical walk along road of my graduate studies experience I can see more clearly the progress I have made. The Applied Behavior Analysis program gave me a solid understanding of the principles, the how’s and why's of human behavior. I gained the confidence necessary to utilize the skills I gained to help children with disabilities overcome behavioral obstacles.
  • The CCT courses offered me the opportunity to explore, in a deeper way, my thinking about educating the children I serve. It helped me see the importance of meaningful collaboration. I learned to value and seek out the opinions of others. Finally, by disciplined practice of metacognition I am able to assess my own behavior and make changes that will improve my performance as an educator.

Jessica Ngoc Tran, M.Ed.
graduated in 2009-2010 with focus in Asian American Studies
Student’s Focus: Jessica Ngoc Tran focused on the sociocultural community contexts for refugee/immigrant communities of color in metro Boston. Her course work included relevant education courses as well as course work in Human Services and Asian American Studies.

Importance/Relevance of Student’s Work: Jessica developed collaborative relationships with several community-based Asian immigrant-serving agencies in not only Boston, but also Quincy and Malden — settings where rapid demographic growth among the Asian American population has led to large gaps in educational services for all ages from pre-school to youth to families to elders. Jessica was able to analyze the critical issues and needs of these underserved communities in holistic, interconnected ways.

Student quote: I have been working for many nonprofit organizations. I enjoy working with diverse populations. Not only do I get to learn about their heritages, but at the same time, I share my own knowledge about my history and traditions. Having relevant knowledge from my classes has helped me with my work in the community. Because of what I have learned from Asian American Studies, I was able to appreciate my background more and will continue working with diverse populations in the community.


Kunthary M. Thai-Johnson, M.Ed.
Graduated in 2009 with focus in Asian American Studies
Student’s Focus: Kunthary Thai-Johnson addressed the educational needs of urban youth with a dual focus on the roles of schools/teachers and families/communities. She was particularly interested in the counseling, mentoring, and mental health needs of urban youth.

Importance/Relevance of Student’s Work: Kunthary directs a mentoring and educational opportunity pipeline program for Boston Public School middle and high school students. Her M.Ed. enabled her to look beyond the intense day-to-day programmatic needs of her work, and consider domains of research, policy analysis, funding, and other critical contexts for her work.

Student quote: From the classes and projects I have done as a graduate student in education, I am able to understand many education issues affecting urban immigrant/refugee populations. I am better equipped to deal with the students enrolled in my own educational support program. In addition, the AsAmSt courses enabled me to reflect on my experiences and become more accepting of myself, my family, my community, and my roots in Cambodia. I am no longer trying to hide my heritage. I hope to pave a way for those who do not have equal or fair access to higher education and spread the knowledge of what I have learned from Asian American Studies in my graduate education program to enable other educators and policy makers to understand the intricate issues affecting the profiles of Cambodian students and other refugee students in order to develop more effective educational policies and practices, locally and globally.


Peter Palingo, M.Ed., with Graduate Certificate in CCT
Focus area: Teaching English Language Learners, especially in a foreign context, namely, South Korea.
Importance/relevance of what student did within LTET
Especially through CCT courses, Peter became a reflective practitioner.

Statement about value of LTET as contributor to student’s goals and pursuits.
Extract from Peter’s capstone exam wrapping up a question that invited students to “review the process of development of your work and thinking about education”:
Reflecting on my M.Ed studies through the lens of Taylor’s “4 Rs” helps me see that the journey has been transformative. It also brings to mind the third “R” which I have not mentioned yet, Revelation. There were many times in my courses when I would be struggling with different ideas through reflective writing or classroom dialogue and suddenly I would articulate my ideas in a way that brought focus to my thinking and revealed my true self. My identity revealed itself and grew during moments of learning. I like the quote by Peter Taylor (2008) that, “we know more than we are, at first, prepared to acknowledge.” So often our understanding of various topics is internalized in ways that escape our ability to retrieve them. We may take certain ideas for granted or intuitively accept something, but we struggle to explain and elaborate our understanding. Therefore, those moments of clarity when our internalized assumptions and conscious thoughts merge with the topic of study and allow us to articulate ourselves with passion and precision are so powerful. I will miss those moments in the context of the M.Ed. program, but will seek out new forums for that type of engagement and revelation.

From Exhibit 1, I can now understand that I never developed the Respect in the relationship with the teacher whom I observed. On the surface, of course we were respectful to one another. But, we did not really listen to one another and only told each other what we felt the other wanted to hear. Without a base of Respect, I could not engage in Risk to step into the uncertainty or discomfort of honestly discussing his teaching methods and how they may not be best serving his students. By not taking that Risk, I could not achieve Revelation. Therefore, there was a disingenuous aspect to our exchanges. I was not being myself. In that situation, transformative insight or growth was impossible. But, it was still a valuable learning experience on several levels.
... I can now understand that the powerful presence of Respect in the “Creative Thinking” class allowed me and my classmates to engage in Risk. Then, I was free to share my identity and allow it to grow. The Revelation occurred for me during the process of developing and performing my presentation. I realized that I had internalized an understanding of those two artists that are so personally important to me. By creatively presenting those two people, I also revealed myself. This has been a valuable exercise to reflect on my experiences in the M.Ed program. The “4 Rs” have provided me with a new framework to evaluate learning situations. My new awareness of these elements will help me to take advantage of potentially transformative opportunities in the future.
* * *

Richard Azulay, with Applied Behavior Analysis for Special Populations Graduate Certificate
Graduated Fall 2009
Statement about the student’s focus within LTET
Richard Azulay combined his commitment to educating students with autism along with the systematic and data-driven capacity of computer-assisted learning as the focus of his research, product development, and reflections within the LTET Masters of Education Program.

Importance/relevance of what student did within LTET
In a field where little has yet been done to harness technology that promotes learning, Rich taught himself basic code and developed a prototype computer program to teach basic matching and word identification skills to students with Autism and Intellectual Disabilities. He pilot tested his program and revised it, adding data collection and graphing capabilities that are consistent with an Applied Behavioral Analysis methodology. He reflected upon this process in his Capstone Exam, which he passed with distinction. Rich was selected as the LTET Book Award Recipient for 2009.

Statement about value of LTET as contributor to student’s goals and pursuits.
As Rich tells us, "My goal is to create instructional tools and data collection systems to be used by teachers and behavior analysts. Once finding support at the University of Massachusetts for development of these skills, I have had to present the need for these skills within my worksite, and continue to do so. It is my hope that this knowledge will lead to development of innovative teaching tools for children with Autism."


Songkhla Thi Nguyen, M.Ed.
Began in LTET but switched to with initial licensure in Elementary Teaching and graduated in 2010 with a focus in Asian American Studies
Student’s Focus: Songkhla Nguyen began the LTET program with multiple interests in science education, Asian-American youth and community development, Buddhist education, and Vietnamese refugee/immigrant family dynamics. Through her first year, she clarified her focus and transferred from LTET to the initial licensure program for elementary education. She decided that the best way for her to combine her interests was to become a public school teacher in a school that served Vietnamese American students and families. In this way, her formal degree program shifted, while she maintained her LTET/Asian American Studies curricular focus.

Importance/Relevance of Student’s Work: Following her graduation, Songkhla was hired to teach in a first-grade Sheltered English Immersion classroom at the Mather School (Boston Public Schools) with 100% Vietnamese American children. Her skills, networks, and resources as a classroom teacher — enhanced by the Asian-American Studies curricular thread of LTET — are much needed in a system where Vietnamese bilingual/bicultural responsiveness is essential but severely limited.

Student quote: Five years ago, I wasn’t certain what my goals and aspirations were, but today I can confidently claim: I am an educator. I am serious and passionate about my work; I seek ways to improve my teaching and pedagogy for the betterment of students. Asian American Studies along with my Teacher Education training program has prepared me to do so. I will always be working on bettering my skills and abilities to become a more qualified teacher. I teach to circulate knowledge, influence positive actions, and increase social justice. I thank Asian-American Studies for providing me the opportunity to do so!

Steve Lawrence, M. Ed.
Graduated Spring 2011
Student Quote: [I sought] guidance in founding my school's faculty senate -a much needed step if my school was to be transformed. The narrative and results of our efforts (under the guidance and direction of teachers/advisers in the LTET program) can be seen on the Curley Faculty Senate's website: http://www.Curleyk8facultysenate.org. As you will see from even a cursory glance of the CFS website, the principles of collaboration, creative thinking, organizational change and participative decision making I have learned in the program have made a huge difference... I am still unsure of what my future holds career-wise. If I remain as a teacher in public schools, I am likely to be involved in promoting the principles of organizational change to help colleagues and administrators to be more collaborative and strategic. If I choose an alternative path such as educational consulting, my degree in Learning, Teaching, and Educational Transformation will give me the necessary tools and credentials. This program and others like it are exactly what is needed if we are serious about improving public education in the United States.