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Life-Long Learning Adventure
Life-Long Learning Adventure
As a teacher I believe it is essential for students to love learning and become life-long learners. Therefore, in my classroom I model for them what this means and how it can be accomplished. One of the ways I do this is by building positive relationships with my students and making myself vulnerable in front of them. I am very honest about my failures and share with them my successes. I want them to know that as learners, we will fail, and that is okay. It is how we manage and recover from that failure that makes us who we are. When discussing failures with my students I always share with them my educational journey. I began my undergraduate degree at MSU. Unfortunately, at the end of my sophomore year I had to transfer and this was always a huge regret I had. Nonetheless, as time passed I decided to continue my education at MSU by entering into the Masters of Education program (MAED). This gave me the sense that I was fulfilling a dream I once had and writing a wrong per say.
While I knew this journey to obtain this degree would be challenging as a full-time working mom, I was up for the challenge and continued to share my progress with my students in the classroom. When I began this program I had been in the classroom for 8 years. During my time in the classroom, I discovered many things about myself. I had a passion for working with students who had disabilities and were in my classroom. I also wanted to foster my love of reading in what I was studying. So, I decided to enter into the program with two concentrations: special education and reading and literacy. Both of these areas would allow me to harness my passions while gaining insight into content I had yet to discover. I can confidently say, that through this program I have become a more confident educator, a leader in my district, and I hope an inspiration to my students to continue to learn.
One course that challenged my thinking and abilities was CEP 866 (Psychoeducational Interventions for Children and Youth) because it was theoretical based and it forced me to stretch my thinking. We read and collectively discussed many theories and empirical basis for specific interventions and the reasoning behind each intervention. While many of these I was familiar with, I was opened up to issues within our youth that I haven't been privy too. After researching and studying many interventions for at-risk youth and the research behind them, we had to choose one intervention that we would implement into our district. This was a challenge for me, because I wanted to choose something that I was passionate about, yet knew our district needed to be implemented. So, I decided to compose my final paper on Youth Suicide: A Team Based Approach.
While this topic posed challenges in itself, it was close to my heart. While completing the research for this final project and reading numerous studies, I discovered how unprepared most schools and definitely my district are when it comes to youth suicide and giving troubled youth the resources they need to get help. This paper allowed me to dig deep and start conversations within my district that haven't been touched due to fear, and societal taboos'. While this topic will probably always be uncomfortable to address and discuss, I feel more alert to the issue at hand and able to be a part of a solution.
Another course that has positively impacted my studies and career as an educator is TE 836 (Awards and Classics of Children's Literature). The goal of this course was to take a more abstract look at children's literature, the awards that are given to excellent pieces of literature, and look at children's responses to this literature. As an avid reader, and one who is a collector of children's books, this course was a highlight within my degree. I enjoyed every aspect of this course and learned so many different components that impact children's literature.
In this course I was able to understand how a book is deemed "the best" and the qualifications they must have in order to win a prestigious award. I also gained more knowledge of various awards pertaining to children's literature that I was not accustomed too. We also took some time to delve into the classics and discuss what made these books classics. I really enjoyed this portion of the course because it took me back in time, and brought forth many positive memories that I have as a child with many of these books.
The most impactful component of this course for me, was thinking about the social and political implications of designations of "best" books. I really had to think about the books I was using in my classroom and if they were pedagogical sound and teaching my students about the outside world. What I found was, I was being pretty closed-minded with the books I chose to read to my student's. I wasn't challenging their thinking or exposing them to content that is prevalent in our changing society. In other words, I was playing it safe. This course allowed me to stretch that thinking and expose my students to pieces of literature that may speak to them and foster their love of learning.
Another course that stretched my thinking and challenged my abilities as an educator was TE 848 (Writing Assessment and Instruction). Of all the subjects I teach, I have always been the least confident in teaching writing. I have never felt like I truly engaged my students in their own writing or fostered for them a love of writing. This course pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me take a deep look at my abilities as a writing teacher and as a writer myself. One of the final projects we had to complete was a genre project. In this project we were to take a look at our own writing and write something personal, a blog of some sort. I chose to write about my challenges fighting through infertility. Writing on this topic and going through the writing process with my professor, really opened my eyes to myself as a writer. It also showed me the power of writing and how therapeutic it can be.
After completing this writing assignment I began to rethink our writing curriculum and how to make writing more engaging for my students. So I began to make my lessons more digitally engaging. This process has been a game changer for myself and my students. Our writing block no longer is our least favorite point in the day. We work together to compose our ideas and bring forth great pieces of writing. My students have begun taking pride in their work, and I have begun to feel more confident as a writing teacher.
I will forever be grateful for the experiences and knowledge I have gained through the Masters of Education program at Michigan State University. Embracing my passions in special education and literacy, as well as, getting in touch with my own personal failures and struggles, has made me a more fluent educator. Not only have I gained confidence in my abilities as an educator, but I now feel more comfortable being a leader within my district. A role in which I have always shied away from. I have gained skills that I have been able to immediately implement into my classroom, and ideas in which have transformed my teaching, thus increasing engagement within my students. For this and so much more, I will forever be grateful.
As the program comes to a close, and I reflect on the past two years, I am filled with a strong sense of pride. Pride in myself for working through a program, while facing so many other challenges in life. Pride for the impact I am going to continue to have on my students and colleagues. Pride for finishing a degree, righting a wrong, and becoming a true alumni of Michigan State University. The sky is the limit and as I accomplish these goals, I look to the future to new goals on the horizon. The possibilities are endless!
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