Twists and Turns
I was fortunate to be a stay at home mom to my four children. I was able to see each of their first milestones. I was there for their good days, sick days, crabby times, and all of the fun. We played at the park nearly every summer day, I organized weekly play dates with friends, went to activities at the local library and community center, and I’ll never forget the year that we went to nine Halloween parties. There were so many positives to being home with children until they were school age. My family was my first priority.
Money was tight with only one parent working. I always felt this void in my life, not having finished college. We lived an hour away from the college and money was tight. I couldn’t afford gas money, let alone money to pay a babysitter or college classes. Once my children were school age, we took a huge leap of faith. My husband found a new job in the city that paid more. We moved from a rural area to the city. We downsized from a six bedroom farmhouse to an inner city apartment. Once my husband began his new job, my children were enrolled in school, and our new apartment was in order; I set up an appointment with a college advisor.
I left the appointment with my advisor feeling like I was on cloud nine. I only needed to take two classes to finish my associate degree. Then I could begin taking classes through Ferris State University at Lansing Community College’s University Center. I was going to be a TEACHER! LCC and Ferris offered a bachelor of arts degree in Education. If I completed the program, I would be qualified to teach grades kindergarten through eighth grade. I had dreamed of being a teacher since I was a small child, I never thought it would be possible. Thanks to financial aid and encouragement from my family and advisor, my dream was about to come true.
It took an extreme amount of grit to get through four years of college. If I am asked to describe myself, grit is the first word that comes to mind. It takes passion, desire, hard work and determination to raise four children. It takes all of those qualities to finish college with a family of six at home. I was determined to finish college and make a better life for my family. I would wake up early in the morning and get four kids ready. I took my oldest to junior high in one town, then my littlest to his preschool, afterwards I would drive my daughters to their Spanish Immersion Elementary School, and then I would drive myself across town to LCC. By the time I got to LCC, I felt like I had been through a war. It didn’t help that my daughter had sensory sensitivities and I spent an extra hour each morning just trying to get pants on her.
After the school day, I would make my rounds, picking kids up from school. I would come home and cook a big dinner, clean up the house, help kids with homework, bath time, bed, work on my own homework, and more often than not cry myself to sleep because I felt so overwhelmed and alone. I woke up every morning reenergized, with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. I would never give up. I had grit.
I had a Math Class almost every Saturday over this four year period. I enjoyed being part of a cohort, I had friends there to bounce ideas off, to collaborate with, and to learn from. I was appreciative of my opportunities and education this time around, I didn’t take it for granted. I was so happy to be there and to learn. My last semester of college was when I was supposed to be student teaching. It took place during a pandemic. I was asked to fully take over a third grade classroom for a teacher that could no longer be there. I taught hybrid hiflex for the rest of the year. When I finally finished my studies and received my bachelor degree I was strangely numb. I was sad that it was over and wanted to continue learning. That’s what led me to begin looking at Master Degree Programs.
I found the Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program at Michigan State University and that is what led me here. When looking at programs I had certain qualifications in mind. I needed something online so I could work full time. I often felt insecure about my abilities and sort of an imposter syndrome. It was most likely brought on from being out of the workforce and technological world for so long, accompanied by being thrown early on into a teaching position that I wasn’t ready for. I wanted to learn how to be an effective leader. I am capable of so much more than what I give myself credit for. I also wanted to learn more about diversity. I am from a small, predominantly white, town. I wanted to expand my perspective and knowledge.
The courses that I took for my graduate studies helped me to accomplish my goals. I wanted to learn how to be an effective leader. The classes I took taught me all about leadership and the various roles. I studied leadership theory intensively. I read case studies and analyzed them through various leadership frameworks. I learned strategies and characteristics that create an effective leader. I also learned how to create and implement Professional Development, something that leaders in my field are responsible for. My courses also helped me to accomplish my goal of learning more about diversity. I learned a lot about implicit bias in the workplace and in the educational setting. I discovered new things about myself as well. I also learned language and strategies to make the workplace more inclusive and welcoming to all. These classes helped me to evolve.
EAD 863, Training and Professional Development is a course that helped me to develop skills and self confidence as a leader. In this course I learned about philosophical and theoretical perspectives of training and PD. PD should be a transformational experience and encourage lifelong learning. If not done properly, PD can be tedious and boring. Learners can also be resistant and close minded towards training or PD. In this class I learned strategies for motivating staff, steps to creating an effective training session, how to group people for PD, how to make PD interesting and engage learners, ways to offer feedback, and ask for input. We discussed the importance of relevant PD and asking learners what they want to learn. If the learner is not engaged they most likely won’t reap the benefits of the training. Choice helps foster motivation in learning. We also learned about problems that can arise during PD and how to avoid them.
In EAD 863 I was given the opportunity to design and implement my own Professional Development. This was a huge deal for me. This is exactly what I had been waiting for. Before taking this course I felt unprepared and not ready to be a leader. After reading various texts in this class about leadership theory, designing, and implementing effective PD; I felt ready to create my own training on something that I specialize in or feel passionate about. This course and the opportunities it gave me helped me to grow as a leader and to feel more confident in my ability. I gained a lot of confidence from the knowledge I obtained and the activities that I completed in this course.
TE 849, Methods and Materials for Teaching Children’s and Young Adult Literature, opened up my eyes to another perspective on the use of literature in the classroom. In this course we studied literature by and about youth and communities that are marginalized by systems of inequality. This may be because of gender, sexuality, religion, race, ethnicity, or body size. We read a plethora of books. It was great. The readings pushed us to consider who we are as readers, how our place in this world shapes our preferences as readers, and how we can push ourselves to step outside of the box as a reader or teacher.
This class is exactly what I was looking for and exactly what I needed. I learned to expand my view and to see another perspective. I reflected on the shortage of diverse texts when I was growing up and learned ways that I can incorporate diverse books into the classroom that will appeal to diverse learners. When I was in elementary school almost all of the literature was about white people with two heterosexual parents, written by a white person. This was a norm. Through our weekly readings I discovered a whole new world of literature. There are popular young adult novels and children’s books that include people in wheelchairs, children with autism, children with down syndrome, people with a larger body size, people with poofy hair, children that lose their temper, and people with freckles. There are so many books that offer different perspectives and a learning experience.
TE 849 made me reconsider the books that I choose to read for pleasure and the books that I use in the classroom. I search for diverse texts now, it has become a priority and a mission. I learned not only about the importance of incorporating diverse reading into the classroom but the profound impact it has on diverse students. It can help to build empathy, community and awareness. Having diverse books that students can relate to helps to make them feel valued and included. We had weekly book club discussions over diverse texts in this class. For our final project, we chose a diverse text to compare the original and youth adapted version. We chose the novel Stamped. It was a great exercise to see how similar the youth adapted version is to the adult version, with text that is easier to read.
TE 846, Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners, taught me strategies for helping struggling readers. I learned how to identify struggling readers and how to use different assessments to identify their strengths and weaknesses. I also learned different ways to practice phonics with struggling readers. I spent the semester working with a struggling reader. I had support from both his teacher and parents. After assessing him I created lesson plans designed to help target areas. Towards the end of the semester I reassessed him and evaluated whether the lessons were effective. I also gave him feedback and showed him his growth. It enhanced his confidence as a reader and it was invigorating for me to see how he improved. Reading research on best practices for helping emergent readers helped me to obtain new knowledge and gave me inspiration. I learned new techniques and strategies because some of the readings included effective lesson plans and research based games that engage students. This newly acquired knowledge and putting it into practice over the course of the semester boosted my confidence as a teacher.
My educational experience has been a journey with twists and turns at every corner. I have persevered through it all with grit. My greatest qualities are passion and determination. I spend time on self reflection and goal setting. I set attainable goals for myself and I accomplish them. I have confidence in myself and my abilities. It isn’t always easy but I know that I can do anything that I set my mind to. I have raised a family while working full time and taking full time master level classes. I am glad that my children are here to watch me accomplish my goals. I want them to dream big and being part of this journey has instilled the importance of education in each of them. They know that this journey hasn’t been easy but that I do it because I believe it’s worth it. I love learning and I know that it is a lifelong process. I have gained knowledge, skills, and experience from each of the classes that I have taken at MSU. I carry these skills with me, into my teaching practices, and am a more effective leader because of them. I am a lifelong learner. I might be finished with my master degree but my educational journey is far from over.