When I was twenty-two and living in Middletown, Delaware, I was in my last two semesters of school. I was getting my bachelor’s in elementary education from Wilmington University and was student teaching in a second-grade classroom. The class challenged me in more ways than one. I was placed in a co-teacher classroom, where about half of the students in the class had an IEP, and/or were diagnosed with autism. Catering to every student was a challenge, but the biggest challenge of all was seeing how little resources they got to succeed. Standardized testing was a nightmare, because we all knew that we couldn’t give the students more help. Most of the students with an IEP did better with auditory reading and couldn’t read on their own. Because this was two years after COVID-19 begun, there was a backlog of updated IEP’s (which would give students access to auditory reading during standardized testing). There is minimal access for teachers, therefore most of the students who needed the auditory reading couldn’t receive it. My original dream was to become a teacher. After seeing the lack of resources and access, I chose to go bigger and do more than what I set myself out to be.
I spent my entire life in Delaware, living in a small town in a small state. People rarely leave that state to do something more, and they end up feeling trapped. During my time student teaching, I knew that I didn’t want to just be a part of change or make change for just one classroom, or the second smallest state in the U.S., I want to do more, do bigger than what I was surrounded by. I wanted to further my education as a way of making change and getting closer to my career goal of working in educational policy.
I found myself looking at graduate programs all across the United States, and one school that stood out to me was the University of Washington Bothell. The school has reminded me of the school I got my bachelor’s in, not too big, and a place where you can make genuine connections with your professors. I applied and moved to Washington State in September of 2022.
After my two years being in the M.Ed. program, getting my master’s in educational change and leadership, there are two main takeaways from it. First off, I know above all else is that for change to happen within education, there has to be a sense of community. By being in a cohort for this program, it has taught me an immense sense of togetherness. Secondly, when you surround yourself with professors and people who challenge you and make you be more educated, it allows for you to be a resource, somebody to rely on, and somebody valuable within the realm of education.
Everybody in the cohort goes in with different backgrounds and is working at different jobs, but we all came together to make the field of education a better place. The information I have learned from my various professors is information I will carry with me long after my program ends.
During time of being in the program, I have worked on remarkable projects and essays, that have paved my way of learning and increased my knowledge within education. Throughout this dossier, I will present various artifacts and show the impact they have on my educational journey. These four artifacts have been under four pillars: educational inquiry, critical reflection, theoretical and conceptual understanding, and knowledge of learning and educational practices. The following is a brief explanation of the artifacts being presented in this dossier.
· Educational Inquiry:
o A literature review which composes of several different topics within the subject of educational policy.
· Critical Reflection:
o An auto-ethnography that goes in-depth on my past, both professionally and personally.
· Theoretical and conceptual understanding:
o A seminar paper that dives into the various topics we discussed in class, two of them being critical pedagogy and critical race theory.
· Knowledge of learning and educational practices:
o A “Justice Project” that applies what I am learning to my real-life community.