Teaching with Purpose: A Reflection on Literacy Goals in the Master of Arts in Education
Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. From a young age, I was always playing school and having my mom take me to the teacher store to look around. In high school, I began taking teaching classes, and throughout college, I fell more in love with the profession. During my student teaching internship, I spent a lot of time pulling small reading groups and helping others grow their reading ability. It was at this time that I really knew I had a love for teaching literature and wanted to continue my knowledge on this topic. Teaching has always been my dream job, but I hope one day to transfer into a reading specialist position to share my love for reading in small groups.
As I applied for and entered the Master of Arts in Education program with a literacy concentration, my main goal was very clear: enhance my knowledge of literacy education and translate that knowledge into the classroom. The school I was hired at, Carlson Elementary has extremely low test scores, and most students in the district are significantly below grade level. As I entered this program, my goals were to inspire students to be lifelong learners and readers through engaging lessons, learn and use a variety of instructional strategies, and eventually become a reading specialist.
Goal 1:
My first goal for the program is to develop instructional strategies in literacy education that support engagement and motivation with text. As I went through my undergrad courses and student teaching internships, this was always something I had in mind. I obviously want students to learn and really understand the content, but I want to deliver it in a fun and relatable way that encourages them to want to continue learning and reading. Throughout the program so far, I have taken a lot of courses that talk about relatability with literature and what to look out for. I feel that I am close to meeting this goal and am continuing to grow in this area every day in the classroom. As I look back, this goal has slightly changed, as now I have more of a focus on instructional strategies. The course CEP 818 has really helped me to grow towards this goal, as we spent the semester adding touches of creativity to our classroom and our lessons.
Goal 2:
My second goal kind of piggybacks off of goal number one, but I want to be able to learn and a variety of instructional strategies to actually help students decode. In the program, I hope to take courses to prepare me for this. Not every student processes information the same way, and not every student learns the same way. Throughout the program, I hope to learn different instructional strategies to differentiate my reading instruction to meet the needs of all of my students. As I look back, I feel that my small group instructional strategies have already improved, and I have seen a lot of growth from my students. I still would like to learn and adapt more instruction, specifically for my lower performing students. TE 849 really stretched my thinking with this and allowed me to look at literature from a different perspective with different ideas (censorship, culturally appropriate texts). As I have gone through the program, this goal has not changed much, if anything it has just strengthened.
Goal 3:
My third goal for the program is to use my degree and course knowledge to eventually become an elementary reading specialist. I love being in the classroom and love working with young students, but I really love working in smaller group settings for individualized reading support. The first and most important thing I need to do to achieve this goal is complete this program through Michigan State. The courses that I will take will provide me with a wide range of perspectives and knowledge of literacy education in the classroom. Once I have my degree, I will need to take the reading specialist MTTC #92. This will allow me to officially be certified and start to apply for positions. I am still early on in my teaching career, so this isn't something I want to do right away, but as the years go on I would like to use my skills and take on that new position.