From Surviving to Thriving: Shaping My Path as a Learner and Educator

Growing up, I always struggled with school. I didn’t find most of the classes interesting and rarely felt the need to be excited about learning. Once I started my undergrad at Western Michigan in the early childhood program that all changed. I was enrolled in the early childhood program and was finally taking classes I really enjoyed, with a strong focus on my educational career. These courses prepared me and got me excited about my upcoming teaching career. Upon graduation, I knew I wasn’t done with my learning. I knew I wanted to continue expanding my thinking and allowing myself to become the best teacher I could be. That’s why I decided to join the Michigan State MAED program. When I was accepted, I didn’t fully know what to expect, but I am so grateful for the journey the program has taken me on. It has changed me as a person, learner, and educator. As I look back, I am so grateful that I decided to join this program and push myself to extend my learning.

Throughout the program, I took a variety of literacy based classes to help grow my knowledge on how to teach reading in the most effective way. Although all courses were extremely beneficial, there are three courses that really stood out and have already helped me be more successful in my teaching career. The first one is TE 842- Elementary Reading Assessment and Instruction. This was the first course I took, and I was so excited that it was with a professor I had during my undergrad at Western. At the time, I was basically fresh out of college, and I did not necessarily have any hands-on experience with assessing reading and truly didn’t know what to expect. Throughout the course, we learned about the different types of reading assessments that are seen in classrooms. We also got to work on some of these assessments and see what exactly they would entail. During undergrad, they never told us truly how many assessments we do for reading throughout the school year. Currently, in my classroom, we typically use IDI and Heggerty assessments. We assess on Heggerty 3 times a week (unless they master before that), and IDI, we assess about every month or so. I never realized how valuable this information is and how beneficial it can be when planning differentiated instruction to meet student needs. Throughout this course, we also learned how to analyze lesson plans and really see how our lessons are working to impact our students and their success.

Another course that I found to be extremely beneficial was CEP801A, Consultation in Special Education. I took this course in Spring 2025, so about halfway through the program, and it really helped to tie some loose ends together for me. During undergrad, I took one base level special education class, so I did not have much knowledge of the special education processes. When I started my first year teaching second grade, it felt like I was thrown into a fire and was barely surviving. I had 7 students with IEPs, 2 students with a 504 Plan, and 2 students with a BIP (behavior intervention plan). I felt like I was drowning in all the special ed paperwork and still trying to make sense of it all. While taking this class, it became a lot clearer to me, and I was able to understand and work on creating long term goals for a model student. As a general education teacher, I never expected to have so many plans and IEPs to handle and work with, so this class has proven to be extremely helpful and has set me up for success in my classroom and day to day work tasks.

As an elementary teacher, I always want to be creative, but have always struggled with bringing creativity to life in ways that all students can enjoy. The course CEP818 Creativity in Teaching and Learning really helped me grow my creative mindset and push my thinking. At the beginning of this course, I found it to be extremely challenging and was really struggling with stretching my creative brain. By the end of the course I feel that I had learned so many useful strategies to not only promote creative learning, but also to teach creatively and assess creative learning. I have already noticed so many positive changes in my classroom and am so grateful to have learned these different strategies. Each week in the course, we did some sort of creative learning and planning. One of my favorite activities was editing and changing a literacy lesson plan to have a creative twist to it. I tried it with my students and they loved it. I feel that now when I am planning lessons I always think with my creative thinking cap and look for ways for my students to show off their creativity as well. They really seem to grow and enjoy learning so much when they have creative choice and freedom.

Aside from the growth from those three courses, I have also seen some general growth in my teaching ability and general life skills from this program. One thing this program has done is really change my outlook on education (in a good way) and really made me aware of the different issues we may see in our classroom. Some of the topics were tough to talk about in class and can be tough to talk about in the classroom (immigration, incarceration, gun violence, etc), but are very real things that students can be dealing with and carrying with them throughout the day. Some of my classes prepared me with how to deal with/talk about this and even provided some resources to read about in class. In my current district, my students have seen a lot of gun violence and incarceration in their life and when I first started I honestly did not know how to help and support them because I couldn’t relate. As I reflect on my journey throughout the program, it is clear to me that I have grown in that way and now I feel ready to support my students with any issues that may arise in the classroom.

This program has also grown my teacher toolbox immensely, especially when it comes to teaching literacy. Again, as a newer teacher, I still feel like I am “collecting” strategies and tools to use in the classroom. Not only did the program and courses provide me with numerous strategies, but I also collected a lot of mentor texts that I can use for reference. All of the texts we used in my courses have proved to make a difference in teaching practices, and I have referenced them multiple times in my own classroom. One of my favorite texts that I have used and referenced frequently is What A Writer Needs by Ralph Fletcher. Writing is still a daily struggle in my classroom, and I feel like it’s a battle to even get my students to write 2 or 3 sentences at a time. This book really breaks down the key components of a writing curriculum and how to expand our students’ thinking when writing. In my district, we just use Mystery Writing, which takes students through the writing process for three major units. I feel that it does a decent job, but I still want to push my students to become stronger writers, and I have referenced this book many times.

Throughout the program, I also found myself being challenged with my organization and time management. My first year in the program was also my first year teaching, and I really had to do trial and error to effectively manage my time. There were days when I was so exhausted or overwhelmed from teaching all day, and the last thing I wanted to do was open my laptop and do more work. I found myself getting into the swing of “saving it for tomorrow” and then stressing myself out when the due date got closer. I have always been organized when it comes to writing down assignments and keeping track of them. As I worked throughout the program I feel that I really learned to balance my work, school, and personal life and find ways to be successful in all aspects. Throughout the time I feel that I have gained some general organizational skills that I will use for the rest of my life and have gotten better at prioritizing assignments to create a healthy balance.

As I sit back and reflect on this journey with only about a month left, I am so incredibly grateful for the ways this program has changed me. I am so proud of the growth I have seen both in my personal life and work life as a result of this program and the classes I have taken. I have grown my organizational and time management skills, grew knowledge of the special education process and literacy assessments, and have grown my teacher toolbox. I never imagined this much growth and I am so excited to continue to use these literacy skills in my classroom for years to come. Although my time in the program is coming to an end, I am forever thankful for my time as a Spartan.