From an early age, I always had a thirst for knowledge. I asked questions about the world and wondered how everything worked. My curiosity led me to adore my teachers because they were able to answer so many of these questions. As I have grown older, my curiosity has continued to challenge me to learn new things. I am an avid “Googler” when I don’t know the answer to something. One of the main things that led me to teaching was the prospect of helping my students answer their questions about the world. It is no surprise that inquiry is a huge component of effective teaching. As an educator, I strive to improve my teaching practice by asking questions and seeking answers. I encourage my students to question their world, both inside and outside of the classroom.
Since I began my adventure in the teaching profession, I have always believed in two things: 1) all children can learn and 2) teachers are lifelong learners. My experience in the Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program at Michigan State University has definitely reinforced my previous beliefs. My courses have challenged me to effectively use differentiation strategies to meet the needs of all my students. I have also realized the importance of staying up to date on research-based best practices that are constantly evolving to best support the varied needs of students. Being a lifelong learner will ensure that I am constantly tailoring my instruction and incorporating best practices that will have the greatest impact on my students. I came to a surprising realization that these two beliefs are actually intertwined. Being a lifelong learner will assist me in providing research-based instruction that will help me meet the needs of all learners in my classroom.
One of the learning outcomes of the MAED program is for students to “introduce new ideas, programs, or practices into their work place”. My courses have definitely challenged me to apply new teaching methods in my own classroom. Implementing a variety of teaching strategies has helped make my instruction more engaging, meaningful, and applicable to my students’ lives. I would definitely consider myself to be a hands-on learner. When learning about a new concept or resource, I learn best by actually trying it out on my own and learning through self-discovery. The courses that have had the greatest impact on my teaching are courses that challenged me to actually apply the concepts into a real context: my students and my classroom. This real-life application really helped course content resonate with me and improved my teaching. I could read about best practices in education all day, but the actual implementation into my own classroom really allows me to try out these practices in a meaningful classroom context
allowed me the opportunity to really dive into the content and apply it to a real student and their assessment data. Having a few years of teaching experience before taking this course really helped me understand how I could analyze assessments, interpret the results, and develop an instructional plan for my students. The Modified Cognitive Model formed the framework for this course and I still use it as a visual representation of reading development.
Overall, I think the best thing about this Master’s program was having a meaningful context to try out research-based best practices. While I had a great experience in my undergraduate courses and learned a lot, I didn’t feel like I had ample opportunity to actually try some of these teaching methods. Now that I have some teaching experience and my own classroom, I have a place to try out recommended practices. I also feel more prepared to share my findings with colleagues at my school. I have already found myself suggesting various articles, books, and other resources with fellow teachers that may need extra support.
I would consider myself to be a reflective person, so I was very grateful for the opportunities to reflect on my teaching in all of my courses. This really helped the readings and research resonate with me in a meaningful way. Even though this course was online, I had many great discussions with my peers and professors that helped push my thinking to a higher level. It was very helpful to share ideas and offer suggestions to one another throughout this process.
I was curious to read my initial goals when I applied for this program. This is an excerpt from my application to the MAED program: “My biggest career goal is to continue learning strategies that help me effectively teach all of my students. I am looking forward to learning new teaching techniques and applying them in my classroom in a way that is meaningful and applicable for my students. I would also have the opportunity to share what I learned in this program with my colleagues to help them grow as educators as well. In my opinion, literacy education is one of the most important aspects of helping students be successful learners. Through the MAED graduate program, I will learn how to better serve my students with their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills”. I can say with confidence that I improved my teaching practice through this program and met the goals I originally set for myself. I feel better equipped to meet all needs of my students by implementing new teaching strategies in my second grade classroom. I have improved my literacy instruction, as well as several other components of teaching.
I am thankful for the positive experience I had in this program. As a lifelong learner that is still bursting with curiosity, I know that my journey does not end with the completion of my MAED degree. I will continue to seek out research-based best practices, share resources with my colleagues, critically reflect on my teaching, and always keep striving to be the best version of myself. I’m looking forward to the next part of my journey in education.
The Journey Doesn't Stop Here:
A Synthesis of my Graduate Studies
One of my favorite courses in the MAED program was TE 842 (Elementary Reading Assessment and Instruction). This course allowed me to learn about best practices in reading assessment and instruction, but also challenged me to apply this research to real students. Our main assignments required us to analyze a variety of reading assessments and use the results to develop goals and an instructional plan for each student. This meaningful context helped me think more critically about course readings and how they apply to real students. I took a similar course during my undergraduate career at Michigan State University (TE 301) that focused on the developmental stages of literacy development and the different components of literacy. At that time, the research was informative, but I struggled to see the bigger picture because I didn’t have a real-life context for this information. TE 842 focused on similar topics, but
Another course that pushed my thinking further was TE 848 (Writing Assessment and Instruction). I was expecting the course to be similar to my experience in the aforementioned course about reading assessment and instruction, but this course exceeded my expectations. We spent time learning about research-based best practices and the development of writing, but we also did engaging activities where we, as educators, got the opportunity to try out various writing activities. For example, we created a comic strip that aligned with a course reading. We also explored a new educational technology that we shared with our classmates. These activities allowed us to try out some new things that we could incorporate into our own writing instruction. For our writing genre project, I closely studied narrative writing. I went through the writing process writing my own personal narrative story. These experiences helped me view writing through the perspective of a student. For my final project, I wanted to focus on writing conferences with my students. I did a great deal of research about components of effective conferencing with students. I read Carl Anderson’s (2000) book How’s it going?: A practical guide to conferring with student writers. After reading this book and other research, I really amped up the writing conferences with my students. I noticed a drastic change in my students’ writing pieces and saw their confidence grow as they improved their writing. I think this was really powerful because I could see an obvious and visible growth in my students.
CEP 883 (Psychology of Classroom Discipline) is another course that stuck out as one of my favorites. This course allowed me to learn about best practices in classroom management and included several hands-on activities that allowed me to try out research-based practices in a meaningful context. In each module, we would do various readings about a certain aspect of classroom management. Then we would analyze a fake student profile that described how a student might be struggling. We also had to use current research to offer suggestions on how we could help that student. For example, we read “Schwanda’s” profile and learned that she wasn’t very motivated in school because she didn’t feel like her teachers had high expectations for her. We used the TARGET approach to offer suggestions on how we could enhance her school motivation. TARGET stands for task, authority, recognition, grouping, evaluation, and time. Breaking things down into these smaller groups helped me think of specific goals or strategies that would work for Schwanda. I also enjoyed my final project where I got to critically reflect on my classroom management. I tied in course readings and research to my classroom management approach. This reflective assignment allowed me to reflect on my teaching and make several necessary adjustments.