Learning More Every Day
I always knew that I wanted to back to school for my master’s degree sooner rather than later. I didn’t want to get too busy in my personal life and lose my momentum as a student. But I had my doubts after my first full year as a teacher. It was a crazy, whirlwind of a year that required more work and time than I could have ever expected. My first class was a challenge, full of students with difficult behaviors and a wide range of ability levels. I ended the year wondering how I would ever be able to teach and take classes as the same time. It seemed as if there would not be enough hours in the day to do both things. I considered waiting a few years for things to settle down and to become more comfortable with my job before starting my masters. But upon further reflection I realized that there never would be a “perfect” time to go back to school, so I decided to just go for and hope that I would find a way to make it all work.
I thoroughly enjoyed my undergraduate years and Michigan State and always knew that I wanted to return to MSU for my master’s degree. My job had taken me about an hour away from East Lansing so that was another obstacle on my way to going back to school. I didn’t know if I would be able to add commuting to school to my already very busy schedule. So I was thrilled to learn that the Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program could be completed entirely online. All the pieces started to fall into place and I realized that I would be able to complete my master’s degree within the timeline I had initially set for myself as a goal.
My next decision was to decide what area in which to concentrate my studies. During my undergrad years I had chosen a social studies teaching major and a math teaching minor. These were subjects that I personally love to learn about and that I enjoy teaching to my students. But after spending a full year in an elementary classroom I realized that my literacy knowledge was lacking. Literacy skills are so fundamental in elementary school and I felt like I was not able to meet the needs of all of my students because I did not know what strategies to use to help them. So it was clear to me that a literacy concentration would be the best choice for me so that I could be better prepared to help my students be successful readers and writers.
One of the first courses that I took in the MAED program also turned out to be one of the most useful courses. CEP 832, Educating Students with Challenging Behavior immediately impacted my classroom management style and continues to have an impact on the choices I make when dealing with my students on a daily basis. Each week in this course we focused on a few different challenging behaviors that students may exhibit. What I really enjoyed was that we did not focus only on defiant or aggressive behaviors but we also studied about students who are unmotivated or shy. Then we would read a case study about a student and based on the behaviors that the student was exhibiting we would create an intervention plan with appropriate strategies that could be used to modify the behavior of the student. I was interested to see how different behaviors could best be modified with different strategies. I also had to choose a student in my classroom who was displaying a challenging behavior and try to implement a plan to change their behavior. I chose a student who was very social and as a result was often off task. The strategy I chose was simple yet surprisingly effective.
This course also helped me to adjust my thinking about challenging students. Instead of becoming frustrated when students act out, I now try to remain calm and think about what could be causing a student to behave in that manner. It is hard to stop a student’s challenging behavior when you do not know the root issue. Instead of reacting to challenging behaviors I now try to look for signs of certain behaviors so I can be pro-active in stopping negative behaviors before they begin.
TE 846, Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners was a course that really helped me become a more confident literacy teacher. I work in a Title 1 school and my ability level of the students in my classroom can easily span four grade levels. Before taking this course I was unsure of how to reach all of my students to help them grow. In this course I learned about a wide variety of assessment that can be used to learn more about the skill level of students. These assessments have helped me focus in on what areas students need to work on and help me plan out what I can do to help them. In this course I also had the opportunity to work with peers who work in a variety of educational settings. It was interesting for me as an elementary teacher to discuss literacy with high school math, foreign language, and P.E. teachers. We all came to a conclusion that literacy skills have an effect on all subject areas so it is important for teachers in every subject area and grade level to know how to support literacy learning. This helped me see how I could bring literacy instruction into other areas of my teaching including math and social studies.
A major part of this course was creating a case study on a struggling student in my classroom. I was able to practice using assessments to learn about the strengths and needs of my student and plan lessons to practice strategies to help him become a better reader. In order to complete my case study I had to learn how to use my assessment data to make informed decisions about how to help my student. This is a useful skill that I have been able to use in many areas of teaching.
A course that I knew that I needed to take was TE 848, Writing Assessment and Instruction. Of all the things I teach, writing was the subject that I was the least comfortable teaching. I never particularly enjoyed writing when I was younger and I did not know how to change my mindset in order to make writing enjoyable for my students. I also knew what good writing looked like, but I did not know how to effectively teach my students how to include good writing traits into their writing. Each week we focused on different aspects of writing and I began to learn strategies that I could incorporate into my own teaching in order to help my students learn how to write more interesting pieces. A key part to this was learning how to meet with students to conference about their writing. I had been meeting with students but was unsure of what I should be talking to them about. This course helped me to focus my thoughts in order to have more effective conferences, which resulted in better student writing.
For my final project I was able to choose an area of writing instruction that I was most interested in to research and I chose to look at different writing assessment options. In my school we use a writing rubric that is lengthy and does not give students useful feedback. I also wanted to learn more about how other people grade a subject that is as subjective as writing by looking at other options that were available. It was very eye opening for me to see how writing assessment could provide useful feedback for students and be used to help them improve instead of just a being a number to enter into a grade book.
Finally, TE 848, Children’s Literature in Film, and CEP 805, Learning Math with Technology, both helped me learn how to evaluate the different types of media that I am bringing into my classroom. All teachers know that they need to make their lessons engaging in order to keep their students interested and learning. But is easier said than done. Using films or technology can be engaging for students but they are often not used to their full potential. Both of these classes taught me how to use a critical eye when selecting digital media that I incorporate in my lessons. I no longer use technology or films just because they are available. I consider what benefits they bring to the classroom and whether or not they are able to help my students understand a concept better.
I created a math website with resources that are aligned to the 4th grade Common Core State Standards that were all evaluated by myself or one of my peers. This is one of the most useful projects I created in the MAED program and I plan on using and adding to this website for many years to come. I also learned how to “read” a film and think more deeply about the changes that a filmmaker made to a book. Between these two classes I feel more prepared to use technology and digital media in a meaningful way in my classroom.
As my time in the MAED program is coming to and end I can look back and see how much my teaching style and methods have changed for the better. My time in the MAED program has made me a more thoughtful, reflective, and organized teacher. I have grown as a teacher and as a result I am seeing my students grow and improve as well. The best part of taking classes while teaching is that I am able to put what I learn into practice immediately. Instead of learning about things to prepare for my future, I am learning about things that can have an effect on my job right now. Being able to try out new strategies and methods instead of just reading about them made the lessons more meaningful to me. Seeing how my courses could have such a big impact on my teaching was a major motivator to keep going even when balancing coursework, my job, and my personal life seemed to be impossible. Going forward, I hope to keep learning and growing as an educator. Just because my time in school is done does not mean that I know everything that I need to know. I will always be searching for new ideas and strategies to make my lessons better for my students.
