Back Where It All Began… With a Whole New Bag of Tricks
A Reflective Essay By Courtney Foley
Much has happened since my entry into the online Masters of Education (MAED) Program in 2007. When I began, I was taking some time away from the teaching profession to be with my two young children. My goals for this program were threefold. One, I needed to obtain credits in order to renew my teaching certificate. Two, I wanted to increase my knowledge of special education to best meet the needs of my future students. Also, once I had furthered my professional development by obtaining a master’s degree, I hoped to use it to make me a more marketable candidate for an intermediate school district right here in Michigan. Now that I am nearing the completion of the MAED Program, it’s time to take a look back at these goals and how things have changed over the past five years.
Upon entering the MAED program, I was a stay at home mom providing in home childcare to children age 3, 2, 18 months, and a newborn. In addition, I spent many hours tutoring students in the evenings and during the summer. While a part of me missed the full time teaching position that I left behind, I enjoyed the time I had to spend with my children and devote to my education. I looked forward to taking classes in order to further my education and become a better teacher. Now, I do once again have the opportunity to teach in a classroom. I am back in a full time teaching position, teaching kindergarten students at a small Catholic School in Michigan. I love teaching such young, eager, and energetic students. I appreciate the joy that each of them brings to my life through their curiosity, enthusiasm, and surprising wisdom about the world. I am grateful to be a part of their first year of formal education and feel privileged to play a role in their introduction to school. In addition, I am able to apply all of the new theories and practices that I’ve obtained throughout the MAED Program to my own students and classroom. It is wonderful to have a plethora of resources from which to pull from when I am addressing a problem or just planning my everyday classroom lessons.
One of my focus areas, special education, was a result of my time in the classroom. During my past teaching assignments, I met many students with special educational needs. As an educator in a general education classroom, I found myself lacking the skills and resources necessary to assist these students in achieving success. Therefore, I wanted my master’s degree program to address this topic in order to better serve my students. The classes that I took throughout MSU's MAED Program helped me to do that by increasing my knowledge base on the subject of special education, deepening my understanding of policies and legislature regarding special education, strengthening my understanding of the different types of disabilities, and growing my bank of resources to help students achieve success in the classroom. Now that I have completed the online MAED program, I feel more confident in my ability to help all of my students to learn.
Shortly after beginning my master’s program, I had obtained the necessary credits in order to renew my teaching certificate; Thus, accomplishing the first of my three main goals. I was enjoying the learning that was taking place through the online courses and was still able to apply this knowledge to my work with the young children in my care. In fact, I have now been issued a professional teaching certificate thanks to the online MAED coupled with my teaching experience. From the onset of the MAED, I was engaged in courses that helped to focus my learning on the areas of specialization that were important to me. Each class presented information and learning opportunities to deepen my understanding of special education, research in education, and math and science teaching. Each course to follow served to deepen and strengthen the ideas and beliefs that were first formed here. My knowledge of special education, mathematics teaching, and science teaching has increased dramatically over the course of the program allowing me to provide a better education to the students who enter my classroom.
In addition, to meeting the goals set forth in my entrance essay, I’ve had some other major life accomplishments since the beginning of the program. First, my family has grown by two adorable people. My husband and two oldest sons welcomed a third son in July of 2009 and our first little girl in August 2011. Both of these little ones have challenged me by arriving just 5 and 2 weeks before the beginning of the school year. It seems even my children can't contain their enthusiasm for back to school time. It is during the month of September each year that I feel a renewed sense of enthusiasm toward teaching. This enthusiasm is due in part to each of the following; the educational experiences that I have partaken in over the summer, working with inspirational teachers and administrators, and the prospect of new and eager students each fall. I am proud to have accomplished my master's degree, but even happier that it has helped me to become a better teacher. Each class in the program offered me the opportunity to obtain more information about education, reflect upon the impact of the information upon education and my specific teaching situation, and generate new theories and practice to apply to my classroom and students. I am a different and better educator because of my time in this program. However, while this particular program is complete, it has taught me that my education as a teaching professional will really never be “complete”. It will always be an ongoing process to obtain, synthesize, and apply new information that will help me to better serve my students. This, of course, is every great teacher’s first and most important professional goal.
Upon entering the MAED program, I was a stay at home mom providing in home childcare to children age 3, 2, 18 months, and a newborn. In addition, I spent many hours tutoring students in the evenings and during the summer. While a part of me missed the full time teaching position that I left behind, I enjoyed the time I had to spend with my children and devote to my education. I looked forward to taking classes in order to further my education and become a better teacher. Now, I do once again have the opportunity to teach in a classroom. I am back in a full time teaching position, teaching kindergarten students at a small Catholic School in Michigan. I love teaching such young, eager, and energetic students. I appreciate the joy that each of them brings to my life through their curiosity, enthusiasm, and surprising wisdom about the world. I am grateful to be a part of their first year of formal education and feel privileged to play a role in their introduction to school. In addition, I am able to apply all of the new theories and practices that I’ve obtained throughout the MAED Program to my own students and classroom. It is wonderful to have a plethora of resources from which to pull from when I am addressing a problem or just planning my everyday classroom lessons.
One of my focus areas, special education, was a result of my time in the classroom. During my past teaching assignments, I met many students with special educational needs. As an educator in a general education classroom, I found myself lacking the skills and resources necessary to assist these students in achieving success. Therefore, I wanted my master’s degree program to address this topic in order to better serve my students. The classes that I took throughout MSU's MAED Program helped me to do that by increasing my knowledge base on the subject of special education, deepening my understanding of policies and legislature regarding special education, strengthening my understanding of the different types of disabilities, and growing my bank of resources to help students achieve success in the classroom. Now that I have completed the online MAED program, I feel more confident in my ability to help all of my students to learn.
Shortly after beginning my master’s program, I had obtained the necessary credits in order to renew my teaching certificate; Thus, accomplishing the first of my three main goals. I was enjoying the learning that was taking place through the online courses and was still able to apply this knowledge to my work with the young children in my care. In fact, I have now been issued a professional teaching certificate thanks to the online MAED coupled with my teaching experience. From the onset of the MAED, I was engaged in courses that helped to focus my learning on the areas of specialization that were important to me. Each class presented information and learning opportunities to deepen my understanding of special education, research in education, and math and science teaching. Each course to follow served to deepen and strengthen the ideas and beliefs that were first formed here. My knowledge of special education, mathematics teaching, and science teaching has increased dramatically over the course of the program allowing me to provide a better education to the students who enter my classroom.
In addition, to meeting the goals set forth in my entrance essay, I’ve had some other major life accomplishments since the beginning of the program. First, my family has grown by two adorable people. My husband and two oldest sons welcomed a third son in July of 2009 and our first little girl in August 2011. Both of these little ones have challenged me by arriving just 5 and 2 weeks before the beginning of the school year. It seems even my children can't contain their enthusiasm for back to school time. It is during the month of September each year that I feel a renewed sense of enthusiasm toward teaching. This enthusiasm is due in part to each of the following; the educational experiences that I have partaken in over the summer, working with inspirational teachers and administrators, and the prospect of new and eager students each fall. I am proud to have accomplished my master's degree, but even happier that it has helped me to become a better teacher. Each class in the program offered me the opportunity to obtain more information about education, reflect upon the impact of the information upon education and my specific teaching situation, and generate new theories and practice to apply to my classroom and students. I am a different and better educator because of my time in this program. However, while this particular program is complete, it has taught me that my education as a teaching professional will really never be “complete”. It will always be an ongoing process to obtain, synthesize, and apply new information that will help me to better serve my students. This, of course, is every great teacher’s first and most important professional goal.