Ever since I can remember I have wanted to be an elementary school teacher. I loved being at school and thought that being a teacher was the perfect way to be in school forever! I idolized my teachers and had a zest for learning. As I grew up my career decision never wavered. While my friends and family tried countless professions and passions, I knew that my heart belonged in the classroom. Growing up I knew that in order to be a teacher I needed to work hard and do everything I could do ensure I reached my goal. During high school I sought out the best education programs and figured out what I needed to do to get accepted. It was through this research that I came upon Michigan State University’s education program and knew that was where I was destined to go.
After earning my Bachelor’s degree from MSU and completing my year-long teaching internship, it was time for me to head off into the real world and begin my career as a teacher. Was I nervous? Of course, but I felt prepared due to the large portion of time we spent in the classroom getting authentic hands-on learning. I had learned the rhythm and routine of a well-organized classroom and was on my way to having a classroom of my own.
The next few years opened up different opportunities for me to grow as an educator. I began by obtaining a permanent building substitute position in the Walled Lake Consolidated School District where I was able to experience multiple grade levels, teaching styles, and instructional practices. This position turned into a long-term substitute position as a fifth grade teacher where I got to experience being in the classroom by myself even though it was for a few months. After this, I obtained a teaching position at The Academy of Southfield as a fifth grade teacher and truly had a classroom of my own. The following year I found my “home” or teaching niche at Charyl Stockwell Academy in Howell, MI. I spent my first three years at this school teaching a multi-age, family style, team taught, classroom for third and fourth grade students and this year have moved up to teach in a team taught fifth grade classroom. Once I found the school that was best for me I was able to focus on my practice. I was able to apply what I had learned in my undergraduate degree and felt confident in doing so because of all of the classroom experience I had throughout the program. My students have made tremendous academic gains under my instruction and I have worked hard to develop and refine my practice as a beginning teacher.
My success as a beginning teacher can be attributed to the quality education I received while obtaining my undergraduate degree, I knew that MSU was the place to pursue my master’s degree. I have always had a passion for literacy. I believe it is the key to everything. It unlocks imagination and understanding in every subject area in school and in everyday life. As an elementary school teacher for the past five years, I have seen the frustration and lack of enthusiasm in students who are struggling to read and/or write. Literacy is integrated into every subject area and if they are not feeling successful in that area, then it decreases their motivation for learning and even attending school. My decision to pursue my concentration for my master’s degree in literacy is so that I can unlock the door to success for my students. I want to get them to be passionate about books and read ravenously. I want my students to get excited about writing and getting their creative, imaginative, and intelligent thoughts down on paper. Literacy is an area that I am passionate about and I want to expose that same passion in my students, so that is why I wanted to dig deeper and focus my studies in that area.
Literacy Concentration
My very first master’s course was Writing Assessment and Instruction (TE 848). I didn’t know what to expect as I began my courses through my MAED program, but I was pleasantly surprised. My instructor not only had us research about best practice to use in the classroom, but she used best practice to help us develop ourselves as writers. Our instructor took us on a journey to help us find ourselves as writers again and foster and develop the habits and practices in ourselves that we want to see in our students. We practiced writing multiple genres that were in our curriculum such as narrative and poetry and peer edit and revise our writing using templates that would be appropriate for us as well as easily tailored so they were appropriate for our students. It helped us gain perspective on what we ask our students to do each and every day in class. Then, we picked a topic that was of interest to us and our current classroom. I chose to research and create a portfolio project on writing motivation. At the time, my students despised writing and I was looking for ways to increase engagement and develop authors. I learned different ways to foster writing motivation such as using assessment portfolios, provide students with opportunities to experience writing as a useful activity, foster the communicative function of writing, and giving students novel and challenging tasks. Then I incorporated those best practices into lesson plans, created and implemented lesson plans using my research and then used the research and data to compose a letter to the dean of curriculum at my school defending the design of materials and lessons I had created. Throughout this course I was able to frequently reflect on the practices I was using in my classroom and gradually implement what I was learning in class. This course launched my journey not only as a teacher, but as a writer, life-long learner, and student.
My next course was Elementary Reading Assessment and Instruction (TE 842). As much as TE 848 helped me to grow in my proficiency of writing instruction, TE 842 helped me soar as a reading instructor. I researched and practiced using Qualitative Reading Inventories (QRI), spelling, phonics, and sight word inventories. I not only learned how to give each of these assessments, but I learned how to determine what assessments each child needs to be given to gather informative data. I learned how to not only give the assessments, but how to read and analyze the results. Based on my analysis I would determine what state standards the student had mastered or needs to be instructed on and planned learning goals and best practice instructional strategies that I would use to help each student achieve or meet their goal. Not only did I practice and complete case studies on fictitious students, but I also was able to practice using these assessments to help identify learning gaps that students in my own classroom were struggling with. This class helped me become a more confident reading diagnostician. No longer was I puzzled by students who were struggling readers. This course expanded my knowledge of literacy assessments and my familiarity with using them as diagnostic tools. My confidence and ability to help students become stronger readers grew throughout my studies in this course.
Critical Thinking
One of my favorite courses that I took throughout my program was Awards’ and Classics of Children’s Literature (TE 836). In this course we studied awards such as the Newbery and Caldecott that were given to children’s literature, the history of these awards, books considered classics such as Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, what it meant for a book to be a classic and much more. This course required us to research the awards, read the books that received these awards and decide for ourselves whether we believe the book deserved to win. We honed our thoughts, research and opinions and decided for ourselves what we thought rather than just listening to a committee. We read multiple picture books and novels and determined whether they were books that should or shouldn’t be included in our instruction. Not only did we work on developing our own critical thinking, but we learned how to foster this critical thinking in our own students. I decided that I would like to create a developmentally appropriate assignment for my students to review their books using the award criteria and have them decide if they think their book is a winner or not. This is a way for students to be an active part of their learning and decision making, develop their critical thinking, use the text and criteria to support their opinion, and be confident in what they think and practice persuading others to believe the same. This assignment will integrate so many skills that my students need to master and help them become independent thinkers which is what they will need to be able to do to succeed in the real world. This course taught me how to think critically about the material that I am presenting to my students, teach my students to think critically about their literature and form their own opinion about what is best, and form my own opinion about what is best for my students so they can experience the best literature available.
Reflection
To culminate my journey of learning and growth in my Master’s of Arts in Education program, I completed the Capstone Portfolio Course (ED 870). This course encouraged me to reflect on my goals that I had set at the beginning of the program, the work and learning I had done throughout the program, and what goals I had for my future. For my portfolio, I created a website that showcased me as a student and as a professional incorporating work that I had done, my resume and transcript, information about me as a person and educator for future employers, and reflections on my learning. Not only was this project a reflection of my learning, but it also taught me how to create an online representation of myself and tailor it to my intended audience. Sharing my progress weekly with my peers and instructor gave me much needed feedback in order to revise my portfolio and enhance its design. My web design skills at the beginning of this course were minimal and through many hours of exploring the program, gathering feedback and help from peers, and listening to instructional notes from our professors I became quite proficient! I now feel comfortable and confident using a web design program and am hoping to use these skills to create a classroom website where I can share information with families and provide learning opportunities for my students. This reflective course has truly allowed me to define myself as a life-long learner. It has opened my eyes to the growth I have made and made me realize that although this is the end of my master’s degree journey; it is only the beginning of my life long journey to continue learning and growing as an educator.
As I look back on my journey through the Master’s of Arts in Education program as MSU I realize that this program only fueled my desire to continue learning. My reflection has allowed me to recognize and celebrate the growth I have made as far as expanding my knowledge of research-based best practices in literacy instructor, critical thinker, and reflector. As W.B. Yeats states, “Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.” As I implement what I have learned in my program into my classroom I see my students come alive as independent and critical thinkers. The passion for literacy is becoming unlocked in my students! My pedagogy and increased proficiency in teaching literacy has enhanced my ability to meet each of my student’s needs in my classroom.
Image Credits
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Spartans Will Image: msutoday.msu.edu
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Best Practices in Literacy Instruction Image: www.amazon.com
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Assessment for Reading Instruction Image: www.amazon.com
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Peter Pan Image: www.ebookjwx.jimdo.com
Unlock the Passion
The Master’s of Arts in Education (MAED) program at MSU opened up opportunities for me to learn literacy best practice, challenge others’ opinions and create my own, and reflect on my application of these concepts in my classroom. It is through this learning that not only have I blossomed as a professional, but my students have gained and grown by leaps and bounds as well.
