When I began my degree towards my Master of Arts in Education (MAED) degree in January of 2022, I had a goal of a higher salary and completing the level of education needed to receive my professional teaching license. Applying on a whim and being accepted closely after purchasing my first house filled me with stress about the projected outlook of my next few years. Close after my official beginning of the program, I realized quickly that I was about to embark on the most beneficial educational experience I have ever had. Contrary to my previous higher education experience to receive my bachelor’s degree, I was given the opportunity of choosing courses that best fit my needs. Because of this, I was able to receive support in areas I needed to become a better educator. My love of all things literacy made it rather simple for me when faced with choosing which program focus to explore. Choosing a concentration that made it easy for me to learn was at the top of my list and led me to a focus of literacy education. Starting my graduate studies in the middle of my second year of teaching forced me to come to terms with my less than prepared feelings of attacking all areas of literacy content for my early-childhood aged students. With varying curriculums and a high need of additional educational support for the content taught, creating a foundation in such an important subject area that I did not feel prepared to teach properly scared me. This led me to change my goal of solely checking the box of graduate school to make more money to honing in on areas I needed help as a professional in the areas of education to guide, assess, and support instruction. 

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     Although it was not rooted in literacy teachings and practices, I began my journey exploring Educational Inquiry (ED 800), a required course for all MAED program students. Beginning this course, I felt that it was going to be one of the most difficult courses I have ever taken. While those feelings were correct due to my inexperience with the content, it proved to also be one of the most impactful courses I have had the pleasure of learning from. Taking this course allowed me to observe and inquire in a way that I had no prior experience with and completing this in an asynchronous fashion forced me to take hold of my own learning. I learned through this course how to be direct with my words and carefully plan what to say through various writing assignments, while learning how to use inquiry for a variety of purposes. The content I learned within this course, especially related to observation and notetaking, have been a vital part of my teaching practice. By practicing active observation, I have been able to learn about my students in a way that provides me with a vast knowledge of how to help them in and out of my classroom. This class has given me tools to acquire information in a way that goes beyond basic classroom observations and helps me learn about new situations more effectively. 

 

     Another area I needed to improve on was in the realm of classroom management and engaging my students. Being a third year teacher and having two very different classes under my belt (one class of 22 lacking in consistency and having four teachers prior to my taking over of the class, and one of twelve quiet and well-mannered students), I felt I needed support to reach all students in a way that supported a love of school. I received more education on how to effectively teach literacy skills within my classroom, but I still needed the tools to engage my students in a way that helped them to enjoy learning. My previous experience with district-provided “classroom management” courses left me with an abundance of professional reading and a feeling less than confident that I could effectively engage all types of students. In the fall semester of 2022, I began the course that showed me the tools needed to support student engagement and motivation and encouraged a love of learning– Developing Positive Attitudes toward Learning (CEP 802). In this course, I completed one project over the time period of the entire semester focusing on one specific learner within my classroom. During this project, I learned how to assess student motivation, how to manipulate and alter my lessons and classroom management to increase this engagement (using the TARGET model), and how to evaluate my changes. I was forced to analyze and reflect on my teaching practices resulting in a plethora of revisions for how my classroom was run. There are choices now present in my classroom, movement opportunities, a building of a learning community rather than just a class, and a created space of comfort and wonder. Since I have taken this course, I have had little to no issues in guiding students to a love of learning. Beginning this 2023-2024 school year with the skills given to me from the course, has resulted in my hearing of the statement, “__(student name)__ loves coming to school every day,” which is all an educator could ask for. 

 

     The spring semester of 2023 introduced me to a course that I met with rigor and forced me to reflect on myself as a learner rather than solely an educator. Having taken an abundance of literacy education courses and approaching my halfway point to receiving my degree, I felt more than ready when beginning Methods and Materials for Teaching Children’s and Adolescent Literature (TE 849). I felt fully prepared to take a course where I was going to dive into heavy and important topics within literature and complete various analyses. Laura Apol, the instructor of the course, made it clear within the first week that we were to step outside the box of strictly having an educator lens while reading the literature for each week, which was much more difficult than I was expecting. How was I supposed to step outside of the lens I have been trained to look through every day? We began the course learning about immigration and refugees through a young adult novel (Refugee by Alan Gratz and Memories of Survival by Bernice Steinherdt). We followed up with the history of children’s and adolescent literature and its representation of societal history, and were exploring the varieties of fairy tales. I was doing well in the course, but internally I was struggling with stepping outside of my “teacher brain” while completing my readings. We were scheduled to begin topics exploring literature related to topics of violence, but that was put to an immediate halt. Something I was not prepared for within this course, was how relevant the content would become as it coincided with our real lives as Michigan State University (MSU) was met with the tragic events of an active shooter on campus. With all education put on hold for the time being at a standstill, Laura reached out with one suggestion for the following week: read something that will feed your soul. The day prior to MSU’s tragedy, my own school district was closed due to possible threats of violence. Laura’s advice to feed my soul with literature was what I needed and was the missing piece of me stepping out of that “teacher brain.” I read four books that week of varying types of subjects. I explored required literature for the course and literature that had been collecting dust on my bookshelf. I reconnected with my love of literature that began this whole adventure of graduate school. I discovered the empathy and perspective that is shared through literature and how carefully choosing pieces can help my students learn about human nature as a whole. In the midst of recovering from fear and trauma, I did exactly what the course was trying to teach me to do with my students: find a love of literature and use it to explore. Following the completion of this course, I revamped my classroom library to include meaningful and relevant literature of varying experiences for my students to explore. I included pieces that reflected their experiences, pieces that provided them with new experiences, pieces they could relate to, pieces they could learn from, and pieces that challenged them. The library exploration center is now one of the most visited and enjoyed areas in my classroom. When my class sits down to hear a read aloud, they are excited and invested with what is happening within the books and they follow with group discussions and conversations that deepen their understanding of what was read. 

 

     Approaching the finale of the professional and personal adventure that has been my experience to receiving my master’s degree, I have learned about guiding and supporting literacy education and skills, strategies and procedures for effective classroom management and student motivation, and practiced valuable skills for inquiry. I learned effective ways to observe and communicate with others. I learned the importance of educating on various experiences and perspectives. I learned how to support creativity within my classroom. I learned the importance of critical thinking and analysis with literature and films. I learned how to make my classroom an environment that fosters connections and relationships. I became more confident with my teaching. I have also grown as a learner and explored my abilities and found a hidden sense of determination driven by hard-work; I learned how to enjoy learning again. When working toward my bachelor’s degree, I felt obligated. I knew I needed a degree to become a teacher and did my best to learn the skills needed to do so. I went through each course and did my best, but at the end still felt nervous about what was to come and whether my learned skills were enough to be successful. Working towards my master’s degree was a whole new experience. The content and skills I learned, I could immediately apply to my classroom. I could see why these worked and how I could use the tools provided by my instructors to support my students to be their best selves. I was able to join the conversation when my district chose a new literacy curriculum last year based on research-driven practices and areas of focus from my newly gained knowledge of literacy education. I gained a confidence in my career that has never been present before. I put every possible effort towards learning as much as I could during these past two years– and I enjoyed learning despite all else. This was not an adventure done only to receive a higher salary. It was not done because I felt like I was obligated to. I did this for me and for my students. I altered my course schedule based on areas where I needed to improve as a teacher. During this program, I made myself a better learner and educator by putting my whole self into receiving the knowledge needed to grow and remaining determined to succeed while doing it.