A Journey Full of Growth
by Amber Turner
I knew from a young age I wanted to be a teacher. In the fourth grade I had to write a paper called “When I Grow Up”. In this paper I wrote about becoming a teacher. Specifically, I wanted to be a teacher for children with Down syndrome. I cannot tell you what influenced me to make this decision besides I enjoyed school and liked younger kids. Over the years I never swayed from that fourth grade paper except for instead of only wanting to teach children with Down syndrome I just wanted to teach.
I was fortunate that I went to a school that offered a lot of opportunities for students to explore future career paths. From the 8th grade on I spent time everyday working with younger students. These experiences ranged from classroom assisting, mentoring and playground duties. I loved each experience and signed up for one type or another until my senior year when I began taking college courses and could not fit it into my schedule.
Having such a strong belief in what I wanted to do made the decision on what college courses to take much easier. I was able to take classes that I knew applied to my goals and felt that I never spent time in a class that would not benefit my future. I received my associate’s degree from the local community college and went on to finish my bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State University. I then went on to Central Michigan University to receive my ZA Endorsement. I am currently completing my master’s degree through Michigan State University through their Masters of Arts online program.
Deciding to go through MSU to receive my master’s degree was easy. Many of the other programs I looked into had very strict schedules that had to be followed and very little flexibility in the classes that had to be completed. Neither of those sounded appealing to me. MSU offered a lot of flexibility with the online program as well as a large variety of classes that could be taken to complete a degree.
When I applied to MSU I applied with the concentration areas of literacy and school leadership. At the time of my application I saw myself leaving the classroom one day and pursing either a position with our local ISD as a literacy consultant or even exploring a role as an administrator. At this time I do not have an interest in taking on either of those positions but may revisit them in the future. That does not mean that the classes I took through Michigan State University were a waste or unuseful to me. Currently, my goal is to be the best teacher and teacher leader I can be by taking what I have learned in all of my years as a student as well as continuing lifelong learning that will impact my classroom and my teaching. Without my MSU course work I know I would not be as good of a classroom teacher or a peer teacher as I am today.
While my goals have changed since I began MSU’s online masters program the classes I have taken have still proven to be very influential and beneficial to me as an educator. I have completed all the classes required for my masters degree and while not every class proved to be as meaningful to me as much as others, all have provided me with great knowledge and caused me to examine my teaching, the teaching profession and my role in influencing my peer teachers.
Classes within my program that I found the most beneficial and meaningful to me as a teacher and teacher leader include TE 846 Methods of Writing Instruction, CEP 802 Developing Positive Attitudes Towards Learning, CEP 882 Social Emotional Development of School Aged Youth and EAD 825 Shared Leadership in Schools. These classes were the classes that I felt most greatly benefited me in my current position and the educator I want to become.
TE 846 Methods of Writing Instruction was a true blessing for me in my pursuit of an online masters degree. This was the second class I took in the MAED program and without it being so meaningful and the instructor being so involved I am not sure that I would have continued in the program. The first class I took for the MAED program did not appeal to me very much at all! There was limited teacher/student interaction, limited student/student interaction and it was self paced. Being the only strictly online class I had ever taken I found the format and the content almost unbearable (this had nothing to do with the teacher, it was all a learning curve for me). I was craving the “old school” way of learning that allowed me regular interaction with instructors and peers. I had my son shortly after completing that class which gave me a reason to take a long break between my first class and TE 846. During that time I contemplated starting a different masters program because I was not sure that MSU’s online program was for me. After a lot of thinking I decided that I need to stick it out and try at least one more class. I knew that no other program would afford me the flexibility MSU did, but was not sure I would be able to sustain my own learning throughout the whole program.
Thankfully, TE 846 was a totally different experience. I was able to see that you could have an online class that was more engaging to me as a learner, the content was more interesting to me and the teacher was much more involved. I have always enjoyed writing but often found it a bit stifled within college classes. So often you are given a topic or format and are told what to write about or how to write it. The truth is I took this into my classroom with me. I often told my kindergarten students what their writing topic was, rarely allowing them just to write what they wanted. TE 846 opened my eyes to see that teaching writing does not have to be this way. Professor Certo did not tell us what to write or what format to write in but rather encouraged us to write, edit and publish. I was able to pick a topic that was important to me and found myself looking forward to working on the next assignment. I quickly saw that writing because you enjoy it produces way more interest and much more excitement for what you are doing than when you have been told what to do. Since this class I am much more flexible with my students and their writing. Honestly nine out of ten days I do not give a writing topic and I have seen a lot of improvement in my students writing samples. Children love to write as long as they are writing about what they want. Until I took TE 846 I didn’t realize this.
CEP 802 Developing Positive Attitudes Towards Leaning was another class that really opened my eyes and changed my thoughts. I will admit that I find students with poor attitudes very challenging. It is very rare that a student comes to kindergarten not excited and eager to learn, but occasionally it does happen. Prior to this class I had a hard time understanding why a kindergartener would come into a classroom room full of toys, manipulatives and active learning experiences with a negative attitude or not excited to learn.
At the time of taking this class I had a student that was pushing all my buttons when it came to being negative and uninterested in learning. I felt like I was at my wits end with him and had started to feel like he was a lost cause. I knew his life experiences played into his attitude but felt that I had done everything I could to influence his attitude. I had given out praise and rewards (the tools I had been taught to use prior) for the littlest things and saw very little change. My heart broke feeling like he was a lost cause because I had never felt this way about any student before. The old rewards and praise tricks has always helped! Through CEP 802 I was able to understand that I was not in control of how this boy was feeling about learning but I could influence it. The activities in the class made me examine the use of rewards and praise with students as well as ways to increase motivation without rewards and praise. I feel like CEP 802 was a gift sent to me at just the right time in my life! I used much of what I learned in that class to help the student that was frustrating me and saw some great changes in him. There is nothing better than taking something you are learning in a class, applying it directly to your classroom and seeing positive change!
CEP 882 Social Emotional Development of School Age Youth may have been the class in my program that I enjoyed the most. I have always been a huge advocate for early childhood and the role that social emotional development plays in a student’s education and this class helped to reinforce my need to continue to advocate for making classrooms more developmentally appropriate. CEP 882 spoke to me as a person, a parent and a teacher. It had me examining my relationships with my son, how I impact his social emotional development, how I impact the social emotional development of my students and what I should be doing as an educator to help promote the social emotional development of my students.
I feel that CEP 882 should be a mandatory class for all elementary educators if not all educators! Too often students are pushed into academics before their social emotional needs have been met and in turn they are not fully equipped to deal with the demands of our current education system. Students with deficient social emotional development are the most likely to end up with poor grades, getting in trouble and often not completing school. As educators if we did a better job creating classrooms and schools that met the social and emotional needs of students, students would be better prepared to learn and in turn educator’s jobs would be easier. Unfortunately, too many educators have no concept of social emotional development so this need will not be met unless educators receive more education. Between CEP 882 and my previous education with development I feel prepared to help other educators see the importance of social emotional development and how greatly it impacts education.
EAD 825 Shared Leadership in Schools was the class that helped me see that even if I did not pursue a position in administration I still could be a leader in my school and influence my peers. This class showcased different situations in which a teacher or school employee could lead which helped me see that I would not have to leave my classroom to lead my peer teachers in new literacy techniques and that by staying in the classroom and being willing to be a literacy leader for my school I could do just as much good as if I left my classroom to become a literacy consultant. The class also opened my eyes to other areas I could be a leader as well. I really appreciated that EAD 825 provided me with models of how to facilitate difficult discussions and have used these models when addressing hot topics with both my peer teachers and my administrator. This class provided me with many tools for communication that I did not have before and that have proved to be very beneficial!
Looking back over all the classes I have taken in order to earn my masters I realize each one promoted growth in me as an educator and prompted change in me as well. Some classes helped guide me to see what I was not very interest in and helped direct me towards classes that I may be more interested in, some classes sparked interest in new areas I never thought I was interested in while other classes just reinforced interests I already had. Overall, my experience with Michigan State University’s online program was one that brought huge growth for me, encouraged me to leave my comfort zone and try something new and helped re-kindled my passion as an elementary teacher. Truly, this experience has been wonderful and I am thankful for the journey.
I was fortunate that I went to a school that offered a lot of opportunities for students to explore future career paths. From the 8th grade on I spent time everyday working with younger students. These experiences ranged from classroom assisting, mentoring and playground duties. I loved each experience and signed up for one type or another until my senior year when I began taking college courses and could not fit it into my schedule.
Having such a strong belief in what I wanted to do made the decision on what college courses to take much easier. I was able to take classes that I knew applied to my goals and felt that I never spent time in a class that would not benefit my future. I received my associate’s degree from the local community college and went on to finish my bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State University. I then went on to Central Michigan University to receive my ZA Endorsement. I am currently completing my master’s degree through Michigan State University through their Masters of Arts online program.
Deciding to go through MSU to receive my master’s degree was easy. Many of the other programs I looked into had very strict schedules that had to be followed and very little flexibility in the classes that had to be completed. Neither of those sounded appealing to me. MSU offered a lot of flexibility with the online program as well as a large variety of classes that could be taken to complete a degree.
When I applied to MSU I applied with the concentration areas of literacy and school leadership. At the time of my application I saw myself leaving the classroom one day and pursing either a position with our local ISD as a literacy consultant or even exploring a role as an administrator. At this time I do not have an interest in taking on either of those positions but may revisit them in the future. That does not mean that the classes I took through Michigan State University were a waste or unuseful to me. Currently, my goal is to be the best teacher and teacher leader I can be by taking what I have learned in all of my years as a student as well as continuing lifelong learning that will impact my classroom and my teaching. Without my MSU course work I know I would not be as good of a classroom teacher or a peer teacher as I am today.
While my goals have changed since I began MSU’s online masters program the classes I have taken have still proven to be very influential and beneficial to me as an educator. I have completed all the classes required for my masters degree and while not every class proved to be as meaningful to me as much as others, all have provided me with great knowledge and caused me to examine my teaching, the teaching profession and my role in influencing my peer teachers.
Classes within my program that I found the most beneficial and meaningful to me as a teacher and teacher leader include TE 846 Methods of Writing Instruction, CEP 802 Developing Positive Attitudes Towards Learning, CEP 882 Social Emotional Development of School Aged Youth and EAD 825 Shared Leadership in Schools. These classes were the classes that I felt most greatly benefited me in my current position and the educator I want to become.
TE 846 Methods of Writing Instruction was a true blessing for me in my pursuit of an online masters degree. This was the second class I took in the MAED program and without it being so meaningful and the instructor being so involved I am not sure that I would have continued in the program. The first class I took for the MAED program did not appeal to me very much at all! There was limited teacher/student interaction, limited student/student interaction and it was self paced. Being the only strictly online class I had ever taken I found the format and the content almost unbearable (this had nothing to do with the teacher, it was all a learning curve for me). I was craving the “old school” way of learning that allowed me regular interaction with instructors and peers. I had my son shortly after completing that class which gave me a reason to take a long break between my first class and TE 846. During that time I contemplated starting a different masters program because I was not sure that MSU’s online program was for me. After a lot of thinking I decided that I need to stick it out and try at least one more class. I knew that no other program would afford me the flexibility MSU did, but was not sure I would be able to sustain my own learning throughout the whole program.
Thankfully, TE 846 was a totally different experience. I was able to see that you could have an online class that was more engaging to me as a learner, the content was more interesting to me and the teacher was much more involved. I have always enjoyed writing but often found it a bit stifled within college classes. So often you are given a topic or format and are told what to write about or how to write it. The truth is I took this into my classroom with me. I often told my kindergarten students what their writing topic was, rarely allowing them just to write what they wanted. TE 846 opened my eyes to see that teaching writing does not have to be this way. Professor Certo did not tell us what to write or what format to write in but rather encouraged us to write, edit and publish. I was able to pick a topic that was important to me and found myself looking forward to working on the next assignment. I quickly saw that writing because you enjoy it produces way more interest and much more excitement for what you are doing than when you have been told what to do. Since this class I am much more flexible with my students and their writing. Honestly nine out of ten days I do not give a writing topic and I have seen a lot of improvement in my students writing samples. Children love to write as long as they are writing about what they want. Until I took TE 846 I didn’t realize this.
CEP 802 Developing Positive Attitudes Towards Leaning was another class that really opened my eyes and changed my thoughts. I will admit that I find students with poor attitudes very challenging. It is very rare that a student comes to kindergarten not excited and eager to learn, but occasionally it does happen. Prior to this class I had a hard time understanding why a kindergartener would come into a classroom room full of toys, manipulatives and active learning experiences with a negative attitude or not excited to learn.
At the time of taking this class I had a student that was pushing all my buttons when it came to being negative and uninterested in learning. I felt like I was at my wits end with him and had started to feel like he was a lost cause. I knew his life experiences played into his attitude but felt that I had done everything I could to influence his attitude. I had given out praise and rewards (the tools I had been taught to use prior) for the littlest things and saw very little change. My heart broke feeling like he was a lost cause because I had never felt this way about any student before. The old rewards and praise tricks has always helped! Through CEP 802 I was able to understand that I was not in control of how this boy was feeling about learning but I could influence it. The activities in the class made me examine the use of rewards and praise with students as well as ways to increase motivation without rewards and praise. I feel like CEP 802 was a gift sent to me at just the right time in my life! I used much of what I learned in that class to help the student that was frustrating me and saw some great changes in him. There is nothing better than taking something you are learning in a class, applying it directly to your classroom and seeing positive change!
CEP 882 Social Emotional Development of School Age Youth may have been the class in my program that I enjoyed the most. I have always been a huge advocate for early childhood and the role that social emotional development plays in a student’s education and this class helped to reinforce my need to continue to advocate for making classrooms more developmentally appropriate. CEP 882 spoke to me as a person, a parent and a teacher. It had me examining my relationships with my son, how I impact his social emotional development, how I impact the social emotional development of my students and what I should be doing as an educator to help promote the social emotional development of my students.
I feel that CEP 882 should be a mandatory class for all elementary educators if not all educators! Too often students are pushed into academics before their social emotional needs have been met and in turn they are not fully equipped to deal with the demands of our current education system. Students with deficient social emotional development are the most likely to end up with poor grades, getting in trouble and often not completing school. As educators if we did a better job creating classrooms and schools that met the social and emotional needs of students, students would be better prepared to learn and in turn educator’s jobs would be easier. Unfortunately, too many educators have no concept of social emotional development so this need will not be met unless educators receive more education. Between CEP 882 and my previous education with development I feel prepared to help other educators see the importance of social emotional development and how greatly it impacts education.
EAD 825 Shared Leadership in Schools was the class that helped me see that even if I did not pursue a position in administration I still could be a leader in my school and influence my peers. This class showcased different situations in which a teacher or school employee could lead which helped me see that I would not have to leave my classroom to lead my peer teachers in new literacy techniques and that by staying in the classroom and being willing to be a literacy leader for my school I could do just as much good as if I left my classroom to become a literacy consultant. The class also opened my eyes to other areas I could be a leader as well. I really appreciated that EAD 825 provided me with models of how to facilitate difficult discussions and have used these models when addressing hot topics with both my peer teachers and my administrator. This class provided me with many tools for communication that I did not have before and that have proved to be very beneficial!
Looking back over all the classes I have taken in order to earn my masters I realize each one promoted growth in me as an educator and prompted change in me as well. Some classes helped guide me to see what I was not very interest in and helped direct me towards classes that I may be more interested in, some classes sparked interest in new areas I never thought I was interested in while other classes just reinforced interests I already had. Overall, my experience with Michigan State University’s online program was one that brought huge growth for me, encouraged me to leave my comfort zone and try something new and helped re-kindled my passion as an elementary teacher. Truly, this experience has been wonderful and I am thankful for the journey.