Pursuing my master’s degree was a learning experience in many ways.  I took 10 courses and each course helped me become a better teacher in a different way.  I worked extremely hard to make sure that I was getting the most for my students from each class.  Some changes I tried to make from my classes were a success and some failed spectacularly.  I was able to adapt what I learned to improve my classroom more each and every semester and I can truly say that I am the best teacher that I can be thanks in part to these classes and the professors that taught them. More than just best teaching practices and differing theories, I learned so much about myself as a person. This paper will explain my biggest takeaways from the last five years of pursuing my Master’s degree and completing this program.

​

I Don’t Need Sleep

​

Online graduate school is a blessing.  It allowed me to research, study and write on my own time.  This allowed me to spread my focus – I could still teach Kindergarten full-time, raise my children, and still continue my education. 

I strongly feel that teaching full-time while pursuing my degree greatly increases the value of my education.  I was able to immediately implement ideas learned in class and figure how to adapt them to fit my unique teaching situation.  This gave me a more authentic experience and allowed me first-hand knowledge or if these teaching strategies were successful or not.

 

Being able to try different teaching strategies was extremely helpful when I took TE 846 Accommodating Different Learners.  For this class we were asked to assess a student’s skills.  Based on this assessment, we were meant to diagnose a skill deficit that the student had and implement an intervention to address the problem.  Having my own class allowed to assess and then group my students based on need.  I chose the group that was lacking in letter/sound correspondence.  I then implemented a sound sorting intervention based on the letters that each student had missed on the assessment.  My post assessment showed improvement of each student in my group.  Due to my larger sample size, I was able to know for sure that this assessment and intervention was worth taking the time to individualize for each student.

 

While teaching was a huge benefit, it was also extremely difficult.  I pulled an innumerable amount of all-nighters, drank countless pots of coffee, ate a lot of junk food, and one time in desperation drank an energy drink. My husband forbid me from drinking one ever again after one very long night when I thought I was hysterical.  No matter how tired I have been for the last four years, I wouldn’t change my experience and now know that I can function perfectly fine on three hours of sleep.

​

The Art of Stretching a Paper

​

Much of my learning for my program was demonstrated through the writing of papers.  Many of these papers had a word count requirement associated with them.  A big skill that I learned was how to stretch a paper to meet the assigned word count.  This actually improved both my writing and my thought process.  I learned how to more deeply analyze my own work and to improve on each thought and expand upon them.  It also taught me to find any and all things important in each assignment and make sure that I gave credence to each argument and counter argument.

This skill was especially important in TE 838 Children’s Literacy in film.  In this class we were asked to read classics from children’s literature and analyze it.  I was so excited to have an excuse to read some of my childhood favorites, including Charlotte’s Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Harry Potter.  In writing these papers, you included every thought you had ever had about these books from your childhood, to the point where the message of the book was completely changed for you.  After writing the paper the professor would give us different academic papers that further analyzed the book and gave you even more topics and points of view to consider.  These papers evaluated points in the plot that I never realized were there, addressed different themes, and sometimes added sexual innuendo in places you never considered it.  Then we were asked to watch the film version of this story.  Then we were asked to give the film the same deep analysis. 

​

Going through these extremely deep analysis of each book and film is an important skill for an educator.  It is important to know what you are asking your students to read or watch.  Beyond that, as a life long learner it is extremely important to think critically about anything and every thing in your life. It is important to not to take everything at face value and it is important to teach your students this lesson too.  I am thankful for word counts and the way that taught me to think.

​

Stretching a paper has also taught me to give deeper thought and think more critically about about how everything I sa (or don't say) sends a message to to my students.  As a teacher it is important to remember that your students look to you for an example at everything.  It is often the times that you lose your cool or make a mistake that your students remember.  It is vital to make sure that you give conscious thought to every single thing that you do in a classroom.

​

Group Work Makes Me Crazy

​

During graduate school I learned that I am not only a procrastinator, but also a perfectionist.  These traits don’t necessarily compliment each other.  They especially don’t make me a great partner for group work.  The procrastinator in me resents the perfectionists trying to micromanage me, while the perfectionist in me wants to micromanage everyone else.

​

While this was extremely frustrating at times, it taught me a lot about learning styles.  Every person learns differently.  That is why it is so important to differentiate instruction.  In order to help children be motivated and love learning it is important to find different ways to teach to engage everyone.

​

I learned many different ways to differentiate my instruction in each of the special education classes.  In special education, it is pivotal to know how to adjust your lessons to push each student to reach their full potential but not reach their frustration level.  This is also extremely important when working with young children.  One of the most important things I teach my students in Kindergarten is to love school and love learning.  This means adjusting all of my lessons to make them engaging and also to target the skills that my students need to work on.

​

In CEP 843 Autism Spectrum Disorders I learned invaluable information about reaching children in different ways.  This class focused on children that were on the spectrum.  Because autism presents in such unique ways in each child, this class was full of amazing ways to adapt my teaching, my lessons, and my classroom to make it more welcoming to children of differing ability levels.

​

I Don’t Like It When People Tell Me What to Do

​

I have found that, as with most teachers, I like to be boss.  I don’t like it when people tell me what to do.  When writing about my favorite classes, it became apparent to me that I learn better when I have some independence to chose my own learning.

​

In TE 848 Writing Assessment and Instruction we picked our own study topic for the semester.  After the subject was cleared with the professor we spent the semester researching our chosen subject.  This was by far my favorite class. Not only was I extremely engaged, but it was the most useful and applicable information I learned in my program.

My project was focused on emergent writers.  I learned the developmental progression of a young student’s writing.  After learning which step my students are in developmentally, I can better address their needs and help them reach the next step and improve their writing.  This class and the accompanying research led me to change the entire writing process in my classroom and greatly improve the writing of my students.

​

This class also taught me that I should follow my students’ lead more.  This is not always possible because I am on such a tight schedule and have curriculum to follow. However, my students will be automatically more engaged and learn more if it is subject that they already have an interest in.  I also now take time nearly every day to remind my students what learning how to reading and write means for their lives.  We also try to use real word problem to direct our literacy projects.  Like me, when my students see that the information that they are learning has a practical, real world applications and understand why we were learning we all enjoy it more and learn faster and more thoroughly. Alfred Mercier once said “What we learn in pleasure, we never forget.”

​

Who Will? Spartans Will

​

My teaching situation is very unique.  While going through my program classes I had the opportunity to “meet” many other Kindergarten teachers from around the world.  Several times I have become extremely depressed about how far behind my students are compared to other Kindergarteners in the United States. 

​

In TE 842 Elementary Reading Assessment and Instruction we did a lot of research on best practices for teaching reading.  This class was very eye opening and difficult.  Many of the practices we learned about and were encouraged to try were not things I could implement in my classroom.  My students only attend Kindergarten every other day which means I have half as much time to teach my students compared to most other Kindergarten teachers in the U.S.

Not only do I have to deal with time constraints, but I also have to follow a curriculum that is set by my school district.  Though the reading program that we use is research-based, it also did not follow many of the best practices we were encouraged to try.  My professor and classmate couldn’t understand why we hadn’t learned a vowel yet six weeks into school.  My students are so far behind the nation and it isn’t because they don’t work hard, or that we don’t have high expectation for them – it is simply because there is no way you can learn as much as someone who attends school twice as much as you do.

​

How can my students be successful in the world when they are starting so far behind?  Someone needs to teach them grit, determination, and a true love of learning that will help them continue to push them through life.  Who will do that?  Me.  I know that I work each and every day to empower my students to conquer the world.  That is my most important job. I am literally shaping the future.

​

I am Stubborn

​

My biggest takeaway from completing this amazing, challenging, nationally ranked program from my dream school that is located across the country, while working full-time at an extremely difficult job, training for a half marathon, and having two children is that I can do anything.

​

In ED 800 Educational Inquiry I learned about Abraham Lincoln and his life-long love of learning.  Though he received little formal education he strove his entire life to always be learning something new and went on to become a great American and an amazing president who changed the course of our country.  In one assignment we were asked to reflect on our own education and how it has helped shape us.  I am thankful that my education helped me have a love of learning, instilled in me the want and need to be a life-long learner, and gave me the grit and determination to accomplish this amazing feat.

​

For Real Though

​

In all seriousness, trying to condense everything I have learned from this program and my main takeaways in to one paper (no matter how long) is impossible.  I am so thankful for the opportunities studying from Michigan State gave me to expand my knowledge and my teaching abilities.  Henry Ford said “Those who stop learning are old, whether at twenty or eighty. Those who keep learning stay young.”  Though I grew older while pursing my Master’s degree I intend to always stay young.