Making Prouder Teacher Moments

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Over the last eight years, I have been fortunate enough to impact the lives of many students with the variety of teaching positions I have held.  One of the most pivotal moments in my teaching career was in the 2015-2016 school year.  Although it was not my first year of teaching, it was my first year having my own self-contained classroom.  I remember my first day of that school year, I was team teaching 6th grade when I welcomed students into my classroom for the first time- those were "my students".  From the first day of school to the last, their trials and tribulations, their successes, and their growth, I took credit and felt responsible for it all.  It was a "proud mom" type moment, but as a teacher beaming with pride.  Having that weight on my shoulders gave me a sense of fear as well though; was I doing enough for each student?  Did I have enough knowledge and expertise to meet the needs of all "my students?"  At the time, I was enrolled in a master's program at Central Michigan University (CMU) concentrating in Reading and Literacy Instruction, but I was looking for the opportunity to learn ways to gain a wider variety of skills to share with my students, and make a greater impact than that program was offering.  In my 6th grade classroom, I was fortunate to have 30 Chromebooks, one for every student.  I had played around with google drive for writing pieces and class presentations to provide a greater experience and opportunity for demonstrating understanding of content.  We did a lot of research, and utilized our technology to engage in "teachable moments" and further deepen class discussions.  At that time and seeing the opportunities that technology was providing my students with, I wondered if I was utilizing the technology as best I could.  Something clicked and made me research different master's programs where I could focus on the use of technology in my instruction.  Once I found Michigan State University's (MSU) online Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program, I felt a spark of excitement when I also found the ability to choose technology as a concentration.  It spoke to me, and after applying and getting accepted in the program, I immediately looked forward to learning all the ways to strengthen my instruction in the classroom.

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Leading with Confidence

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Every step along the way in my master's program has helped me to change and strengthen my instruction in some way.  Each course I took toward my MAED served a purpose and provided me with unique takeaways to help meet my students' needs and approach my classroom instruction in a different way.  Looking back, three courses in particular helped shape and change my approach to teaching.  The first course after switching my focus to technology was CEP 815, Technology and Leadership.  This course was one that instilled confidence in my teaching abilities- not only as a classroom teacher, but more so as a teacher and coach to other educators as well.  This course had me learn ways to think as a "leader" in my school, believing and forming thoughts to support educators through the process of appropriately and effectively incorporating or introducing technology in the classroom.  Prior to taking this course, I was unsure of my ability to speak up in meetings, even if I felt I had extensive knowledge on the subject, after all, there were always more experienced teacher's in all the meetings and I did not have the confidence to always share or lead with my ideas.  But something clicked during this course, and the idea of becoming an educational consultant, or technology director occurred to me for the first time.  The idea of someday supporting more than my small classroom of students became a real, obtainable goal, even if it is a very long term goal.  The assignments and readings in this course gave me a better understanding of ways to present and share the importance of technology in the classroom.  I would feel confident creating and sharing presentations highlighting the positive uses of technology in classrooms to other teachers.  My takeaway also reminded me to focus the use of technology in positive ways, as an enhancement to instruction, not a replacement.  Now that I have the confidence to speak up, I feel comfortable in the decisions I make in finding ways to incorporate technology throughout the day.  After this course, especially in my position at a one room schoolhouse, I do not hesitate to share my experiences and support my colleagues to increase our use of technology effectively in our classroom.

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Learning is a Process

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Another course that made me appreciate the importance of providing support and assessing students throughout the WHOLE process of learning was CEP 813, Electronic Assessment for Teaching and Learning.  This course not only made me a more reflective and supportive teacher to my students, but also a more reflective learner myself.  The layout of this course provided me with the tools to offer formative assessments and feedback through the use of technology.   As I experienced the formative feedback first hand from my instructors, the quality of work and pride in my completed assignments reminded me of the importance of teaching my students that learning is a process.  Since the completion of this class, I have utilized homework as an opportunity to show my students ways to improve and provide feedback on their assignments, to allow them to learn ways to put forth their best effort and invest in their learning.  I have also started utilizing google docs to have students complete their writing assignments, and as a way for them to submit, get feedback, and revise their drafts until they feel confident in what they produced.  When creating assignments now, I create them with more intention, and with the idea in mind of "where can I help the students along the way?", or "will this assignment lend itself to give students multiple opportunities to reflect on and improve their work to the best it can be?"  When I think back to one of the many reasons I went into teaching, it was to push students to be the best they can be.  This course reminded me that process does not happen immediately, and to look at each student's progress and growth individually.  This course also encouraged me to find ways to give students a love of learning, and give them the confidence and skills to be reflective, lifelong learners long after leaving my classroom.          

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Enhance and Increase Learning

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The last course that left me feeling more prepared to support my students and provide them with meaningful lessons with the incorporation of technology was TE 831, Teaching School Subject Matter with Technology.  Technology is not a means for replacing instruction, or taking away the importance of the teacher, rather it is important to find the right balance between the technology and teacher.  This course gave me strategies and different ways to meaningfully incorporate technology into my classroom.  This reminded me of how to carefully approach the addition of technology to reach and increase student learning, often times through simple modifications to instruction.  Integrating the use of technology does not have to overwhelm, or add extra stress to lesson planning, as I learned there are many ways to tweak already created lessons without starting all over.  A lot of the ideas I took away from this course included simple additions to lessons, as a way to create more engaging instruction.  Some of my confidence in supporting other educators came from this course as well, as many of the technology tools I became familiar with came from assignments from this class.  Many "tech tools" were shared throughout this course, and the opportunity to hear from other teachers' experience using a variety of tools, and their success in incorporating it to their classroom encouraged me to become more familiar with the range of technology out there.  One of the tools I created an assignment with opened my eyes to a whole new way of reaching students with technology, using a vodcast.  A vodcast is like a video presentation with images and voice. This tech tool in general provides students with a creative ability to demonstrate and present understanding of a concept.  It also allows students who may have a disability that prohibits them from completing traditional paper/pencil assignments to still create a fun project to share with others.  This tech tool tied in really well to writing assignments, and made me really think if all my assignments or projects I currently was doing in my classroom provided the flexibility that so many tech tools provide to students. 

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Big Picture

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In my current position as a teacher in a One Room Schoolhouse especially, I entered the teaching position with a much different feel than my first day of school two years prior.  Having almost completed my master's going into this change in position, I was eager to share what I had taken away from my master's so far.  I went in confident with my ability to make small changes to my instruction to incorporate technology, offer meaningful feedback to provide the most student growth, and support my colleagues more confidently as well.  I have been extremely grateful for the opportunities that my master's degree has provided my students and school.  Obtaining my master's has provided me with a new spark in my instruction.  If teaching were a sundae, before my master's, I comfortably provided my students with the ice cream and chocolate syrup.  After the completion of my master's, and with the incorporation of what I have taken away from earning my degree, my students' sundaes now include the options for sprinkles, whipped cream, nuts, and a cherry on top.  When I look back, the process of completing my MAED has helped me reach my original goals of encouraging, and pushing students to be the best they can be.  My journey of earning my master's has helped deepen my passion for teaching, giving me a stronger love of teaching, and helped me to pass on a love of learning to my students and other teachers.  Many of my future educational goals come from the experiences I received during the process of earning my MAED, and for that, I am forever grateful. 

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Thank you for your interest in my story. For a PDF view, click here.