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My Educational Journey

Synthesis Essay

 

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a teacher. I remember playing school with my younger brothers and friends while growing up. I was always the teacher. I loved feeling like I was the teacher and helping students, even when I was that young. I idolized my teachers in school. I have fond memories of watching my teachers and thinking to myself, “I’m going to be like her when I grow up” or “I’ll do that too when I’m a teacher”. When I got to high school, I still new that I wanted to be a teacher and study education in college, but as I thought more about it, I was not yet sure if I wanted to do elementary or secondary education. I was fortunate enough to know a multitude of teachers and to be invited into their classrooms. When I was a senior in high school, nearing graduation, I went to another high school and spent the day with a high school teacher. I think I knew almost instantly that I was meant to be in elementary education.

 

Just as I knew early on that I wanted to be a teacher, I also knew very early on that I wanted to go to Michigan State University for college. It just so happened to be a great coincidence that Michigan State has one of the best (if not the best) education programs in the country.

 

I was able to flourish at Michigan State and felt like a sponge soaking up as much knowledge about teaching and education as I could. After graduation, I interned in a 1st grade classroom in a small urban city. I loved every minute of it and quickly realized the different needs that each of my students had. I was very fortunate to get a job teaching 2nd grade in a small rural town at a catholic school. This school and community couldn’t be more different from my internship year school, but the students had the same needs. After a year, I moved home to teach 1st grade at a small catholic school in the suburbs. The school and socio-economic status of the parents were very different, but the students and the needs of the students were again the same. This is when I got very interested in the different disabilities our students have. At the time I began teaching, I was also babysitting and spending a lot of time with my cousin, who has since been diagnosed as cognitively impaired.

 

My students and my cousin really strengthened my desire to learn more about disabilities and the different needs of students. I quickly realized that I needed to be the advocate for my students. I started to read up on different disabilities myself as I noticed different signs in my students. It was then that I realized I could really benefit myself by getting my Masters and learning more. That is how I decided on getting my Master of Arts in Education with a concentration in Special Education. I have parents and other teachers ask me all the time if this means I am going to leave the classroom for Special Education. That is not my plan at all. My plan is simply to understand the different challenges and disabilities that affect our students so that I can be the best teacher to them as possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started my Master’s degree program during my internship year. I think that was one of my most challenging years yet, but definitely one of the most rewarding. While interning in my 1st grade classroom, I also attended Master’s classes every Tuesday. I took four different Master’s courses that focused on teaching practices. TE 801 (Professional Roles and Teaching Practice), TE 802 (Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice), TE 803 (Professional Roles and Teaching Practice II), and TE 804 (Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice II) were my first four courses that focused on teaching Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science. During these courses I was able to not only learn new teaching strategies, but also implement them with the help of my mentor teacher. She was then able to offer me advice and comments, or even how she might have done something differently. I was able to soak in information from my professors, classmates, and mentor teacher. During our classes, we planned and implemented different lessons. I was able to see exactly how lessons and units are planned. I then had the opportunity to teach my lessons. Of course, some were better than others. I felt great if a lesson went well and the children were engaged and actively learning. If a lesson did not go as well, I was able to sit with my mentor teacher and discuss why it didn’t go as well. I was able to be observed by my field instructor and she always offered me great advice as well. I found it very helpful and rewarding to be able to observe other teachers and discuss their strategies with them. Every teacher is different, just like every group of children is different, so it was a great learning experience to be able to discuss with other teachers, professors, field instructors, and classmates. 

 

Once I decided what I was going to get my Master’s degree in, I was very excited to get started and expand my knowledge. I will say that as a Catholic school teacher, I have no extra resources. My school does not have a Resource Room, Special Education Teacher, School Psychologist, or anything along those lines. I have often times felt very overwhelmed when one of my students has some sort of challenge or disability. I also started to find myself feeling very concerned about my students and if I was picking up on possible disabilities because as a first grade teacher, I am often one of the first people who might begin to notice signs. I found myself feeling very uneducated in this department and that is not how any teacher likes to feel.

 

My first course after deciding what my program would be was CEP 840. I don’t think I could have asked for a better class to kick start my Master’s program. This class really helped me to understand the importance of the role of the teacher in students with disabilities lives. I realized more than ever that I should be, along with their parents, their biggest advocate. Each child is so different. Each child learns, feels, understands, succeeds in different ways. It’s my job to make sure I understand and know each of my students and make it possible for them to have a successful year in my classroom. My professor in this course used great readings and videos to really get my excited about the rest of my Master’s program. I’m so glad that this class was at the beginning of my program because it was so engaging and probably the class that gave me the most information that I could apply to my classroom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this course and in a couple of other courses I have taken, we discussed the importance of inclusion in the classroom. To be honest, before starting my Master’s program, I’m not sure if I had a strong opinion one way or another about inclusion. I don’t think I had yet had an experience where inclusion came into question. CEP 840 and my other courses really helped me to understand the importance of inclusion. Over the course of my program, my opinion has definitely become more defined and I know the importance of inclusion for our students in the general education program. In CEP 840, I was also introduced to Assistive Technology and learned how this can help our students. I immediately began using different Assistive Technology with some of my students. I have found with many of the things I’ve learned about in my program, the can be used for students with special needs AND general education students.

 

In CEP 841, I learned a great deal about Positive Behavioral Intervention Support (PBIS) and the inclusive classroom. This class just reiterated the importance of the inclusive classroom and gave me specific strategies for teaching students in the inclusive classroom. For me, this class would have been extremely helpful if I took it one year earlier. I took this class the summer after having one of the most challenging students of my career. He had a lot of different needs and challenging behavior, but I was happy that I had already started my program and was able to implement different strategies while teaching him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prior to CEP 841, I must say I had not heard much about PBIS. I did a lot of reading on it and learned a great deal. PBIS is not just supposed to be implemented in the classroom, but in the whole school. It was great to learn about the success stories of schools that use PBIS. With PBIS, the students in the whole school know exactly what is expected of them and what standard they are held to. I learned a lot in this course and found myself implementing many different strategies.

 

As my MAED program comes to an end, I am wrapping it up with my Capstone Seminar ED 870. This course is the conclusion to my Master’s program and has allowed me to reflect on all of my previous courses and learning. I have been able to look at the collection of my projects, papers, and assignments. I have really and truly been able to reflect on my learning. I have looked at my assignments from my first class up until my last class and seen my growth as a learner and as an educator.

 

The MAED program has been challenging at times, but I have truly grown. I have great confidence that I have become a much better educator throughout the course of my program. One requirement of my Capstone Seminar was to think about my future as a learner. As I think about my future as a learner, I am excited for what is to come. When I started my MAED program, I would have never thought that I would learn as much as I have. I have found myself implementing strategies and techniques successfully that I have learned about. I am now able to advocate for my students. Before, I was not confident in my knowledge of disabilities or special needs. Now I am much more confident and that benefits my students in greatly. I am eager to learn more and continue to expand my knowledge. My new understanding of special needs extends past the classroom and into my family as well. I am able to help my cousin with special needs in ways I did not know how to before. I know that I will only continue to learn and to explore new information as my teaching career continues. As the world changes and grows, so must I as a teacher and a learner and I am enthusiastic about what is to come.

 

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