Where Am I Going and Where Have I Been?

     Rewind back to a day in April, 2014 where I sat contemplating what to do with my life. I had completed my student teaching at Michigan State University (MSU) two years earlier and had yet to find a job as an elementary teacher. I wanted to continue my education once I attained a job, but time was passing and I felt myself removed from education. This is when I decided to continue my education by applying to the Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program with a concentration in math and science.

     My goals upon applying for the MAED program were career acquisition-oriented. I did not have a teaching job and was lacking experience. I hoped that the decision to continue my education would help counteract my lack of experience. My first goal focused on developing my personal teaching style. At that point, I possessed strategies and skills to teach diverse learners, but only had a limited chance to use these during my internship. I hoped the MAED program would give me the opportunity to learn more skills and provide chances to practice them. My second goal was to expand my knowledge of science and mathematics education. The concentration for my Bachelor was Integrated Science. Knowing how important mathematics education is today, I thought increasing my knowledge of science and math would help me attain a job. My final goal was to increase my network of professional educators and learners. I knew I would be given the chance to meet other professionals in my MAED classes whom I could make connections with and possibly help me attain a job.

     These goals have not changed since applying to the MAED program, rather I have made progress towards them and have developed new goals. Six months after applying to the MAED program, I attained a teaching job for Holt Public schools, which allowed me to make progress towards my goals. I have had a chance to develop my personal teaching style by having a classroom where I can implement strategies acquired from MAED classes. I also increased my knowledge of math and science education because this year I teach science and math and have now taken three MAED classes in science and math education. I have also made a network of professionals through my coworkers and classmates. In addition to making progress with my goals, I have also developed new goals. For the last two years, I teamed up with PHD students at MSU to conduct research regarding how students make sense of science and teachers elicit and respond to their sense-making. This has sparked interest and I now have a goal of writing a research paper that will get published in a national journal. After teaching math this year, I have realized how much I enjoy it and would like to become better at it. Therefore, I now have a goal to become certified to teach math.

     Since my application to MSU’s MAED program, my life has changed in various ways. These changes have allowed me to make progress and achieve some of my goals. I have also been able to develop more specific new goals in regards to becoming certified to teach math and increasing my professional network by coauthoring a science education article to hopefully be published.