SYNTHESIS ESSAY
Experiencing Education, Inspiration, Learning and Change through the MAED
In the world of education, it is essential that teachers be willing to continually learn new things for their own benefit and for their students’ benefit. Whether I am in the classroom or at home reading and doing my own research, I find that I learn something new about myself, my students, the curriculum or teaching in general every day. This is important to me because I know that learning new things will help me to continually grow as an educator and be able to provide the best differentiated instruction as possible for my students. It’s this aspect of education that really pushed me into completing my master’s degree through Michigan State University (MSU). I realized that it was one thing to take it upon myself to try and learn as many new things as possible during my first two years of teaching, but that there was a whole other level of learning that I had yet to achieve through graduate level courses.
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At first, the thought of returning to college was overwhelming and even seemed kind of impossible. I was in my second year of teaching 2nd grade at a small Catholic school where I was the sole second grade teacher. Returning to MSU to complete my master’s degree had always been a one of my biggest goals, but at the time it seemed like a crazy idea to add yet another thing to my already long list of responsibilities. I wrestled with whether or not I should pursue it for a few months before my husband finally put it all into perspective for me. He sat down with me one night after school and asked me to think back on the last time I was both teaching and taking classes at the same time and remember how I felt, in reference to my year-long internship. I told him that while it was stressful and a lot of work, I had learned so much and grew tremendously as an educator that year because I was able to put what I was learning into action immediately after learning it. As we continued talking, I also remembered how much I had learned and understood more deeply when given the opportunity to reflect on it all with classmates and expert instructors who pushed my thinking and supported my learning.
It was after that conversation with my husband (who really does know me better than I know myself sometimes) I realized how important it was for me to return to MSU and complete my master’s degree. If I wanted to grow even more as a professional educator, then it was something that I needed to do. So, I sat down one weekend in March 2016 and filled out the application and wrote my goal statement for the Masters of Arts in Education (MAED) program at MSU. It was the first essay that I had written in over three years and even though I was nervous at first, once I began and my goals started flowing out into the essay, I felt confident and excited to continue my journey of education.
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While writing this synthesis essay, almost two years later, I have thought a lot about how the MAED program has changed me as a lifelong learner and professional educator. Throughout each and every course I have taken in the MAED program, I have learned essential and valuable information that has transformed the way I view literacy instruction and technology integration. I have also experienced authentic applications of the knowledge learned, shared and discussed in my courses. Lastly, I have learned how to effectively reflect on my own learning and teaching practices with the help of classmates and instructors who challenged me in ways that were necessary to help me grow.
One of the courses that transformed my thinking and teaching practice was TE 846 (Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners). With Literacy Education as my primary concentration, I elected to take this specific course because I wanted to be more knowledgeable about providing the best possible differentiated literacy instruction for all students. Literacy instruction and assessment are an essential part of the K-5 classroom, so understanding best practices for accommodating literacy learners was very important to me. In addition, I lacked understanding of exactly how to use literacy assessments to guide my instruction. There are a myriad of literacy assessments for teachers to use when determining specific learning objectives for individual learners and planning subsequent instruction. I had attempted to learn about these assessments on my own and use them in my classroom, but without the guidance of an expert, I fell short in analyzing the assessments and planning from them. TE 846 turned out to be just the course I needed in order to more thoroughly understand everything associated with literacy instruction and assessment practices.
Throughout TE 846, I learned more about five broad topical areas and the associated literacy instruction and assessment practices: cultural and linguistic differences, individual motivation differences, neuropsychological differences, instructional arrangements to accommodate learning differences, and required components of effective literacy instruction. Over the course of the semester, through assigned readings, discussions and reflections, I was able to directly apply new knowledge of the aforementioned areas and their integral relationship to my own literacy instruction and assessment practices. I was also able to determine which assessments would be best for my students based on their characteristics as readers, ranging in development from early to transitional and fluent readers. The knowledge I gained about literacy instruction and assessment practices in this course culminated in one of the projects I consider to be my favorite - the Literacy Learner Analysis project. Since I took TE 846 during a summer semester, I had the chance to work one-on-one with a former student without any external distractions. I was able to solely focus on planning pre- and post-assessments for her, as well as analyzing that data to determine learning objectives and subsequent differentiated instruction for her, all based off of what I was currently learning and discussing in the course.
Another course that challenged my thinking and helped me better understand my students’ behavior and motivation was CEP 802 (Developing Positive Attitudes for Learning). This course was incredibly eye-opening for me and truly transformed how I now view my role as an educator in developing student motivation. Before taking this course, I understood student motivation as something students had, whether it was a lot, a little or none at all. I believed, to some degree, that students coming into my classroom had some form or level of motivation and I would have to work with whatever form or level they had. Throughout CEP 802, I learned a great deal about three major theoretical perspectives of motivation: behavioral, intrinsic motivation, and the cognitive-developmental model. Working with a small group, we examined each perspective and designed appropriate intervention strategies based on real students in our classrooms and assessments of their motivation to learn. It was through the development of these intervention strategies that I gained valuable knowledge of how and when each approach would be beneficial and supportive of students struggling in a classroom. I learned when and how a behavioral approach would be most effective; when and how intrinsic motivational strategies could be used to engage students more actively in learning; and how an individual’s thoughts and beliefs can have a critical role in motivation, attitudes, and subsequent learning. In addition, it is now clear to me that, as an educator, I have the ability to positively or negatively influence and develop my students’ motivation. I must be mindful of how my words and actions affect their thoughts and beliefs about themselves as learners.
While learning about the aforementioned theoretical perspectives through course readings and small group work, I was also gathering data on a student for a Motivational Design Project. First, I selected a student who was struggling with writing in my 2nd grade classroom and then I used various motivational assessments to determine which approach would be the most beneficial for his specific learning and motivational needs. From there, using the TARGET framework, I analyzed the tasks, authority, recognition, grouping, evaluation, and time all associated with specific writing tasks in the classroom. To gather additional data, I observed and analyzed the classroom environment and other external factors. Finally, I interviewed the student to gain a more personal understanding of how he viewed himself as a learner and what his beliefs and feelings about writing were. From all of this data, I created and implemented a cognitive-developmental intervention strategy based specifically on the motivational needs of my struggling student. This project taught me how to positively develop and support my students’ attitudes for learning in ways that are productive, constructive, and beneficial. CEP 802 greatly shaped how I now view my role as an educator in supporting and developing my students’ motivation; rather than becoming frustrated or losing patience when faced with a difficult student or situation, I now have the tools and knowledge to effectively assess and analyze the information and plan out an individualized motivational strategy.
Although the majority of my courses in the MAED program focused on literacy education, I also wanted to become more knowledgeable about technology integration. There were several courses offered through the MAED Technology and Learning concentration that piqued my interest, however, I chose to take CEP 805 (Learning Mathematics with Technology). My main reason for taking this specific course was the fact that mathematics has always been a challenge for me, as a learner and as a teacher. In my own classroom, teaching math successfully to all of my students, who vary in their individuals abilities and needs, has been a challenge. Furthermore, all my students have their own school iPads through a 1:1 iPad program and I was looking to gain a more solid understand of the best ways to integrate technology into the math curriculum. CEP 805 provided me with exactly what I needed to accomplish these two goals. This course significantly increased my knowledge of the interaction between the mathematical domains and how technology supports and extends the teaching and learning of those domains. I also learned much more about the cognitive and social processes related to the learning of mathematical content in elementary classrooms. Rather than viewing the teaching and learning of math as rote, boring and only completed with paper and pencil, CEP 805 taught me how math can become more interesting, interactive, and engaging through technology integration.
As the final project for CEP 805, I created an Online Resource Library (ORL) containing thoroughly researched and analyzed technology tools and resources for grades K-5. Over the course of the semester, I collaborated with several other teachers in a small group. Each unit focused on a specific content area of mathematics and various technologies that could be used to support and extend learning in that area. My group members and I worked together each week to select technology tools interesting to us and evaluate them, sharing our results on a Wiki blog. After each individual evaluation, we would reflect on the evaluations, deciding whether or not the tools would be useful for helping students learn the mathematics in a particular domain. It was from these small group collaborations, evaluations, discussions, and reflections that I was able to gather technology tools and resources proven to be effective for the Online Resource Library I created. My ORL also showcased the knowledge I gained about the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) and the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (PSSM). Through the completion of this project, my own learning and understanding of the mathematical content areas significantly increased, and has helped me better prepare to teach the content areas to my students. In addition, I gained valuable knowledge of how to integrate technology into a math curriculum in ways that best support my students’ learning.
As my time in the Master of Arts in Education program comes to an end, I am excited at all of the valuable and transformative knowledge I have learned, the authentic and applicable experiences I have had, and all of the possibilities my future now holds because of this program. I leave with a much more well defined and understood set of strategies, techniques, and resources that will assist me in being the best teacher I can be for any students who are a part of my classroom. Finally, I am completing this program with a renewed sense of confidence in myself as a lifelong learner and professional educator. The skills that I have learned, the knowledge I have gained, and my confidence that has been restored are invaluable and I look forward to continuing my journey of educating, inspiring, learning and changing!