It has been a short two years since I began my classes at MSU to earn my Master’s of Education degree. In that short two years I have been busy, very busy, getting “life done” in many ways. I was laid-off from my position. My youngest son almost died in a drowning accident. We bought a new house out in the country. We got a new dog- a Silver Lab named Perry- who just this week disappeared and has not come home. Our family has been to Disney and back and subsequently gone into Disney-Debt. And, last but definitely not least, I was rehired in the same position, in the same school, teaching the same classes; only having lost a bit of money and time in the interim. It has been a very busy time for our family. And through all of the ebbs and flows of life, I have been taking classes and teaching and using everything I was going through to relate, enhance and re-imagine education for myself and my students. How does this, in any way relate to a paper which I wrote two years ago revolving around my professional goals? Well, life is peculiar in many ways, but faith, open-mindedness and dedication are tools which I have used to hone my professional abilities, nurture learning and grow as a professional; all of these represented in my original essay. All of the ups and downs of the recent past drove me to work harder and keep the belief that I was going to do well, and through my efforts, my students would benefit...something which was evident in my essay from two years ago.
The last two years I have never lost faith. I kept faith in God and my own abilities to overcome and do well with the resources I was given; whether my resources were limited or not, did not matter. In my original essay, I wrote “A Master’s Degree will provide me with invaluable tools to help achieve both goals and create a better teacher; one that exemplifies a passion for learning and is not an anonymous face in a sea of educators.” I know that I am much less anonymous now, and it is much easier to relate to and enhance my students’ learning since I can closely relate to what many go through in terms of hardships and tough times. I also feel that anonymity as an educator does not allow one to make connections to students and their experience(s); this limits the ability to reach students and push them to learn. My striving to achieve my degree and push myself, all the while going through tough times, gives me credibility others do not have.
My main focus in my Goals Essay from the start of my degree was to hone my craft as a teacher. I feel as if I have done this and, since our craft is one of practice, I anticipate my skills will continue to grow over time. Initially I wanted to become equipped with the latest methods and techniques in my my efforts to hone my skills, and I feel as if this has been something which I have definitely done. I have learned of new technologies, methods and approaches which benefit not only special education students, but those students in the general population as well. My journey to a Master’s of Education degree has been a part of a greater journey which has pushed me to appreciate time and use what I have learned to better my students’ lives as well as my own. I continue to push myself and my students to be inquisitive and work hard so that we can all appreciate our unique skills and talents and make the most of them; I did not state this explicitly in my original essay, but the spirit of this is expressed throughout and still exists today. I have met my original goals set forth in my essay from two years ago, but am still working on them, and, although I did not get there the way I thought I would, I am a better professional for it.