I Took a Different Path
by Richard A. Miller
Marketing is something which I have some experience with. As a general manager of Applebee's and Pizza Hut, I was expected to do local market analysis, determine what would impress and promote our brand in the area I was doing business in, and highlight what made my perspective brand standout or surpass the competition. When I came into the teaching field, I figured that there was not a lot of difference between "slinging" burgers and pizzas and trying to sell myself: show what is good and positive, accentuate strengths and promote what I had that I knew others were looking for. For the most part I was absolutely correct, and it paid off. I was able to use my strengths in communication skills and personal interaction to convince several hiring committees that I was the man for the job at their school. Then the reality of having my own classroom hit me.
That first year was very fun for me, but I have never faced a more challenging environment. One must consider that I came from an environment (restaurants) which was supposed to be hectic and chaotic, full of noise and commotion. People working on a myriad of different tasks, performing at all levels of skill and ability. Fast paced and dynamic are words often used to describe the restaurant business. I had spent years in this environment, and when I entered the teaching field, I was expecting the classroom to be a different animal of sorts, more calm and quiet/subdued...but it wasn't at all! It was very much the same in so many ways. Many of the skills I developed in restaurant management were transferable to the classroom; I was able to make the transition more easily because of this and I realized just how difficult it must be for younger, more inexperienced teachers to begin in this business of education. I managed to finish that first year successfully and was able to reflect on it in very positive ways, even looking forward to what the future held for me. That is where I began to develop an idea of what I wanted my path in teaching to look like. I was incorporating my past experiences with new ones which I was accumulating and developing a new identity for myself. This new Me was based on managing people, teaching people and growing people to reach their potential; but when I considered exactly where I would be in 10-15 years, I was not sure if I would be in a leadership position (Principal?) or if I would still be a classroom teacher. I initially saw myself using the management skills I had acquired and taking the path of Educational Administration.
At that point in my career, my tendency was to go back to my marketing background- something which made me feel comfortable, and I was familiar with the frame of thinking. I would get a degree which would be marketable and useful to promote myself and my career. Who cares if you are doing something which is "enjoyable," or "personally fulfilling?" What I foresaw was more a future of success based on job-goals, seen from a business acumen, never really considering that teaching is a job which fulfills the teacher as much as it does the student. So my marketing-oriented mind won out, and I was going to get my Post Graduate Degree in Educational Leadership, go on to be an Assistant Principal or Principal and then maybe even become a Superintendent. It took the next two years of teaching in the classroom to make me realize that I was basing my decision on the wrong motivations. Indeed, I would need to consider a different path; one which did not take me to the place I had originally thought or desired. The students had affected me. They had taught me that I desired to learn more about HOW to teach, about what was available to aid in my teaching and I now knew that the reason I liked going to work was not summers off, "short" days (I still work 10 hour days!), or "cushy" job environments, I was enjoying the exchange which occurred between the learners and myself. I didn't want to administrate the teachers, I wanted to teach the people!
After three years of actual teaching, I was now ready to commit to taking classes and getting my Master's Degree in education...not Administration. I am taking the foundation which I have developed over the past 19 years to build my New Self. This New Self would be student-focused and intrinsically motivated to provide for many students and their futures. I was very confident in my approach to getting my degree, and am still very sure of why I have chosen the particular path which I have, and, now that I am reaching the culmination of my degree, have had this thought process reinforced by several classes and instructors here at MSU. Please allow me to highlight a few of these classes and instructors and mention just how they made me realize that my choice to focus on the students and their growth, rather than the marketing of my own particular acquired skills, was the correct path to take.
Please allow me to begin by lifting-up a particular professor, Dr. Carol Englert. I was privileged to have Dr. Englert as my professor for three different classes which I have taken here at MSU: CEP 840- Policies and Perspectives on Special Education, CEP 804a- Literacy Instruction for Students with Mild Disabilities, and CEP 801a- Consutation in Special Education. In all three classes Dr. Englert epitomized the ideals, ideas, methods and approaches which a teacher (not just a special education teacher) should use when teaching a class. I like to think that Dr. Englert was there to teach people, not a subject, and this was always in her attitude and approach towards her students. I was through her teaching, supportive attitude and challenging instruction that Dr. Englert personified the way in which an instructor can be "tough" while at the same time being supportive, caring and guiding in her ways. In terms of class content, all of the materials and topics which we covered in the courses were centered around special education and the differing faces which are encompassed in special education and inclusion classrooms. What Dr. Englert managed to accomplish was the incorporation of special education methods, policies and techniques in to forms which were highly effective in a general education room as well. She explained, guided and led students toward items and ways which were useful no matter what the teaching clientele or environment. All the while, this wonderful professor was able to reinforce in me the value of individual attention, attention to details and careful consideration of all parts of the classroom environment. From the personnel to the equipment, it all had a time, place and function which would produce an optimal result. I ended up using many of the testing, formatting and other methods/materials used in her courses in my own classroom. I would be remiss if I did not mention that Dr. Englert also took into consideration my own circumstances when I entered the program; I had been laid off and was working as a Para-Pro in a Cognitively Impaired, Self-Contained high school classroom at the time. Dr. Englert's courses, and the professor herself as well, were able to be customized for my own teaching environment. The courses which I took with Mrs. Englert were informative and challenging, but in the end, I found myself more sure that I wanted to pursue a degree which included special education in its focus. Through great teaching and mentoring, I took one more step towards knowing that the path I was undertaking was the right one for me; it just wasn't the one I initially thought I would be following.
The course which I feel has had the greatest impact upon my teaching and learning would have to be CEP 813- Electronic Portfolios. It was during this course that I found my interest in online learning begin to develop in ways I had never before thought of. I began to really see the possibilities of teaching courses which contained portions of the curricula online, or in some digital form. The horizon of possibilities expanded for me while I was learning just how amazingly "open" the learning could become using any number of online media and/or programs available (most of them for free!). As the semester advanced, I learned how powerful it could be to have students do writing online and collaborate with each other in a more modern and realistic way. A type of learning which the students feel comfortable with, and are more willing to share openly and be creative is what was shown to me at that time. This epiphany was not all that surprising, but when you don't know what you don't know, the moment you see the potentiality of what is available, it can be staggering; and at the same time invigorating and exciting. The creative potential of online learning was made much more clear during CEP813, and I am still discovering and exploring what the plausible uses for different sites are. From Weebly and Blackboards, to creating class Facebook pages, the prospects are abundant and only limited by imagination and creativity.
Next up on the Most Valuable Courses List would be CEP 801a- Consultation in Special Education. During the course of this class, I found that the value one places on your co-teacher(s) can be the "make or break" in a class. I was forced to take a long, hard look at how I was interacting with my co-teacher during this class. By allowing us, the students, to see what facets of working as a team were vital to the success of the students in the class, I came to realize areas of opportunity which I possessed in my own teaching. There also came moments of clarity which might have been overlooked or missed if I had not had had my attention focused on the interactions happening in my classroom. For example, I might not have taken the time to clarify my language (while planning lessons with my co-teacher), and misunderstandings of expectations might have been more numerous. CEP 801a gave me a greater appreciation of just how wonderful my working relationship with Mrs. Diewald (my co-teacher) is. This course was an "eye opener" for me as an individual teacher- I saw some of my own faults and began to realize how many opportunities I had in front of me which would allow my students to get more from our teaching.
Finally, I would like to make mention of CEP 840- Policies, Practices, and Perspectives in Special Education. This course made real for me the tremendous responsibilities which special education teachers have in regards to students' individual educations. It was during this course which I got my first exposure to an IEP form, the nuances which go in to accurately and correctly filling one out, and just how important it is not to lose sight of what the purpose of an IEP is...the student and his success, not paperwork and filling things out correctly. In many meetings which I have been privy, the focus is often not the student's learning, or how he might be making progress or not, but rather what forms are filed, how they are printed and if documents are present or not. While all of this is important (and during CEP 840 it is impressed upon the individual how important- or not- the paperwork is), the main goal of our craft is to expand the potential of individuals; to allow them to reach their highest peak of learning. This was the message which I walked away from the course with, and I am glad to have had the chance to direct my attention to subjects which are important to so many students in schools today.
I am a better teacher now. Not because I can market my skills more effectively or have more experience playing the political "game" which school sometimes can be. I am more skilled at my craft now because I have a clarity which I did not possess when I started this journey. I do not need to do market analysis or send out questionnaires to find out what my clients need or want. I no longer have to make phone calls, trying to convince someone I have never met, to buy my product. Now, I communicate with my clientele on a daily basis, finding out strengths and weaknesses, wants and desires, motivations and discouragements. I find and utilize the most current research and techniques to help my students reach their potentials. I have a better understanding of how to use tools available to me and when to employ methods of various types to the benefit of my students. Most of all, I don't need to use marketing techniques to prove that I am a good teacher; I simply need to show my passion for teaching, and my skill at what I do, to display what/who I am. The path which I took was different than that which I initially started down, but at end of this particular path I have chosen, I will be a better teacher and that will benefit all involved; the students, me and countless others whom I come in to contact with over the years.
That first year was very fun for me, but I have never faced a more challenging environment. One must consider that I came from an environment (restaurants) which was supposed to be hectic and chaotic, full of noise and commotion. People working on a myriad of different tasks, performing at all levels of skill and ability. Fast paced and dynamic are words often used to describe the restaurant business. I had spent years in this environment, and when I entered the teaching field, I was expecting the classroom to be a different animal of sorts, more calm and quiet/subdued...but it wasn't at all! It was very much the same in so many ways. Many of the skills I developed in restaurant management were transferable to the classroom; I was able to make the transition more easily because of this and I realized just how difficult it must be for younger, more inexperienced teachers to begin in this business of education. I managed to finish that first year successfully and was able to reflect on it in very positive ways, even looking forward to what the future held for me. That is where I began to develop an idea of what I wanted my path in teaching to look like. I was incorporating my past experiences with new ones which I was accumulating and developing a new identity for myself. This new Me was based on managing people, teaching people and growing people to reach their potential; but when I considered exactly where I would be in 10-15 years, I was not sure if I would be in a leadership position (Principal?) or if I would still be a classroom teacher. I initially saw myself using the management skills I had acquired and taking the path of Educational Administration.
At that point in my career, my tendency was to go back to my marketing background- something which made me feel comfortable, and I was familiar with the frame of thinking. I would get a degree which would be marketable and useful to promote myself and my career. Who cares if you are doing something which is "enjoyable," or "personally fulfilling?" What I foresaw was more a future of success based on job-goals, seen from a business acumen, never really considering that teaching is a job which fulfills the teacher as much as it does the student. So my marketing-oriented mind won out, and I was going to get my Post Graduate Degree in Educational Leadership, go on to be an Assistant Principal or Principal and then maybe even become a Superintendent. It took the next two years of teaching in the classroom to make me realize that I was basing my decision on the wrong motivations. Indeed, I would need to consider a different path; one which did not take me to the place I had originally thought or desired. The students had affected me. They had taught me that I desired to learn more about HOW to teach, about what was available to aid in my teaching and I now knew that the reason I liked going to work was not summers off, "short" days (I still work 10 hour days!), or "cushy" job environments, I was enjoying the exchange which occurred between the learners and myself. I didn't want to administrate the teachers, I wanted to teach the people!
After three years of actual teaching, I was now ready to commit to taking classes and getting my Master's Degree in education...not Administration. I am taking the foundation which I have developed over the past 19 years to build my New Self. This New Self would be student-focused and intrinsically motivated to provide for many students and their futures. I was very confident in my approach to getting my degree, and am still very sure of why I have chosen the particular path which I have, and, now that I am reaching the culmination of my degree, have had this thought process reinforced by several classes and instructors here at MSU. Please allow me to highlight a few of these classes and instructors and mention just how they made me realize that my choice to focus on the students and their growth, rather than the marketing of my own particular acquired skills, was the correct path to take.
Please allow me to begin by lifting-up a particular professor, Dr. Carol Englert. I was privileged to have Dr. Englert as my professor for three different classes which I have taken here at MSU: CEP 840- Policies and Perspectives on Special Education, CEP 804a- Literacy Instruction for Students with Mild Disabilities, and CEP 801a- Consutation in Special Education. In all three classes Dr. Englert epitomized the ideals, ideas, methods and approaches which a teacher (not just a special education teacher) should use when teaching a class. I like to think that Dr. Englert was there to teach people, not a subject, and this was always in her attitude and approach towards her students. I was through her teaching, supportive attitude and challenging instruction that Dr. Englert personified the way in which an instructor can be "tough" while at the same time being supportive, caring and guiding in her ways. In terms of class content, all of the materials and topics which we covered in the courses were centered around special education and the differing faces which are encompassed in special education and inclusion classrooms. What Dr. Englert managed to accomplish was the incorporation of special education methods, policies and techniques in to forms which were highly effective in a general education room as well. She explained, guided and led students toward items and ways which were useful no matter what the teaching clientele or environment. All the while, this wonderful professor was able to reinforce in me the value of individual attention, attention to details and careful consideration of all parts of the classroom environment. From the personnel to the equipment, it all had a time, place and function which would produce an optimal result. I ended up using many of the testing, formatting and other methods/materials used in her courses in my own classroom. I would be remiss if I did not mention that Dr. Englert also took into consideration my own circumstances when I entered the program; I had been laid off and was working as a Para-Pro in a Cognitively Impaired, Self-Contained high school classroom at the time. Dr. Englert's courses, and the professor herself as well, were able to be customized for my own teaching environment. The courses which I took with Mrs. Englert were informative and challenging, but in the end, I found myself more sure that I wanted to pursue a degree which included special education in its focus. Through great teaching and mentoring, I took one more step towards knowing that the path I was undertaking was the right one for me; it just wasn't the one I initially thought I would be following.
The course which I feel has had the greatest impact upon my teaching and learning would have to be CEP 813- Electronic Portfolios. It was during this course that I found my interest in online learning begin to develop in ways I had never before thought of. I began to really see the possibilities of teaching courses which contained portions of the curricula online, or in some digital form. The horizon of possibilities expanded for me while I was learning just how amazingly "open" the learning could become using any number of online media and/or programs available (most of them for free!). As the semester advanced, I learned how powerful it could be to have students do writing online and collaborate with each other in a more modern and realistic way. A type of learning which the students feel comfortable with, and are more willing to share openly and be creative is what was shown to me at that time. This epiphany was not all that surprising, but when you don't know what you don't know, the moment you see the potentiality of what is available, it can be staggering; and at the same time invigorating and exciting. The creative potential of online learning was made much more clear during CEP813, and I am still discovering and exploring what the plausible uses for different sites are. From Weebly and Blackboards, to creating class Facebook pages, the prospects are abundant and only limited by imagination and creativity.
Next up on the Most Valuable Courses List would be CEP 801a- Consultation in Special Education. During the course of this class, I found that the value one places on your co-teacher(s) can be the "make or break" in a class. I was forced to take a long, hard look at how I was interacting with my co-teacher during this class. By allowing us, the students, to see what facets of working as a team were vital to the success of the students in the class, I came to realize areas of opportunity which I possessed in my own teaching. There also came moments of clarity which might have been overlooked or missed if I had not had had my attention focused on the interactions happening in my classroom. For example, I might not have taken the time to clarify my language (while planning lessons with my co-teacher), and misunderstandings of expectations might have been more numerous. CEP 801a gave me a greater appreciation of just how wonderful my working relationship with Mrs. Diewald (my co-teacher) is. This course was an "eye opener" for me as an individual teacher- I saw some of my own faults and began to realize how many opportunities I had in front of me which would allow my students to get more from our teaching.
Finally, I would like to make mention of CEP 840- Policies, Practices, and Perspectives in Special Education. This course made real for me the tremendous responsibilities which special education teachers have in regards to students' individual educations. It was during this course which I got my first exposure to an IEP form, the nuances which go in to accurately and correctly filling one out, and just how important it is not to lose sight of what the purpose of an IEP is...the student and his success, not paperwork and filling things out correctly. In many meetings which I have been privy, the focus is often not the student's learning, or how he might be making progress or not, but rather what forms are filed, how they are printed and if documents are present or not. While all of this is important (and during CEP 840 it is impressed upon the individual how important- or not- the paperwork is), the main goal of our craft is to expand the potential of individuals; to allow them to reach their highest peak of learning. This was the message which I walked away from the course with, and I am glad to have had the chance to direct my attention to subjects which are important to so many students in schools today.
I am a better teacher now. Not because I can market my skills more effectively or have more experience playing the political "game" which school sometimes can be. I am more skilled at my craft now because I have a clarity which I did not possess when I started this journey. I do not need to do market analysis or send out questionnaires to find out what my clients need or want. I no longer have to make phone calls, trying to convince someone I have never met, to buy my product. Now, I communicate with my clientele on a daily basis, finding out strengths and weaknesses, wants and desires, motivations and discouragements. I find and utilize the most current research and techniques to help my students reach their potentials. I have a better understanding of how to use tools available to me and when to employ methods of various types to the benefit of my students. Most of all, I don't need to use marketing techniques to prove that I am a good teacher; I simply need to show my passion for teaching, and my skill at what I do, to display what/who I am. The path which I took was different than that which I initially started down, but at end of this particular path I have chosen, I will be a better teacher and that will benefit all involved; the students, me and countless others whom I come in to contact with over the years.