The (Not So) Scary Master’s Degree

 

Going to school and pursuing my own education has always been something that I have valued.  When I was young, I was taught by my parents that school mattered.  I knew that I needed to do well in elementary and middle school to build a foundation for my learning.  I knew that doing well in high school would ensure that I was able to attend a good college.  Finally, I knew that being successful in earning my college degree would lead me to having a desirable career.  As I look back now, almost to the end of my master’s program, I realize that I had never truly thought about what was beyond that college degree until very recently. 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although I have always valued education, when I first started to think about earning a master’s degree, I didn’t view it in the same way that I had all my other schooling.  I have a vivid memory from when I was about fourteen years old.  My family and I were at a family reunion and I was listening to my cousin (also a teacher)  inform the family of how her master’s program was going.  At the time, I remember thinking to myself, “How does any person work a full time job and go to college at the same time?”.  From that moment on, any time I heard the word “master’s” I felt nervous and intimidated.  A few years later, when I decided to pursue a degree in teaching, I did not piece together the fact that that would almost inevitably mean getting a master’s degree.

 

Throughout the process of earning my undergraduate degree, I remained in denial and always thought about my master’s as this far off event that I did not need to worry about yet.  In 2019, when I realized that it was time to face reality, I began the process of applying for my master’s.  Choosing the correct program was not a quick or easy decision.  I thought long and hard about what I really wanted to get out of my master’s.  For the first time in my educational career, I wasn’t being guided by an advisor or school requirements.  I was choosing exactly what I wanted to learn.  In this way, although getting my master’s degree was scary to me, it was also exciting because I was able to forge my own path for my learning.  

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I finally decided on a Master of Arts in Education degree with a focus on literacy.  I felt that this path would help to best meet my needs as an educator.  I knew that I wanted to learn about classroom management, behavior management, and classroom psychology, but I also wanted to improve upon my abilities as an English Language Arts (ELA) teacher.  Once my master’s program officially started, I began to notice some specific changes in myself:  

 

• My Outlook

• My Decisiveness

• My Ability to Step Out of My Comfort Zone

 

My Outlook

 

One major change that I noticed was the way in which I viewed the process of earning my master’s degree.  I started out feeling terrified to take on this challenge, but what I found was that, although my program was challenging, it was incredibly rewarding to learn how to be a better or more successful teacher, while teaching kids.  I could apply what I was learning to my job.  The readings, discussion posts, and papers kept me up late at night, but they also offered me different ideas for my classroom or solutions to problems that I was experiencing with students.  I really felt like what I was doing was worthwhile.

 

One class in particular that helped me to see how important and beneficial this degree would be was called TE (Teacher Education) 846 Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners.  The purpose of this course was to learn how to help struggling readers and writers in the classroom.  I found out early in the course that our main project would involve working one-on-one with a focus student to provide interventions, lessons, and a text set to help improve this student’s reading or writing abilities.  This was one of the many occasions that I found myself reevaluating how I felt about getting a master’s degree.  This degree, though intimidating, was helping me to become a better educator and it was therefore benefitting my students as well.  The main project for this course only required me to spend my time and energy working with one student.  However, it prepared me to complete the same process with other struggling readers and writers throughout the year.  It provided me with ideas and tools for how to learn more about my students and how to use that information to provide meaningful, individualized instruction.  This course motivated me to spend my limited time outside of work finding ways to help my students and I am a better educator for it.  In this way, my view of a master’s degree has changed entirely.

 

My Decisiveness

 

Another change that I have seen in myself throughout the process of earning my master’s degree is in my decisiveness and how that has led me to be a more effective teacher.  To explain what I mean by this, I want to rewind to my undergraduate degree.  During these years at Michigan State University (MSU) I felt as though I learned about so many different ways to do my current job.  I learned different approaches to building relationships, I learned various ways to teach the core subjects, I learned all different styles of classroom management, etc.  It felt like there was so much to choose from that I wasn’t quite sure what I actually wanted.  Then, I began my internship year and strictly followed the beliefs of my mentor teacher.  I learned so much from her style of teaching, but I didn’t feel as though I would approach every aspect of teaching in the same way that she did.  Once I began my first teaching job, I felt the way that I did during my undergraduate years.  There were so many possibilities and I struggled to decide how best to run my classroom.  As I progressed through my master’s program, I began to notice this feeling of uncertainty fading.  This program allowed me to choose courses that focused on specific areas that I knew I wanted to improve in or solidify my practice in.  I was able to find answers to all of those previous uncertainties and that allowed me to set more definitive and clear goals for my classroom.

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One specific course that helped me with this process was CEP (Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education) 883 Psychology of Classroom Discipline.  This course helped me to think about the environment that I have created in my classroom and how to potentially improve upon it.  At the time that I was taking this course, I felt as though my classroom environment was not where I wanted it to be and that was due to the way that I was managing my classroom.  I was teaching a group of students who were challenging me in ways that classes in the past had not.  I started to have that overwhelmed feeling, not knowing how to help myself, but this course provided  me with tools to get past that.  My final project for the course involved creating my own plan for classroom management.  I was able to take specific ideas and practices that I had learned from this course and apply them to the current situation in my classroom.  What I found was that this course forced me to be decisive and put a plan in place to solve the problems that I was having.  It offered me specific ways to create clear expectations and provide helpful interventions to my students.  I think sometimes as teachers, we worry about so many things at once that it’s hard to fix everything at once.  This course helped me to make this a priority, to be decisive, and to put a new and more effective classroom management plan in place.

 

Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone

 

Perhaps the most exciting change that I have seen in myself throughout earning my master’s degree is the way that it has forced me to step outside of my comfort zone as a teacher and as a learner.  For starters, completing this program was challenging, but it was a choice.  I did not have to get my master’s degree, but I decided to push myself and take on this challenge.  I stepped outside of my comfort zone and began going to school while teaching even though, initially, it scared me.  This program also challenged me to try new things in my classroom or school building that I otherwise may not have done.  I was able to do things like help run our building Peer-to-Peer program, and help my building develop a system of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) after learning about it from one of my courses.  I used the “CHAMPS” method to develop specific classroom expectations for each part of the day in the classroom.  The list goes on!  What I most appreciate though are some of the diverse materials that I have been introduced to.  These materials have helped me to become a better learner and a better teacher.  Without certain classes, I would never have read or viewed some of my new favorite stories.   

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One course in particular that I felt really pushed me outside of my comfort zone was TE 849 Methods and Materials for Teaching Children’s and Adolescent Literature.  I didn’t go into this course expecting to grow as a person and as a teacher.  The purpose of the course was to read a variety of literature that involved main characters who are typically marginalized or underrepresented in society.  I read about refugees throughout different periods of time, suicidal children, Muslims in America, and transgender teenagers to name a few.  Through reading these books I was pushed to think about what sort of people and storylines I expose myself to as well as what I expose my students to.  Throughout the course I thought deeply about the concept of relatability and whether or not it was necessary in the texts that we read with students.  What I found was that relatability is synonymous with comfort in the district where I teach.  I was always in search of stories that engaged my students because they could find similarities between themselves and the characters or the storyline.  What I learned from this course is that I should be searching for stories that challenge my students, just like the stories I read for this course challenged me.  Being exposed to diversity and different kinds of stories will help my students develop curiosity, empathy, and understanding towards those who are different from themselves.  By stepping out of my comfort zone in this class, I became a better educator and a better person.

 

The End (For Now)

 

Reflecting back on my whole educational experience, I’m beginning to see that my master’s program was not all that different from the rest of my time in school.  When I was in elementary school, middle school felt scary.  When I was in middle school, high school felt scary.  Finally, when I was in high school, college felt scary.  These experiences are all similar in this way.  After each stage of schooling, I learned, grew, and bettered myself in some way, just like I did with my master’s program.  I think what sets this program apart was that it was a choice.  No one forced me to get my master’s, it was something that I wanted to do, even if it felt scary at first.  As I come to the end of my Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program, I can now see that it wasn’t so scary and that it is an experience that I am beyond grateful to have had.  Now, I look forward to what comes next in my journey of learning.