. . . Now What
The Hunt for What's Next
By Helen Smith
“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.”
– Helen Keller
None of us will ever stop being students, just as we will always be teachers as well. This does not mean that everyone sets out to take up the occupation of a teacher; however we will have to take up both of these roles multiple times throughout our lives. Training new employees, raising children, being trained in a new job, watching the discovery channel; education is an ongoing process we must all navigate. This has become even clearer to me during my time in the Masters of Arts in Education (MAED) program, broadening my own belief about learning, as well as defining future goals to achieve.
My original interest in the MAED program through Michigan State University came about from the fact that it was a completely online degree. This fit my situation perfectly as I am currently teaching overseas and would not be able to attend classes in person or on campus. I was also intrigued to find out how the courses would be designed and what type of teaching models I would come in contact with as this was my first experience with online courses. This became even more important to me as various circumstances in my own school (flooding) caused extended periods of time where our students were not able to attend classes in person and our school as a whole went to online learning. I found that the information presented within the courses I was taking was not the only thing beneficial to my teaching, but also how to organize and carry out online learning became crucial to me.
While taking the various courses involved in the MAED program, I was surprised and encouraged to see that even my professors were still growing and changing their own courses to fit the new information and technology available to teachers. Not only was new technology introduced to the students, but professors would often ask the students if they had any experience that may be helpful. Courses were moved to individual websites and the technology routinely engaged with in class was broadened with each new class. The fact that the professors themselves were still learning and adapting to this new way of teaching made the instructors a lot more relatable to me, deepening my own resolve to always continue looking for new ways to improve my own classroom, once again reiterating that learning is never finished.
I also discovered that I really enjoy playing around with new technology as well as trying out new teaching models. Originally I had always felt a little guilty when I just played around with something new, always feeling that there was something else I should be doing, using my time better. However, CEP 818 Creativity in Teaching and Learning really validated the idea that play is a genuine way to learn, as well as having some very creative results. Through playing around with new concepts presented in the MAED program, I have now incorporated things such as Glogster, Photo Story, PALS, and Inquiry based teaching into my classroom on a regular basis. Play itself has also become an invaluable teaching tool within my classroom.
As far as formal education in my future, I would like to eventually get an addition to my Elementary Education degree, in the subject area of science. Hindsight is twenty twenty, as they say, it was not until I actually started teaching science to my students did I realize I had such a passion in this area. However, I do not see my education stopping at formal education, but I also plan on searching out new programs on my own, participating in the ERICOS conferences, and I have already been asked to lead some Professional Development sessions on what I have learned and how to incorporate technology practically into the classroom. In order to lead these sessions I will have to make sure I am completely knowledgeable in these areas as well, having to do research on my own.
The MAED program opened my eyes to how much technology is continually changing, as well as formally introducing me to the major reforms coming our way. All of this really motivated me to stay caught up on current practices, continually evaluate my own knowledge, and avidly search for new information, practices and technology. I have made the decision to not just be a teacher who is an accidental learner, but become an avid learner who uses this information to teach her class.