My decision to apply to the Master of Arts degree in Education at Michigan State University came before I completed my first year of teaching. I knew that I wanted to further my education to better myself for my students. I knew that I wanted to expand my knowledge of the educational field and I believed that completing this program would improve my overall teaching. I choose the Master of Arts degree in Education program because it allowed me to continue teaching and provided flexibility in balancing my work as a teacher and a student. I believed this program would allow me to push myself professionally and challenge myself academically.

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      When I first started the program, my goal was focused on special education from the categorical classroom point of view. Specifically, I wanted to focus on literacy, an area that I struggled to find a balance with my first year teaching. This was also an area where I felt that I had little knowledge. In enrolling in this program, my goal was to learn skills and strategies to differentiate my literacy instruction to best support all types of learners in my current and future classrooms. I hoped to become highly qualified and effective at implementing reading and writing instructional strategies, assessments, and best practices.

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            My goal of gaining knowledge and becoming more comfortable with literacy instruction was met! This may come as a surprise since none of my classes directly related to literacy. Two courses specifically helped me work on the structure of my classroom in order to balance my teaching subjects along with the many needs of my students. The first course was Educating Students with Challenging Behavior. This course explored the various ways that I can support students that display challenging behaviors and help them succeed. In addition to that, we learned many different evidence based teaching practices that are effective in dealing with students that present with challenging behaviors. The second course was Classroom and Behavior Management in the Inclusive Classroom. This course helped me understand the essential role of leadership in the classroom and to understand the role of classroom management as one of prevention. This course focused on the importance of Positive Behavior interventions and how to develop my own habits of behavior for thinking about instructional practices that meet the needs of students.

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​      As my education with this program is coming to a close, I feel that I have successfully mastered my goals. I am feeling more confident in implementing literacy best practices. I also feel that I have a better understanding and vision of how I want literacy to look like in my classroom. With all my students having individual education plans (IEP), it makes it difficult sometimes to plan lessons but through the courses I have taken, I feel that I can effectively support all students on a much better level.

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      One can never be done learning. I do believe that I have successfully mastered what I set out to achieve, but my learning won’t end here. I will continue to educate myself on best teaching practices. I would like to work towards a graduate certificate, because there is more I want to learn and I enjoy taking classes and meeting other learners.