How Many Times Can a Teacher Change Her Goal?
By: Jane Reynolds
I knew that I always wanted to be the best teacher that I could possibly be. I wanted to be the best, who wouldn't? I had a lot of trouble learning how to read as a young child. The teachers that I worked closely with inspired me to become a teacher. Once I completed my teaching program, finished my student teaching, and was more than half way through my first year teaching, I realized there was much more that I needed to learn in order to be the best that I possibly could be.
When initially applying for the MAED program I wanted to become the best reading teacher that I could become; I wanted to be like those teachers that taught me and who inspired me to become a teacher. My goal was simple, I thought.
After my first course, I realized that I was learning a lot about teaching. But was this going to help me become a better reading teacher? Yes, my program is focused on literacy, but should I be aiming higher? Not only did I realize that I wanted to become the best reading teacher that I could be, but I wanted to become the most effective teacher all around. Change number one.
I continued to take classes one at a time through my second and third years of teaching. During this time I worked very closely with the two literacy facilitators who worked at my school. Through working with them, and continuing the MAED program my goal changed for a second time. I was becoming a very effective teacher, but now realized that if I could become a literacy facilitator, or some kind of support for teachers, that I would be able to share everything that I had learned with more people. Not only would more teachers learn about literacy education, but this in turn would mean that more students would be getting a quality education. Change number two.
After my third year teaching, I picked up and moved back to my home state of Michigan without the promise of a teaching job. Miraculously, I quickly landed a very challenging teaching position. As I am completing the MAED program, my goal has slightly changed again. Yes, I think that being a literacy facilitator would be an amazing opportunity, but I also think that working with failing schools to determine how to raise the literacy rates would also be something that I want to do. Change number three.
When I first started the program my goals stayed inside my classroom. Slowly the goal spread to a school level, and then most recently, to a district level. There is so much that I have learned about being an effective teacher that I want to share this with as many teachers as I can. I am truly hoping that after completing this program that I will be able to move into a facilitator or coordinator position.