CHANGING ROLES, UNCHANGING GOALS
Goals Reflection Essay
Narrowing My Focus
I thought about pursuing a master’s degree for a few years before I finally applied to Michigan State University’s Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program. I have always loved learning and knew that taking a formal approach would best support the teachers and students I served. When I first started thinking about going back to school, I struggled to narrow where I wanted to focus my learning. Because my career in education has been nontraditional, I considered whether I wanted to get a degree that aligned with the nonprofit side of my career, my work in data and evaluation, or my interests in curriculum and instruction. I spent time reflecting with my colleagues, friends, and family to uncover my real passions: science education and technology. Michigan State’s MAED program was the best fit with the Science and Mathematics Education and the Technology and Learning concentrations.
Initial Goals
Keeping in mind these concentrations, I shared two goals in my MAED application:
When I started as a science teacher, I had rich content knowledge through my undergraduate studies but no formal education in pedagogy. Through the MAED program, I wanted to develop my pedagogical knowledge to improve my science curriculum design for students. I also hoped to learn more about the research behind the work to help teachers with implementation.
Goal 1: Design effective science curricula for students and teachers based on exemplary practices and research
Goal 2: Leverage technology to engage adult learners and meet their learning needs
This goal was grounded in my work at a national teacher leadership nonprofit. We were nascent in utilizing technology for blended learning, and I wanted both to expand my knowledge of educational technology design/evaluation and to apply my experiences as an online learner to improve the design of our online content.
Reflection
At their cores, my goals are largely the same now as they were before. It was interesting to re-read my goals statement and see how I specifically linked my goals to my role at the time. During my second semester, I changed jobs, and my new work brings me even closer to these goals. My coursework reminded me how much I love science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and inspired me to move into a position where a primary function is developing STEM curricula. The initial focus of my second goal was on technology and adult learning. Effectively leveraging educational technology is still one of my goals, but my lens has shifted more towards student learning and less on adult learning. Rather than working in teacher leader professional development, I now support the development and execution of pre-college programs for middle and high school students. I do consider the learning needs of our temporary teaching staff, but my primary audience is students in grades 6-12. We are trying to bring more technology into our programming, so this goal remains at the forefront of my work.
The MAED program has developed my pedagogical and technological knowledge, and I am eager to continue this learning in the years to come. I have seen changes in my approaches to curriculum development and am more strategic in incorporating technology in course design. I believe that learning is an endless journey, and I am excited to continue my development to reach these goals.