Evolving Goals for My MAED Experience
By Amanda Dennison
In September of 2010, I wrote a goal statement as a part of my application to MSU’s online Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program. At that time, I planned to pursue a concentration in Literacy, which I felt could not only improve my teaching in that area, but also create opportunities for future employment in related positions such as being a literacy coach or remedial teacher. I am so pleased I chose this concentration, as my literacy classes have been my favorites while at MSU. Though I already had a strong passion for teaching writing and reading, learning more about them has even further increased my drive to help students succeed in these areas. As far as career opportunities in literacy, only time will tell. I am currently expecting my second child, and therefore have chosen not to work full time during the coming school year in order to spend time raising my two young children.
One part of my experience at MSU that I did not anticipate at my time of application was choosing to also pursue a concentration in Special Education. I added this concentration upon being accepted to the program because of the trend toward inclusive classrooms but lag in proper training for educators. I found that the Special Education courses I took not only had great information about teaching students with special needs, but also accommodating the individual behavioral and academic needs of all students.
When I was an undergraduate several years ago, I did not take a single online course. (At that time, not many were offered!) However, I explained in my original goal statement that I felt that this online program would offer precisely the flexibility I needed at this point in my life, particularly living abroad, raising a baby (now toddler), and doing sporadic part-time work as well. While I have found online courses to be quite different than face-to-face, I still believe that this program was a perfect match for me at this point in my life. Particularly because of the understanding and maturity that has come from my teaching experience up to this point, I feel I was able to get the most out of my courses and will be able to better apply my learning in future teaching experiences.