ALL THAT MONEY ON A FANCY DEGREE...WAS IT WORTH IT?
A synthesis essay by Allyson Dewar
As an educator, your main objective is to have your students walk away from your lesson with new knowledge and understanding. They should be able to apply this new, meaningful information to their everyday life and this knowledge should prepare them for real world situations and scenarios. With this in mind, I began to do some deep, critical thinking this January. I was one semester away from graduation. I had been going to school for three years. I spent endless hours on coursework and had given up my free time and weekends. What would I have to say if my school leader, a parent, a colleague, or a perspective employer asked me “What did you get out of your master’s program at Michigan State University that now makes you an exceptional educator?” Obviously, I had to gain SOMETHING out of all this right? I thought and thought about what I would say. What new knowledge and understanding did I walk away with? How will I be an asset to my school community? It wasn’t until my capstone class, where I compiled my online portfolio, did it start finally coming together. My portfolio was a way to organize my thoughts and put all of my hard work and personal growth in front of me. Reflecting on the past three years, I realize how much I have grown as an educator, how much new understanding I now have on a variety of educational technology aspects, and how much I can help my school community grow and succeed. I want to thank my family and friends for giving me the strength and support through the times where I wondered how I would balance everything in my life, my peers in the MAET program at Michigan State University who I collaborated with, and all of the tremendous professors in the MSU MAET program. I am so glad I decided on this program and it was totally worth the blood, sweat, and tears. I can honestly say that I gained something from each course I took. Each course challenged my abilities, allowed me to be more open-minded to various concepts, and helped me to bridge my coursework to my current teaching environment. When examining all of the classes that I have taken over the past three years, some have a deeper meaning to me than others. CEP 810, 811, 812, 822, and 820 are the main courses that allowed me to take it to the next level.
I took CEP 810 (Teaching for Understanding with Technology), CEP 811 (Adapting Innovative Technologies in Education) and CEP 812 (Applying Educational Technology to Issues of Practice) from the fall of 2009 to spring of 2010. These were the first three classes I took in the MAET program. These three classes gave me the opportunity to share my knowledge from these courses with my fellow co-workers to not only help them but our school environment as well. CEP 810 allowed me to explore the educational applications of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel. After I took this course, my school staff had to take a mandatory online class on Microsoft Office applications for professional development related to a goal on our school technology plan. Many of my colleagues, like myself before I took this course, thought that they had pretty good knowledge on Microsoft Office programs and that they are, for the most part, clear-cut and simple. This isn’t the case! There is so much you can do with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, especially from an educational standpoint. The online course we had to take was a challenge, even for me, but the majority of my colleagues really struggled with the assessments. I made myself available as a “tutor” for my staff and frequently assisted my peers with the required tutorials. All of the teachers in my school were able to successfully pass the online class and I am happy to be able to have helped many of my fellow teachers. Teaching is all about teamwork and by all of us being proficient with Microsoft Office Applications makes the staff stronger and I do feel some are more comfortable with using the applications. In 811 and 812, I successfully created a webpage, StAIR, webquest, blog, and wiki on resources for Interactive Whiteboards. I didn’t look at this master’s program as something just for myself, but as something to help my entire school. Creating individual webpages is quite an easy task, it just takes some effort getting started. I introduced some of my peers to free, rather easy, free web creation sites. Some on staff have created a webpage for either their class or grade and I hope everyone on staff, including specials teachers, interventionists, and school organizations will also jump on board soon. StAIR presentations, although time consuming, are a great way to reach different student levels and abilities. These presentations can touch a wide spectrum of students which is very beneficial to my school’s full inclusion philosophy. I use them in my own classroom setting to reach students with reading disabilities as well as the students in my class who need the extra challenge. It is something that I have mentioned to our ELL staff and I hope to aide them in creating some rather easily since PowerPoint is something we are all proficient at using. In CEP 811, I was introduced to blogging. I created my own blog on Blogger for my class, which I then turned into a blog for my fifth grade classroom. As the head of the Parent Teacher Committee at my school, I am constantly brainstorming ways to involve stakeholders in school business. Blogging is an excellent and effective way to communicate with parents, community members, and other stakeholders. In CEP 812, I worked with in a SIG (special interest group) on creating a wiki on resources for various subject matter related to interactive whiteboards. I was very excited to be a part of this group, because as I mentioned before, I want to better my school environment. I was the first teacher in my school to have a Promethean Board installed in their classroom. Gradually, every teacher had one installed in their classroom over time. Some teachers were anxious to start using theirs and others…not so much. One teacher didn’t even want to turn it on because she knew it would be “just too hard.” Some people are apprehensive to try something new if they don’t know anything about it. When my SIG completed the wiki, I shared it with my staff. I wanted a resource they could access to make them see the amazing ways the boards could be used to strengthen instruction and to show them how easy it was to use with all subjects. Just because I was the first teacher in my building to start working with an interactive whiteboard did not mean I knew everything there was to know about interactive whiteboards. I was definitely a novice. It was great working with my SIG group because we all had so much different information, tips, and resources to share. We each found resources related to our strongest subject. Together, we created an exceptional wiki on interactive whiteboards that we were each able to share with all of our colleagues.
Prior to this master’s program I had heard of Moodle, but never actually worked with it on my own. Moodle is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites. I’ve taken online courses on Angel (MSU) and Blackboard (CMU and WWCC), so how awesome was it that I could create my own online course! I created my Moodle on the solar system which is a fifth grade science concept. I designed it so it could be an extension on what was being done in the classroom. Something like Moodle can be so beneficial to student learning. A close friend of mine, who is also in the MAET program at MSU, has a sixth grade math class that is completely Internet based…a completely paperless class! Amazing! Something that I always thought was for college aged students can, in fact, be done easily with elementary school students. When I finish up my degree in May and have some extra time on my hands, I want to toy around with different Moodle ideas. Summer is a long break where students tend to get lazy brains. Moodle would be a great tool to help keep that oh so valuable knowledge in their brains from trickling out their ears. Teachers could create a Moodle that students could access at home during the summer to prepare them for the next grade. Willing teachers, could communicate with the students and assess their work and provide valuable feedback to those students. As part of the School Improvement Team, we have been working on a solid school retention policy. A Moodle could be something that students who are borderline passing would have to mandatorily complete in order to determine retention.We also have students who have made tremendous progress in their own problem areas. It is such a bummer to stop such a hot streak when summer break approaches. Moodle can be made available to these such students to continue the growth throughout the summer as well as provide material for parents to help their child. CEP 820 (Teaching K-12 Students Online) really opened my eyes to virtual learning environments, the ability for them to be used with any age level, and the endless positives they provide for the education field.
ABT Elementary is unlike any other school environment that I have ever been a part of. ABT Elementary is a full-inclusion school. All students are with their teacher all day in the classroom. It is the classroom teacher’s duty and responsibility to accommodate the learning needs of all students and make it possible for all students to grow and achieve. Since every other school that I had been a part of was different from this, I wondered how full inclusion impacted student learning. CEP 822 (Approaches to Educational Research) allowed me the opportunity to research an educational topic of my choice and related to my life. I researched for an entire semester on something that intrigued me. That was one of the most enjoyable periods in school that I have ever had in my entire like. The majority of my research was against the full inclusion policy. To me, that is the “old school” way of thinking. Full inclusion is something that works for my school and our kids. I enjoyed examining both sides of the argument and was able to come to my own opinion on the topic.
The MAET program at Michigan State University made me grow as a professional educator, gave me strong confidence in regards to applying technology in the educational setting, and allowed me to expand my thinking in applying technologies to educational concepts. Throughout three years, I have met wonderful classmates and professors that have assisted me on my journey. Just recently, I was asked by my principal to work with the head of IT for our management company to revamp our school’s school technology plan. I was very honored that my principal asked me and I was proud that he considered me because of my coursework in the MAET program. A whole new world was opened for me that I never knew was there. I am walking away with a tremendous amount of knowledge that will not only benefit me, but my school community as well. Just like I try to do every day with my instruction, I am walking away with something that will aid me in the “real world” of education…so, yes...THIS DEGREE WAS WORTH IT!
I took CEP 810 (Teaching for Understanding with Technology), CEP 811 (Adapting Innovative Technologies in Education) and CEP 812 (Applying Educational Technology to Issues of Practice) from the fall of 2009 to spring of 2010. These were the first three classes I took in the MAET program. These three classes gave me the opportunity to share my knowledge from these courses with my fellow co-workers to not only help them but our school environment as well. CEP 810 allowed me to explore the educational applications of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel. After I took this course, my school staff had to take a mandatory online class on Microsoft Office applications for professional development related to a goal on our school technology plan. Many of my colleagues, like myself before I took this course, thought that they had pretty good knowledge on Microsoft Office programs and that they are, for the most part, clear-cut and simple. This isn’t the case! There is so much you can do with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, especially from an educational standpoint. The online course we had to take was a challenge, even for me, but the majority of my colleagues really struggled with the assessments. I made myself available as a “tutor” for my staff and frequently assisted my peers with the required tutorials. All of the teachers in my school were able to successfully pass the online class and I am happy to be able to have helped many of my fellow teachers. Teaching is all about teamwork and by all of us being proficient with Microsoft Office Applications makes the staff stronger and I do feel some are more comfortable with using the applications. In 811 and 812, I successfully created a webpage, StAIR, webquest, blog, and wiki on resources for Interactive Whiteboards. I didn’t look at this master’s program as something just for myself, but as something to help my entire school. Creating individual webpages is quite an easy task, it just takes some effort getting started. I introduced some of my peers to free, rather easy, free web creation sites. Some on staff have created a webpage for either their class or grade and I hope everyone on staff, including specials teachers, interventionists, and school organizations will also jump on board soon. StAIR presentations, although time consuming, are a great way to reach different student levels and abilities. These presentations can touch a wide spectrum of students which is very beneficial to my school’s full inclusion philosophy. I use them in my own classroom setting to reach students with reading disabilities as well as the students in my class who need the extra challenge. It is something that I have mentioned to our ELL staff and I hope to aide them in creating some rather easily since PowerPoint is something we are all proficient at using. In CEP 811, I was introduced to blogging. I created my own blog on Blogger for my class, which I then turned into a blog for my fifth grade classroom. As the head of the Parent Teacher Committee at my school, I am constantly brainstorming ways to involve stakeholders in school business. Blogging is an excellent and effective way to communicate with parents, community members, and other stakeholders. In CEP 812, I worked with in a SIG (special interest group) on creating a wiki on resources for various subject matter related to interactive whiteboards. I was very excited to be a part of this group, because as I mentioned before, I want to better my school environment. I was the first teacher in my school to have a Promethean Board installed in their classroom. Gradually, every teacher had one installed in their classroom over time. Some teachers were anxious to start using theirs and others…not so much. One teacher didn’t even want to turn it on because she knew it would be “just too hard.” Some people are apprehensive to try something new if they don’t know anything about it. When my SIG completed the wiki, I shared it with my staff. I wanted a resource they could access to make them see the amazing ways the boards could be used to strengthen instruction and to show them how easy it was to use with all subjects. Just because I was the first teacher in my building to start working with an interactive whiteboard did not mean I knew everything there was to know about interactive whiteboards. I was definitely a novice. It was great working with my SIG group because we all had so much different information, tips, and resources to share. We each found resources related to our strongest subject. Together, we created an exceptional wiki on interactive whiteboards that we were each able to share with all of our colleagues.
Prior to this master’s program I had heard of Moodle, but never actually worked with it on my own. Moodle is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites. I’ve taken online courses on Angel (MSU) and Blackboard (CMU and WWCC), so how awesome was it that I could create my own online course! I created my Moodle on the solar system which is a fifth grade science concept. I designed it so it could be an extension on what was being done in the classroom. Something like Moodle can be so beneficial to student learning. A close friend of mine, who is also in the MAET program at MSU, has a sixth grade math class that is completely Internet based…a completely paperless class! Amazing! Something that I always thought was for college aged students can, in fact, be done easily with elementary school students. When I finish up my degree in May and have some extra time on my hands, I want to toy around with different Moodle ideas. Summer is a long break where students tend to get lazy brains. Moodle would be a great tool to help keep that oh so valuable knowledge in their brains from trickling out their ears. Teachers could create a Moodle that students could access at home during the summer to prepare them for the next grade. Willing teachers, could communicate with the students and assess their work and provide valuable feedback to those students. As part of the School Improvement Team, we have been working on a solid school retention policy. A Moodle could be something that students who are borderline passing would have to mandatorily complete in order to determine retention.We also have students who have made tremendous progress in their own problem areas. It is such a bummer to stop such a hot streak when summer break approaches. Moodle can be made available to these such students to continue the growth throughout the summer as well as provide material for parents to help their child. CEP 820 (Teaching K-12 Students Online) really opened my eyes to virtual learning environments, the ability for them to be used with any age level, and the endless positives they provide for the education field.
ABT Elementary is unlike any other school environment that I have ever been a part of. ABT Elementary is a full-inclusion school. All students are with their teacher all day in the classroom. It is the classroom teacher’s duty and responsibility to accommodate the learning needs of all students and make it possible for all students to grow and achieve. Since every other school that I had been a part of was different from this, I wondered how full inclusion impacted student learning. CEP 822 (Approaches to Educational Research) allowed me the opportunity to research an educational topic of my choice and related to my life. I researched for an entire semester on something that intrigued me. That was one of the most enjoyable periods in school that I have ever had in my entire like. The majority of my research was against the full inclusion policy. To me, that is the “old school” way of thinking. Full inclusion is something that works for my school and our kids. I enjoyed examining both sides of the argument and was able to come to my own opinion on the topic.
The MAET program at Michigan State University made me grow as a professional educator, gave me strong confidence in regards to applying technology in the educational setting, and allowed me to expand my thinking in applying technologies to educational concepts. Throughout three years, I have met wonderful classmates and professors that have assisted me on my journey. Just recently, I was asked by my principal to work with the head of IT for our management company to revamp our school’s school technology plan. I was very honored that my principal asked me and I was proud that he considered me because of my coursework in the MAET program. A whole new world was opened for me that I never knew was there. I am walking away with a tremendous amount of knowledge that will not only benefit me, but my school community as well. Just like I try to do every day with my instruction, I am walking away with something that will aid me in the “real world” of education…so, yes...THIS DEGREE WAS WORTH IT!