Road Maps for the Journey
Kelly Marie Willard
Very rarely do humans set out on a journey without some sort of plan or general purpose. Often, this is due to time constraints because there is a limited window of opportunity to complete the journey. More importantly, though, people plan so that they know the journey will be safe, efficient, effective, and valuable. In the Spring of 2011, I began a journey into higher education and I had to plan. In order to ensure that this journey would be one of value I set goals for where the Master of Arts in Education program at Michigan State could take me and what could be achieved.
One of the greater goals and purposes that was set and realized as a result of this program was to study and gain greater insight into what I could do as an educator to capture the attention of the students who often fall by the wayside in a traditional classroom setting. This refers specifically to students from minority groups, impoverished areas, rough backgrounds, urban or rural communities, low familial support, etc, and students who may have mild emotional or cognitive learning disabilities and behavioral issues that affect their success in the classroom. In today’s educational world, there is no one-size-fits-all teaching model, and it is my responsibility as an educator to learn and develop strategies for learning about, understanding, and working with students from all walks of life. The program was able to help me understand the psychological, personal, and circumstantial causes of and effects on success in the classroom and gave me strategies for coping and working with these issues in order to help my students succeed.
As an additional goal for this program, I sought to understand people who may be different from me and to learn to not assume that each student comes from a similar background or was raised with the same values as myself. Through my coursework, I have learned that each person, family, and culture approaches education in a different way and it significantly affects how each child will view their own education. I have learned that I must be careful to not challenge backgrounds and values, but rather guide students and offer them options and viewpoints that could help lead them in a direction that will help them be successful in the classroom. In the district in which I work, there is a unique collection of students. These students come from very extreme ends of the socioeconomic spectrum and from many different races and cultures, most specifically Hispanic, African American, and White American. The program was able to help me to better understand what background each of my students were coming from and then address each child and their life experiences in an individualistic manner.
Because I took the time to review my road maps by setting specific goals and selecting a program that could help me achieve them, the journey through higher education was smooth and proved to be effective in helping me improve as an educator for students with unique needs and circumstances. I have also learned that like each journey that I take or have taken, each child has taken their own to get to where they are. It is my job to understand the journey that they have been on and use their personal maps to help navigate them through the winding academic road that lies ahead of them.
One of the greater goals and purposes that was set and realized as a result of this program was to study and gain greater insight into what I could do as an educator to capture the attention of the students who often fall by the wayside in a traditional classroom setting. This refers specifically to students from minority groups, impoverished areas, rough backgrounds, urban or rural communities, low familial support, etc, and students who may have mild emotional or cognitive learning disabilities and behavioral issues that affect their success in the classroom. In today’s educational world, there is no one-size-fits-all teaching model, and it is my responsibility as an educator to learn and develop strategies for learning about, understanding, and working with students from all walks of life. The program was able to help me understand the psychological, personal, and circumstantial causes of and effects on success in the classroom and gave me strategies for coping and working with these issues in order to help my students succeed.
As an additional goal for this program, I sought to understand people who may be different from me and to learn to not assume that each student comes from a similar background or was raised with the same values as myself. Through my coursework, I have learned that each person, family, and culture approaches education in a different way and it significantly affects how each child will view their own education. I have learned that I must be careful to not challenge backgrounds and values, but rather guide students and offer them options and viewpoints that could help lead them in a direction that will help them be successful in the classroom. In the district in which I work, there is a unique collection of students. These students come from very extreme ends of the socioeconomic spectrum and from many different races and cultures, most specifically Hispanic, African American, and White American. The program was able to help me to better understand what background each of my students were coming from and then address each child and their life experiences in an individualistic manner.
Because I took the time to review my road maps by setting specific goals and selecting a program that could help me achieve them, the journey through higher education was smooth and proved to be effective in helping me improve as an educator for students with unique needs and circumstances. I have also learned that like each journey that I take or have taken, each child has taken their own to get to where they are. It is my job to understand the journey that they have been on and use their personal maps to help navigate them through the winding academic road that lies ahead of them.