When I first started my journey in the MAED Program, I was in my first year of teaching kindergarten. I felt that I was doing very well contributing to my school’s culture and working with my students, but I wanted to be even better. My initial goal for seeking a master’s degree was to better my teaching and provide my students with the best educational experience I possibly could. As my journey in the program is coming to an end, I realized that this is still only the beginning of my journey as an educator and a life long learner. I believe that I have reached my initial goal and more, but my experiences as a beginning teacher have inspired me to have other goals that I plan on accomplishing in the future. I would like to finish the process of getting my English as a Second Language and Spanish endorsements, further my education by seeking a doctoral degree, and potentially be apart of a teacher education program at the collegiate level to help prepare teachers for working in urban settings.   

As an undergraduate student, my teaching minors were Spanish and Teaching English as Second Language. I chose these areas because I was sure that I would have students in my class who did not speak English considering the growing population of Spanish speakers and how culturally diverse our society has become. I wanted to be able to communicate with all my learners. During my first few years of teaching, I had a couple of students each year whose native languages were Spanish or Arabic. I was able to communicate with them by using signals and visuals, patience, and providing them with additional one on one support. I now teach in a cultural melting pot and the majority of my students’ first languages are Spanish and Arabic. I plan to take the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Exams to be able to be the first grade’s ELL Teacher at my school. To reach this goal, I will revisit textbooks from my MSU courses and complete practice tests before taking these exams.

After being in the classroom a few more school years, I am interested in pursuing a doctoral degree at Michigan State. By completing a doctoral program, I believe that I will be able to further my understanding and gain the experience and skills needed to help fix some of the most difficult challenges that occur in urban schools and that face urban students. To reach this goal, I plan to research MSU’s programs to find which program would be a good fit in helping me accomplish this goal and complete the application process when the time comes.

Moreover, after completing a doctoral program, I would like to be a professor of a teacher education program similar to MSU’s Urban Educator Cohort Program. When I was a part of the program, many issues that occur in urban settings were brought to my attention as well as strategies to use to provide my students with the most beneficial learning opportunities. When I became a teacher and I was faced with many of these issues, they were not new to me and I had ideas, great ideas, which I was able to use instead of having to spend time trying to figure out what to do. I was prepared and I was confident in my teaching. During my first two years of teaching, there were many teachers, some novice, some veterans, and some with master’s degrees who still were unsure of what strategies to use or some who appeared to give up on their students’ learning. I realized then that there’s a difference in being a teacher who wants to be an urban educator and a teacher who ends up in urban education. Some teachers in urban settings are there because it’s difficult for them to find a teaching position in a suburb. Many of them also approach urban schools using the same strategies that are successful in suburban schools. Sometimes these strategies do not work or need adjusting. I believe that if more teachers during their undergraduate studies take some courses, or at least one, that focus on teaching in urban context would help make urban schools better places for students to learn.

When I begin to make these goals my reality, I’m sure that I will have more goals that I would like to accomplish on my journey. My dreams have evolved so much since I started this program yet alone from when I first decided to be a teacher. This chapter may be coming to an end, but it is still a part of my larger overall goal, to contribute as much as I can to the challenges that face the education profession and ultimately the future of tomorrow.