In March of 2009, I encountered a new motivation to get my degree. My husband and I took a mini-vacation to Grand Rapids, Michigan to hear a pastor we admired speaking at his home church. We visited some of the towns near Lake Michigan and just loved the whole area. After several return trips, we thought it might be an area where we would like to live. As we looked into what we would need to do to relocate to the area, I learned that I needed my master’s degree in order to transfer my license to Michigan.  After researching many programs, in the spring of 2011, I applied to Michigan State’s Master of Arts in Education program. It allowed me to gain my degree with concentrations in areas I was passionate about – math and literacy.

 

In my original goal statement for my application, I explained how my grade level team has been using flexible groups across our grade level to differentiate reading instruction. I typically work with the most struggling readers, and have found that I really enjoy it. I find it very rewarding to help those struggling readers learn the skills that they are missing, and to see their confidence in their reading increase over the year.  I also explained my passion for math education. Math is my favorite subject to teach, and it is very important that students are taught conceptually so that they understand and can apply what they have learned. For these reasons, I chose math and science education as my primary concentration, and literacy education as my secondary concentration. In both cases, I believed these courses would improve my classroom instruction, as well as open up possibilities of becoming a reading or math specialist in the future.
 

Recent changes in Ohio’s teacher licensure have made my degree important immediately, as well as in a possible future move.  Ohio no longer requires a master’s degree for regular teacher certification, but they do offer an advanced license for teachers with a master’s degree who also show proficiency in teaching through the Master Teacher program. If my family decides to remain in Ohio, I will be well-prepared to apply for that advanced license.
 

So, have my goals changed since I applied to my degree program?  Yes and no.  My main goal in applying to the program was to improve my classroom instruction, as well as prepare for a possible move to a different state. I still want to continue to improve my classroom instruction, and my courses have given me the tools to do so.  However, the motivation behind getting my degree has become more complicated and more important to my future as a teacher.