When applying a reflective eye to my goals for applying to Michigan State University’s Master of Arts in Education program (MAED), I can recognize the work and learning accomplished while also seeing the path ahead.  Like Alice in Wonderland, my route for goal completion has not been without twists and turns. My original goals on entry to the program were to find a way to learn more about operating within and bridging the educational worlds of K-12 and higher education.  I was considering my future career development and frankly, looking at life and career through too narrow of a lens.  My original goals were based on learning and deepening my understanding of teacher preparation, higher education, and educational administration for the purpose of advancing the performance of our certification program and to augment my skills in mentorship and providing support for novice teachers. Career wise, I was looking for advancement within the current program I am working in.  

 

My husband has always joked that he thinks I just want to be a professional student for my whole life.  He’s not wrong.  I have a deep passion for always learning and always stretching my understanding.   Through my master’s program I have deepened my knowledge and centered my learning goals, but I’ve also realized it’s just the tip of the iceberg.  I think lifelong learning is a valuable part of an educator and it’s a critical component of my journey.  On reflection, I’ve made good progress on learning about teacher preparation and mentoring of teachers.  I’ve become a field instructor and teach a section of TE 894 and have my own group of interns to mentor each year.  It’s challenging and fulfilling work.  However, our program has undergone significant restructuring throughout my time completing this degree and we have moved to be much more student focused (in the higher education sense) which is excellent for the intern teachers in our program and this restructuring was extremely relevant to my newfound learning on teacher preparation and higher education goals.  However, we’ve also moved further away from centralizing our partner k-12 school districts.  Since my goals were to bridge this gap, they’ve shifted a bit throughout my educational program, and I find my career trajectory changing as well.  

 

Upon reflection, my time in the MAED program has fulfilled a good portion of my learning goals.  I have accomplished many of my goals regarding adult and lifelong learning through earning my graduate certificate in Teaching and Learning in Postsecondary Education.  While I am looking forward to using my deeper understandings in my current roles within the College of Education, I realize now that my goals upon beginning the program were too focused on my current work and did not take into consideration enough career growth.  I think my goals were very focused on increasing and building teaching skills and in hindsight, I perhaps should have stretched myself into more business or administrative domains as well and that’s likely my next learning pursuit. I’m looking forward to continued reflection of my learning as I finish up my master’s degree and move into the next phase of my journey.