Sloan Tackett

     The day that I graduated from Michigan State with my undergraduate degree in education, I knew that I had a choice- go immediately into my master’s program or wait. Many of my classmates were choosing the first option so that they could finish their program quickly, but I was not confident this was the best choice for me. As I reflected on the tremendous experience I was just finishing up, I determined that taking some time to teach and become confortable in my new profession would be the best option for me. I also was not confident about the area of concentration I would want to enter into and believed I needed some time to reflect on and make this decision. In the end, I waited a full year before applying to the program. During this time, I was debating about whether I should pursue a master’s degree in Special Education, as this was my undergraduate degree, or if I should pursue a concentration in

Literacy- an area I was highly interested in. After spending a

significant time thinking about this question and discussing it

with those around me who were in the field, I determined that

the best choice was to pursue a Masters of Arts in Education

degree (MAED) with a concentration in literacy. Waiting the

full year to begin my masters program was the best choice

for me as it allowed my confidence as a teacher to grow greatly

and I was able to enter into my courses with real life

experiences from my classroom. These experiences proved to

be very useful.

 

     As I entered into my masters program at MSU, I had many goals for my time. Many of these goals stayed the same throughout the entire program while others changed slightly. My main goal was to gain valuable and practical information and teaching techniques that I could implement on a daily basis in my classroom. I would say that this overall goal remained constant during the entire time I was working towards my master’s degree. As I worked through each course, I kept this goal front and center in my mind. The practicality of some classes was more clear than others, yet in each of my courses I made it a point to search for and obtain any practical piece of information or strategy that I could use. This allowed me to make each course work for my specific needs. Another initial goal I had was to obtain a degree with a concentration in Literacy so I could later obtain a job as a literacy coach or intervention teacher. Now that I am finishing up my time in the program, I would say that this goal has changed slightly. While I am still passionate about literacy and teaching students how to read and write, I am comfortable and loving being in a classroom working with students with disabilities at the time. Perhaps in the future I will change my mind and pursue a job in the area of literacy, and the MAED program will have prepared me exceptionally well.