Everything Happens for a Reason

By: Meg Zastrow

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I have always looked up to my teachers and felt like they were the nicest and sweetest people. They worked hard and I loved them! When I had the chance to play teacher with a younger student when I was a 5th grader, I jumped at the opportunity. Fortunately, I have never had to wonder what I have wanted to do with my life. When it came to college, I knew I had to pick a college that was known for their teaching reputation, so Michigan State University was a great choice. I was fortune enough to spend both my undergraduate years there to participate in their online master’s program. Just as I believe each child is placed in my classroom for a reason and purpose, I also believe that every class I took was for a specific purpose.

 

Of all the things I have learned through my undergraduate and gradate work, one of the toughest challenges I have encountered is finding balance of earning respect and maintaining classroom control. Respect is something to be earned. Respect cannot be demanded from students. While there should be a natural respect based on the teacher-student relationship, there is a personal respect that needs to be developed from relationships. This skills and balance takes time to develop, years to perfect, and can change with each set of students. One of the classes I took in the Spring of 2013 called Professional Roles and Teaching Practice 2 focused on classroom management style. My instructor gave practical ways to manage the classroom and figure out what my own management style might be. While I might not have had it figured out at that point, or that I even have it now, it helped me to think through how I would manage or set up other parts of the day. When I took this class, I was in an elementary mindset so I was focused on thinking about lining up, read aloud, transitions, and other daily routines. I am currently at a middle school, but I am thankful for having the elementary experience and to have had someone help me think through these things because I have carried some over to my classroom. In this class, I learned basic things that were necessary in order to have a functioning classroom like how to gather attention or work policies. Having these planned helped me to better establish order in the classroom and be able to focus on the students instead of trying to maintain order.

 

When I first applied for the master’s program at Michigan State, I was looking into pursuing an English as a Second Language  (ESL) degree but ended up choosing literacy instead. While I still do work with ESL students, having the training from classes during my graduate work and undergraduate work help me to support them. In the end, the methods and strategies learned from my literacy degree are applicable to my ESL students in my classroom. There were two classes in particular that stood out to me as really helpful in my teaching.

 

The first class that stood out to me as significant in my graduate journey is Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners. This course was great at looking at the different ways that students learn literacy. Getting a lot of ideas for how to teach students and finding resources was extremely helpful when being confronted with a large variety of learners in my classroom. Even now, I have students that are still reading at a 3rd grade level and others at a 9th grade level. It discussed how factors like motivation or culture could affect how students learn. While this makes logical sense, I had never had it explained to me in that way and I had not considered the consequences it would have on literacy learning. Having a few years at my current job, I am now seeing the different kinds of readers coming to me. Some are self-identified as “non-reader,” some are willing to try a book but generally do not enjoy many, and some are obsessed with reading. I have tried numerous methods to help the students on the border or convinced they do not like it to find something they like to read and become successful! I had a few boys that could not find books they liked and I got them hooked on Michael Vey books! This was proof that I had internalized what I was learning from my class and it helped me to become passionate about my students as readers; it was heartwarming to watch my students get caught up into books.

 

Another course that was helpful in my literacy instruction is Methods and Materials for Teaching Children’s and Adolescent Literature. This class was one of the reasons that I thought to do research to find books for some of my struggling readers. I was exposed to so many different books that were intriguing. I knew that if I found them interesting, there was a high chance my students may as well! The books we were presented with contained different themes and topics like disabilities, which were interesting to read when from an outside perspective. I was excited to put these books in my classroom library so my students could be exposed to all different genres. A large emphasis in this class was to focus on the conversation and dialogue occurring from a book instead of just reading a book. One of my favorite books to read in middle school is Tuck Everlasting. Some argue this book is too simple and is too easy of a reading level, but there is great conversation in this book. This class gave me confidence to stand up to defend literature I choose and to pick books I feel are appropriate instead of feel like I needed to go along with what other teachers do. This book led to rich conversation and enhanced the understanding of the text and the larger theme of the book. One video we found discussed avatars and if it was truly living if only part of you was your body. This was interesting conversation that stuck with my students. They were talking about our other thematic units through the entire novel. My students shared that it was their favorite book they read this year! It was clear that that class happened for a reason and I was proud to find that I had applied this knowledge.

            One of the other areas the course touched on was change in genres and how many books are often not just one genre. This was interesting to learn about because many times students have decided that they enjoy or do not enjoy a particular genre. When they discuss a possible book choice with me, I have the opportunity to explain to them that many books are grey in genre since they are not always straightforward. This opens up great discussion between the student and myself and even opens them up to trying a different genre or exploring a new one. This was a great conversation because my students were under the impression that a book could only be one genre. Both of these classes were essential pieces to my literacy teaching in my current job. These classes happened to help me become more informed and be a better literacy expert for my students and myself. I have seen great changes in my instruction from these two classes.

 

Being at the end of my master’s program, I was asked to create an online portfolio to sum up my gradate work with the class Capstone in Educational Technology. I was really excited to begin this course because I had some experience with websites, but had not really fully finished a website. The closest I had come to this was creating one Schoology course for my class about teaching students online. Also, I have a physical portfolio that I brought around when I was looking for a job, but I have always felt it would be essential to create an online portfolio at some point. My students will be creating these in 8th grade, so this gives me a real and authentic experience to help them better think through what to save and help them think deeper about the reflections they write. This course has been really interesting to see the different portfolios created by other peers; to see how they interpret an assignment or how they express their teaching styles and personalities. While my classmates and I are educators, in this class we are students and being shown that they value each individual differences, just as educators should for their students. 

 

While working on this essay, I was brought to a lot of realizations. I have always felt that reflection is essential to improving as a teacher, and as a person in general (it is one of my philosophies!). Being able to take a step back and gaining perspective can be very valuable and can allow you to truly look at learning. Almost wrapping up this portion of my education and taking a step back was really interesting to see how each part has played into other courses by providing information I needed for future classes and for my classroom. With life being busy and teaching while taking classes, it can be easy to think, “Why do I have to take this class (or do this assignment)?” Looking back on my journey with Michigan State’s program, I realized that each piece was important and necessary in its own way. While they may not be exactly what I thought I needed at that exact moment, I can see that each piece was there for a reason. Looking at what I wanted when I began this program and then looking at what I am aiming for has shown that I have grown as an educator through my time at Michigan State.

 

Each of these individual classes is a small example of ways that the whole graduate program has changed me and is influencing how I teach. As shown above, they are more than classes. I have had the opportunity to learn from professors that care deeply about teaching and are great role models. They have pushed me to look at myself as an educator and look to how I want to be. I have learned that I am always going to be growing and improving. Since starting this program, I have become more inquisitive, more confident, and more willing to integrate technology. I have become more inquisitive when looking at literature and curriculum. I have become more confident in what I believe are best practices and in how I teach. I have grown in my technology proficiency and have been able to show my knowledge with my teammates in my school. It is very evident in my classroom, my school, and my teaching when reflecting back on my time at Michigan State how much I have grown.

 

Moving forward, I need to remember that while I did not understand the need for everything I was taking at that moment in my career, each piece is important. Continuing to learn about teaching is one of my main jobs as an educator. I need to be up to date with the methods and theories. Whether or not I jump in with the new trend is a personal choice, but taking a risk and being flexible enough to loosen your grip on what you teach can lead to amazing things. While I am closing one chapter, I am just beginning one more. My story will continue to be written for many years to come!