So, What Now?
By Brandon Cook
My education is not a finished and polished product. There is always something for me to learn as people and technology change. This is why I think that my experience with the Master of Arts in Education (MAED) online program has been essential in my development as teacher.
When I first entered the program, I mainly wanted to be a part of it due to its flexibility with my needs of not being near campus and my requirements as a teacher to continue my education after finishing my undergraduate degree. What I did not necessarily expect at the time that I entered the MAED program was my transformation into a more technological savvy teacher with my students' learning in mind more so than ever before. Don’t get me wrong, I entered the program to learn to become a better teacher. However, the MAED program at Michigan State provided me opportunities to see myself as an educator in ways that I did not ever think of before entering the program.
When I first entered the program, my goal was to finish up any necessary education that I could for my major of physical education with a teaching/coaching emphasis. At the time, I only coached and taught math. For me, to enter the MAED program with the primary concentration of sports leadership and coaching was a way of honoring my original degree. However, my current job as a math teacher and my secondary concentration of math and science ending up opening my eyes to more opportunities than I original thought available.
As far as coaching is concerned, I do not believe there is much more I can get through formal education for any sport that I may coach. I felt that the three main courses provided in the MAED program helped me identify what I needed to know as a coach. As long as I continue to coach, I plan on attending yearly seminars provided by the MHSAA and continue to develop through the gaining of experience. Other than using online resources to get information about ideas relating to the coaching of mechanics, there really isn't many more places that I might grow outside of what I pursue on my own and through what I gain from more experience. For this reason, I plan on continuing to coach in my teaching career as long as possible.
At this point in my career, I have also accepted the fact that mathematics will play an integral role where ever my life may lead me regardless of the fact that it has been a secondary focus for much of my formal education. Learning this has been a good thing as it has helped me know how to narrow my focus and direction for my career. While this course is the last that is required for my Masters, I am already looking at the possibility of continuing my formal education in the near future by possibly working on a second Master or Doctorate degree in mathematics or math education. Part of the reason behind this is to continue my development as a math teacher and to also open opportunities into fields where I might be able to teach and use math at the collegiate level or elsewhere. While nothing is definitive, as life has its own restraints, I am interested in seeing what I can do with the opportunities provided with further formal education in mathematics.
Along with furthering my interest in continuing my education in mathematics, the MAED online program at Michigan State also allowed me to interact with ways to develop myself as a math teacher through research and the use of technology in ways that I currently utilize in my current classroom. Initially, I wasn’t too sure what I was getting myself into by entering an entirely online program. I feared that I was going to do a lot of reading and busy work with little to no interaction with anyone. However, each course that I took had their own unique technological design that I found interesting when I thought about what can be done in my own classroom. For example, I have been using a wikispace and digital stories for my classes ever since I took the TE 831 course on technology. I am also even more curious about how instructors put together web-based classrooms so that I may become proficient in that area and may even develop interactive online experiences for students. As such, I learned more ways to interact and learn with technology and can see myself learning to use more technology in the future.
When it comes down to it, the door is wide open with what I want to do and where I want to go. No matter what, I will continue to further my education by informal means in my own time or through professional development. I may even pursue the possibility of more formal education. My ultimate goal is for me to offer the best education that my training might offer. This means that my future as a learner will not stop after I have completed this Master’s degree.
When I first entered the program, I mainly wanted to be a part of it due to its flexibility with my needs of not being near campus and my requirements as a teacher to continue my education after finishing my undergraduate degree. What I did not necessarily expect at the time that I entered the MAED program was my transformation into a more technological savvy teacher with my students' learning in mind more so than ever before. Don’t get me wrong, I entered the program to learn to become a better teacher. However, the MAED program at Michigan State provided me opportunities to see myself as an educator in ways that I did not ever think of before entering the program.
When I first entered the program, my goal was to finish up any necessary education that I could for my major of physical education with a teaching/coaching emphasis. At the time, I only coached and taught math. For me, to enter the MAED program with the primary concentration of sports leadership and coaching was a way of honoring my original degree. However, my current job as a math teacher and my secondary concentration of math and science ending up opening my eyes to more opportunities than I original thought available.
As far as coaching is concerned, I do not believe there is much more I can get through formal education for any sport that I may coach. I felt that the three main courses provided in the MAED program helped me identify what I needed to know as a coach. As long as I continue to coach, I plan on attending yearly seminars provided by the MHSAA and continue to develop through the gaining of experience. Other than using online resources to get information about ideas relating to the coaching of mechanics, there really isn't many more places that I might grow outside of what I pursue on my own and through what I gain from more experience. For this reason, I plan on continuing to coach in my teaching career as long as possible.
At this point in my career, I have also accepted the fact that mathematics will play an integral role where ever my life may lead me regardless of the fact that it has been a secondary focus for much of my formal education. Learning this has been a good thing as it has helped me know how to narrow my focus and direction for my career. While this course is the last that is required for my Masters, I am already looking at the possibility of continuing my formal education in the near future by possibly working on a second Master or Doctorate degree in mathematics or math education. Part of the reason behind this is to continue my development as a math teacher and to also open opportunities into fields where I might be able to teach and use math at the collegiate level or elsewhere. While nothing is definitive, as life has its own restraints, I am interested in seeing what I can do with the opportunities provided with further formal education in mathematics.
Along with furthering my interest in continuing my education in mathematics, the MAED online program at Michigan State also allowed me to interact with ways to develop myself as a math teacher through research and the use of technology in ways that I currently utilize in my current classroom. Initially, I wasn’t too sure what I was getting myself into by entering an entirely online program. I feared that I was going to do a lot of reading and busy work with little to no interaction with anyone. However, each course that I took had their own unique technological design that I found interesting when I thought about what can be done in my own classroom. For example, I have been using a wikispace and digital stories for my classes ever since I took the TE 831 course on technology. I am also even more curious about how instructors put together web-based classrooms so that I may become proficient in that area and may even develop interactive online experiences for students. As such, I learned more ways to interact and learn with technology and can see myself learning to use more technology in the future.
When it comes down to it, the door is wide open with what I want to do and where I want to go. No matter what, I will continue to further my education by informal means in my own time or through professional development. I may even pursue the possibility of more formal education. My ultimate goal is for me to offer the best education that my training might offer. This means that my future as a learner will not stop after I have completed this Master’s degree.