"I knew you would figure it out." - Joe Widzinski (A.K.A. my dad)
A Synthesis Essay
By: Janine Widzinski
My journey to become an educator was not a simple, straight road, although apparently my dad always knew that I should be an educator. When I switched up my majors at Michigan State University (MSU) during my freshmen and sophomore year, my dad would always tell me, “I know what you would be excellent at, but you need to figure it out on your own…”. Having to switch from journalism, to nursing, to undecided, it frustrated me that my father wouldn’t share his “insight” with me. After many discussions with various counselors around campus, I was directed to the Child Development office, where I learned all about combining an early childhood degree with an elementary education degree. It all started to make sense; all my time spent babysitting, running my church’s nursery, and cadet teaching had led me to this point. I called my parents, and my dad said, “I knew you would figure it out.”
Fast forward to today, I am about a month away to finishing my Master’s of Arts in Education (MAED) from MSU, am well into my third year teaching kindergarten, and could not love my job any more than I do. It amazes me to think of where I started, a confused college student, to where I am now, a confident educator. Changes in life are inevitable, whether it is in your career, your location, you love life, or your education, and one of the biggest changes I have experienced in the last three years has been in regards to my own education.
My career may be in education, but my life revolves around education. Even more than just teaching my little people how to read, write, add and subtract, I am pushing myself to learn more each and every day to be the best educator as possible. Reflecting back on how my Master’s has changed me as a person and as an educator during my capstone course (my final course), has shown me what a monumental journey the past 18 months has been. Specific courses have opened up my world of teaching to even more possibilities, have trained me more in depth in certain topics, and have helped me perfect certain skills. The flexibility in choices for courses throughout my program has granted me the ability to design my Master’s to what fits me as an educator in my personal classroom. Finally, the fact that my entire program has been online has given me the freedom to complete courses from anywhere in the world, making this process much easier.
Three courses truly stand out in reflecting back on my master’s program in how they changed and shaped my responsibilities as an educator. These courses have helped me to perfect my student data analyzing skills, taught me new tips and tricks, and have helped me dive deeper into my passion. I feel strongly that these courses were the “highlight” of my master’s program and that they each affected my thinking in my practice in the classroom.
Analyzing student data is a large part of a teacher’s job. In kindergarten, the data that we collect may not be as easy to analyze as other grades due to various developmental levels. When you have so many students at so many different levels, the collected data varies greatly. The course that I felt taught me how to teach a lesson, collect data, analyze the data, and then reteach in a very kindergarten friendly way was TE 846: Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners. Assistant Professor, Sandro Barros, worked with each student individually to help create a lesson plan for our grade levels. The main project for the course was to create a lesson plan on an area or skill I felt a few of my students needed extra practice on and teach the lesson to two different students. The skill I chose was rhyming, as it was towards the end of the school year and there would be a portion of the report card dedicated to rhyming. After recording the lesson, I was able to analyze the recording, plus the physical assessment I gave and collected, to then analyze what the student was doing when working on this skill. With this being the main assignment of the course, I spent a lot of time creating the lesson plan, tweaking it to teach the second time around after analyzing the first lesson, and researching to find what more I could do for my students. Because of this course and that major project, I now can more confidently plan a lesson on a needed kindergarten skill, analyze my lesson, and reteach as needed. This course has helped me to teach and assess before report card marking periods, to ensure that my students are getting the best teaching for their target area.
As difficult as it is to analyze data in kindergarten, it is equally, if not more challenging, to teach and assess kindergarten writing. When I elected to take a writing course, TE 848: Writing Assessment and Instruction, I initially felt nervous because of how unique kindergarten writing is. Kindergarten writing can be at completely different levels all throughout the school year. There will be some students that come in having a baseline of letters, their sounds, and how they connect together to form words, while others work on learning their letter sounds for half of the year or more. This makes teaching and assessing writing quite trying. Having taken a course with Professor Croel-Perrien early in my program, I knew her teaching style, which helped me to feel more confident to ask questions as needed during the course, because I knew I was going to feel like a fish out of water. Although I was uneasy as the course began, TE 848 ended up being one of my favorite, most useful courses that I took during my master’s program at MSU. The accelerated summer course was fast and furious, but had many useful components to it, and allowed me try out some writing creativity, and focus on what my current writing curriculum in kindergarten was lacking. By the end of the course, I had written my own poem, reflected on what it was like to write in a new genre, and create a new unit to my current writing curriculum that included mentor texts, sample lesson plans and rubrics. This course had an enormous impact on my career, because the unit I created, I will actually implement in my own classroom towards the end of this school year. I never expected to create an addition to a curriculum, but having done so now, I feel that I know the ins and outs of curriculum planning and preparing, while having made something myself so I know it will be useful to my students. With the creation of a poetry unit for my kindergarten class, I am able to share this with my colleagues so that we can all try it out this year for the first time.
The final course that has made a large impact on my career is actually a course that I took my first semester of my program. This course has not only affected me in my practice in the classroom, but also in my personal goals for my future education. CEP 816: Technology, Teaching and Learning Across the Curriculum gave me a taste as to what a Master’s in Educational Technology might be like. Because of this course, it is my ultimate goal to pursue a second master’s degree (see future learning goals essay). This course challenged me to use new technologies for my own learning, but also for my classroom. It forced me to think outside the box and design lessons that were originally paper and pencil tasks, and create them somehow on the computer for a young learner to use. Dr. Paul Morsink made the learning fun, engaging, and constantly something new each week, that it never felt as if I was doing “work”. I truly wish that I could have tried out more technology courses after taking this course. Because of the designing technological lessons, I was able to integrate technology with two science units, and bring that into the classroom. After taking this course, I attended the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) conference to learn more about technology in the classroom. CEP 816 opened my eyes to the future of education and technology.
In thinking about technology and how much CEP 816 had an impact on me, I feel it is important to note how beneficial having my MAED program online was in my learning. By having the program completely online, it allowed me to have so much flexibility in my learning. If I wanted to come in early to work, and pull up an assignment, I could. When I traveled to London over the holidays, I was still able to present a final project. If I had to go out of town, all I needed was my laptop, and I was set to never fall behind on an assignment or project. With the online program, I was in complete control of my own learning, wherever and whenever it was comfortable and convenient to me. That flexibility is something that not all master’s programs can offer. Because of the online program, I was able to continue to teach full time, and immediately put my learning into action in the classroom.
My master’s program as a whole was completely flexible in allowing me to choose my own classes to fit my needs as a learner. There were very few “required” classes, which allowed me to sample various subjects to ensure that my learning made an impact on my teaching. This is how I was able to sample a technology course, which then planted the seed of another degree. The flexibility granted me the ability to take more literacy classes to cater to my young learners needs. As I mentioned above, not all master’s programs give this luxury to their students. I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to create my own schedule based on my needs as a learner. Aside from the choices offered in courses, there were also choices given within the courses themselves. For example, I was able to select the book that would benefit me most as a kindergarten teacher for a book study. I cannot stress enough how beneficial it has been to have this graduate level learning be exactly what I needed for my career to flourish.
I would like to conclude by stating how exemplary this final capstone course (ED 870: Capstone Seminar) has been as the last course in my program. Now having reflected back on all my time, effort, thoughts, and hard work that I put into my graduate degree, I feel extremely accomplished and proud of the learning I have completed and that fact that is has directly impacted me as an educator in the classroom. I have always had a love of learning, but in taking this final capstone course, I have now painted the big, almost complete picture of my learning, my career, and my journey. I can confidently say, my learning journey will never stop, even after the degree is completed.
Fast forward to today, I am about a month away to finishing my Master’s of Arts in Education (MAED) from MSU, am well into my third year teaching kindergarten, and could not love my job any more than I do. It amazes me to think of where I started, a confused college student, to where I am now, a confident educator. Changes in life are inevitable, whether it is in your career, your location, you love life, or your education, and one of the biggest changes I have experienced in the last three years has been in regards to my own education.
My career may be in education, but my life revolves around education. Even more than just teaching my little people how to read, write, add and subtract, I am pushing myself to learn more each and every day to be the best educator as possible. Reflecting back on how my Master’s has changed me as a person and as an educator during my capstone course (my final course), has shown me what a monumental journey the past 18 months has been. Specific courses have opened up my world of teaching to even more possibilities, have trained me more in depth in certain topics, and have helped me perfect certain skills. The flexibility in choices for courses throughout my program has granted me the ability to design my Master’s to what fits me as an educator in my personal classroom. Finally, the fact that my entire program has been online has given me the freedom to complete courses from anywhere in the world, making this process much easier.
Three courses truly stand out in reflecting back on my master’s program in how they changed and shaped my responsibilities as an educator. These courses have helped me to perfect my student data analyzing skills, taught me new tips and tricks, and have helped me dive deeper into my passion. I feel strongly that these courses were the “highlight” of my master’s program and that they each affected my thinking in my practice in the classroom.
Analyzing student data is a large part of a teacher’s job. In kindergarten, the data that we collect may not be as easy to analyze as other grades due to various developmental levels. When you have so many students at so many different levels, the collected data varies greatly. The course that I felt taught me how to teach a lesson, collect data, analyze the data, and then reteach in a very kindergarten friendly way was TE 846: Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners. Assistant Professor, Sandro Barros, worked with each student individually to help create a lesson plan for our grade levels. The main project for the course was to create a lesson plan on an area or skill I felt a few of my students needed extra practice on and teach the lesson to two different students. The skill I chose was rhyming, as it was towards the end of the school year and there would be a portion of the report card dedicated to rhyming. After recording the lesson, I was able to analyze the recording, plus the physical assessment I gave and collected, to then analyze what the student was doing when working on this skill. With this being the main assignment of the course, I spent a lot of time creating the lesson plan, tweaking it to teach the second time around after analyzing the first lesson, and researching to find what more I could do for my students. Because of this course and that major project, I now can more confidently plan a lesson on a needed kindergarten skill, analyze my lesson, and reteach as needed. This course has helped me to teach and assess before report card marking periods, to ensure that my students are getting the best teaching for their target area.
As difficult as it is to analyze data in kindergarten, it is equally, if not more challenging, to teach and assess kindergarten writing. When I elected to take a writing course, TE 848: Writing Assessment and Instruction, I initially felt nervous because of how unique kindergarten writing is. Kindergarten writing can be at completely different levels all throughout the school year. There will be some students that come in having a baseline of letters, their sounds, and how they connect together to form words, while others work on learning their letter sounds for half of the year or more. This makes teaching and assessing writing quite trying. Having taken a course with Professor Croel-Perrien early in my program, I knew her teaching style, which helped me to feel more confident to ask questions as needed during the course, because I knew I was going to feel like a fish out of water. Although I was uneasy as the course began, TE 848 ended up being one of my favorite, most useful courses that I took during my master’s program at MSU. The accelerated summer course was fast and furious, but had many useful components to it, and allowed me try out some writing creativity, and focus on what my current writing curriculum in kindergarten was lacking. By the end of the course, I had written my own poem, reflected on what it was like to write in a new genre, and create a new unit to my current writing curriculum that included mentor texts, sample lesson plans and rubrics. This course had an enormous impact on my career, because the unit I created, I will actually implement in my own classroom towards the end of this school year. I never expected to create an addition to a curriculum, but having done so now, I feel that I know the ins and outs of curriculum planning and preparing, while having made something myself so I know it will be useful to my students. With the creation of a poetry unit for my kindergarten class, I am able to share this with my colleagues so that we can all try it out this year for the first time.
The final course that has made a large impact on my career is actually a course that I took my first semester of my program. This course has not only affected me in my practice in the classroom, but also in my personal goals for my future education. CEP 816: Technology, Teaching and Learning Across the Curriculum gave me a taste as to what a Master’s in Educational Technology might be like. Because of this course, it is my ultimate goal to pursue a second master’s degree (see future learning goals essay). This course challenged me to use new technologies for my own learning, but also for my classroom. It forced me to think outside the box and design lessons that were originally paper and pencil tasks, and create them somehow on the computer for a young learner to use. Dr. Paul Morsink made the learning fun, engaging, and constantly something new each week, that it never felt as if I was doing “work”. I truly wish that I could have tried out more technology courses after taking this course. Because of the designing technological lessons, I was able to integrate technology with two science units, and bring that into the classroom. After taking this course, I attended the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) conference to learn more about technology in the classroom. CEP 816 opened my eyes to the future of education and technology.
In thinking about technology and how much CEP 816 had an impact on me, I feel it is important to note how beneficial having my MAED program online was in my learning. By having the program completely online, it allowed me to have so much flexibility in my learning. If I wanted to come in early to work, and pull up an assignment, I could. When I traveled to London over the holidays, I was still able to present a final project. If I had to go out of town, all I needed was my laptop, and I was set to never fall behind on an assignment or project. With the online program, I was in complete control of my own learning, wherever and whenever it was comfortable and convenient to me. That flexibility is something that not all master’s programs can offer. Because of the online program, I was able to continue to teach full time, and immediately put my learning into action in the classroom.
My master’s program as a whole was completely flexible in allowing me to choose my own classes to fit my needs as a learner. There were very few “required” classes, which allowed me to sample various subjects to ensure that my learning made an impact on my teaching. This is how I was able to sample a technology course, which then planted the seed of another degree. The flexibility granted me the ability to take more literacy classes to cater to my young learners needs. As I mentioned above, not all master’s programs give this luxury to their students. I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to create my own schedule based on my needs as a learner. Aside from the choices offered in courses, there were also choices given within the courses themselves. For example, I was able to select the book that would benefit me most as a kindergarten teacher for a book study. I cannot stress enough how beneficial it has been to have this graduate level learning be exactly what I needed for my career to flourish.
I would like to conclude by stating how exemplary this final capstone course (ED 870: Capstone Seminar) has been as the last course in my program. Now having reflected back on all my time, effort, thoughts, and hard work that I put into my graduate degree, I feel extremely accomplished and proud of the learning I have completed and that fact that is has directly impacted me as an educator in the classroom. I have always had a love of learning, but in taking this final capstone course, I have now painted the big, almost complete picture of my learning, my career, and my journey. I can confidently say, my learning journey will never stop, even after the degree is completed.