“One of the beauties of teaching is that there is no limit to one’s growth as a teacher, just as there is no knowing beforehand how much your students can learn.” –Herbert Kohl
My journey to complete a Master of Arts in Elementary Education began a few years ago. At the start of the Michigan State University master’s program, my goal was simple. I wanted to further my knowledge of the skills and tools necessary to educate 21st Century learners. I soon realized how complex this goal was. After all, how do we educate students for an unknown future?
At the start of the program, I felt gaining a deeper understanding of literacy would strengthen my ability prepare students for the future. To this day, I feel the same. Instilled in my soul is the belief that balanced literacy is at the heart of teaching children to become life-long learners. After all, students who master the skills of written and oral communication are more confident and successful in all academic areas. If a student has strong literacy skills, he or she can learn anything.
However, what I failed to take into account was the type of reading, writing, listening, and communicating skills students will predictably be using in the future. Technology has led to immediate access to information at the click of a button. The type of reading and the way it is presented is drastically different than how educators traditionally taught. New literacy skills are required to be successful in adult life. Students need to immediately be able to evaluate sources for credibility as well as give credit where credit is due. Presenting ideas through digital sources is the primary form for communicating ideas in almost any direction we look.
With this in mind, I altered my goal to include furthering my knowledge of the teaching of new literacies and old. Using technology in my own teaching, and having students use it to learn and show thinking have been added to my list. Technology is not going away. As educators, we need to embrace the changes and prepare students to use it.
In addition, I now see the importance of science education in preparing students to become proactive members of society. Clean energy, water and food supplies, and global warming are just a few major issues impacting our world. Exploring sciences lends itself to teaching critical thinking skills such as, problem solving, questioning, analyzing, building, and exploring. Each of these add to skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century.
Being a teacher means learning every day. I learn from my students, co-workers, administrators, and by continuing my education. It was impossible to predict the amount of growth I would achieve as an educator through pursuing a Master of Arts in Education. The goals I have set for myself are endless. They will never be achieved as the types of skills students need for the future are unknown and always predictably changing.