Then and Now
Past Goals
In the beginning:
At the beginning of my graduate career at Michigan State University, my goal was simply to expand my educational and leadership skills. The school that I work in, Renton High School, is a low-income school that has a demographic that is made up of minorities. I wanted the knowledge of not only how to reach those students in the best way, but to also better serve them behind the scenes as a teacher leader. Mainly I was hoping that the program was going to provide me with guidance and ideas on how to expand my career.
Now:
My goal now, mostly remains the same. One thing that this program has taught me is that a teacher’s learning is never done. There is always a new program or a new method to try. It also has shown me that many teachers want to try new things but lack the ability to get the method to translate into their own classrooms. My current goal is to keep learning and enhancing my leadership skills by applying them to my current setting before moving on to a higher setting. I want to be part of the team that helps form new teachers.
The difference:
While my goal has stayed the same from when I started my graduate program to now. Both my original goal and my new goal is to learn new things and hone my leadership skills. The idea behind expanding my educational and leadership skills has differed. When I started I was focused on myself and what I needed. What I needed to enhance my teaching abilities as well as what I needed to become a leader, not from an administrative standpoint but a leader among my peers.
​
Now, my goal is to ultimately help teachers, both new and experienced. By taking the time to find new practices and methods, and trying them out myself, I can provide guidance to other teachers. By taking the time and honing this skill within my current teaching setting, I plan on eventually moving up to the college level and to help teach new teachers that are preparing to enter the profession.
​
This program has made me realized, that I love to teach. I love helping people gain new and useful knowledge. To help them expand their current practices to something bigger. To take a new idea and help a teacher make it uniquely their own. My goal started as expanding my educational and leadership skills as they applied to secondary education. My new goal is now to expand my educational and leadership skills as it applies to new teacher.
​
To accomplish this goal, I am getting a Master of Arts in Education with a concentration on P-12 School and Post secondary Leadership. I am taking on more leadership roles within my school. I also taking on mentor leadership roles with new teachers within the district and pre-service teachers. At the beginning of this journey, I had a very general goal. Through this goal, I have found the specific idea I want to accomplish.