A Journey of Twists, Turns, and Bumps by Jenny Luyckx
The road that I followed to my master’s degree has been a long one, with many twists, turns, and bumps along the way. I started my adventure in the spring of 2008 when I applied to Michigan State University’s MAED program. I chose special education and reading as my two concentration areas, with special education being the main concentration.
And the Journey Begins…
Since I am a single mom, it was important for me to take online courses so that I could complete the required coursework any time of the day, as opposed to having a set schedule, which would not always be possible for me to keep. I must admit that I was a little nervous about having to be so disciplined about how I used my time and turning the assignments in, but I knew that if I was going to obtain my master’s degree that this would be the route I would have to take. In wanting to complete the program in a timely manner I knew that it would be impossible for me to take more than two classes at a time since I also had to split my time between my boys and working full-time. Financial aid would also present a problem in that in order to be eligible for the aid I would need to take a minimum of 6 credits, or two classes.
When I looked at the program plan that I had in place I wasn’t really sure where to start as far as the order of the classes in the program so I decided to look at all of the choices and pick the first two that did not sound as overwhelming, as life had already been overwhelming enough.
CEP 816 and TE 836 were the first two classes that I enrolled in for the master’s program but I do not think that either one of these courses had a huge impact in my learning because they were what I would consider to be basic courses in the program but were a great way for me to adjust to online learning and the expectations that would be necessary to conquer as I continued my journey. I must admit that the material that I learned in CEP 816 was something that I was able to carry over into my classroom immediately because it discussed a number of methods to use when teaching a variety of subjects.
A Bump or Two Along the Way
In the summer of 2008, my second semester in the MAED program, I decided to enroll in ED 800. Unlike my first two classes in the program, which had a timely outline to follow, ED 800 was a self-paced course. Feeling like I was very disciplined in my studies I decided to stay enrolled in the course. I knew that I would soon be finalizing my divorce and moving mid-semester but figured that I would need to apply my dedication and self-discipline skills even more so than I had done in the previous semester. I looked at taking on a self-paced course as an extra challenge but instead it turned out to be extremely overwhelming. Before I knew it, the last day to drop a course had passed and I was in a panic because of where I was in terms of completing the assignments. I was in constant contact with the professor throughout the course because I was having difficulty comprehending the expectations for each of the assignments. Communicating via email was frequently occuring throughout the course and I knew that the next email I was going to send him was to request an “Incomplete”, something I had never done or ever imagined doing. This seemed to be the only option because not only was I so far behind but that the work I was producing was not up to the course standards, the professors standards, or my own standards.
I graciously took the “Incomplete” and decided not to revisit ED 800 until the summer of 2010. At the start of the course I decided to email Dr. Weiland to reintroduce myself and let him know that I was much more focused than I had been two years ago. Dr. Weiland clearly remembered me and commented on how I seemed more “in tune” with the expectations of the course, the professor, and myself after a few weeks into the course. I am proud to say that I finished the class with a 4.0 and that this grade overrode my “Incomplete”. Not only was this course a great challenge for me the second time around because of the structure and expectations, but it was also a challenge for me because it caused me to think “outside the box” on several issues, which caused me to discover some new things about myself.
Relevant Stops Along the Way
Although I have taken many inspiring courses during my master’s program through MSU there are four courses that have truly influenced me as a teacher, student, learner, and mother. These courses include: CEP 841 (Classroom and Behavioral Management in the Inclusive Classroom), CEP 832 (Educating Students with Challenging Behavior), CEP 842 (Content Area Instruction for Students with Mild Disabilities), and ED 870 (Capstone Seminar). In looking back at these courses I am able to see the impact and growth they have had on me in many aspects of my life.
To begin the level of relevance I feel as though I must start with the course that I have taken first, that being CEP 841 (Classroom and Behavioral Management in the Inclusive Classroom). This course involved analyzing classroom practices and discussing how to apply Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS); both on an individual basis as well as school-wide. We focused a lot of attention on Richard Lavoie and his methods to teaching students appropriate social skills. Lavoie talked about how educators need to teach social skills within the curriculum and how children with special needs and learning disabilities often lack the social skills that children without special needs or learning disabilities have.
Even though I had taken this course during the summer of 2010 I knew how helpful it was going to be to me the next school year because I would soon be faced with a group of students with challenging social behaviors and instead of reacting to their behaviors I had ways to be proactive to them. Another way that this course was helpful to me was not in my teaching profession or as a student at MSU, but as a mom. I have a son with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified), which is on the Autistic Spectrum, who will be encountering life after high school before I know it. For our final project for the course we were to pick a topic to research and I chose “Autism: Life After High School” because I knew that the information I would research would help me with my son in the next couple of years as well as the parents of a group that he is a part of. I was amazed at all of the ways that he can be accommodated and ways that I can help make the transition from high school to college to the work force smoother for him.
As we continue down the road in regards to the most relevant courses in my master’s program we stop at CEP 832 (Educating Students with Challenging Behavior). Just as CEP 841 had come at a critical time during my teaching career, this course came at a critical time as well. As I had mentioned, I was faced with a small group of students with a variety of challenging social behaviors but who also had other behavior difficulties as well. Even though I had not taken this course until the middle of the school year, spring of 2011, it still provided me with a lot of information that I was able to take into my classroom that year. In this course we discussed a variety of techniques and strategies for students with challenging behaviors, as well as providing reasons as to why the students were displaying such behaviors.
After I completed this course I wish that I had a lot of the information available to me at the beginning of the year but felt that it came at a time when I was truly questioning myself as a teacher and a student with special education as a concentration area. In the past I had always been able to adapt the classroom to meet the needs of all of my students but this year I was feeling at a loss with one student in particular. It seemed that no matter what I did, even after utilizing all of the strategies and techniques from CEP 841, I had failed time after time. I decided that this student would be the focus of my case study. In referring back to the material that had been covered in the course this student demonstrated hyperactive behaviors. After initiating the strategies that we introduced throughout the course I was able to make the necessary progress with the student by the end of the case study. These glimpses of hope gave me the confidence I needed to feel successful as a teacher and the sense of direction that I needed in order to continue pursuing my master’s degree.
Along with providing an abundance of knowledge, CEP 832 also had a huge impact on my teaching. It gave me the ability to focus on my weaknesses in regards to student behavior but it also taught me how to work with students to create an environment that is adaptable to the variety of challenging behaviors that students will enter my room with year after year.
The next stop is CEP 842 (Content Area Instruction for Students with Mild Disabilities). Just as the previous two courses provided me with an abundance of relevant information to both my profession as a teacher this course provided me with prudent information as well but instead of on the behavior side of teaching it was the learning side. This course was definitive about learning specific strategies and methods for teaching mathematics, science, and social studies to special education students. What I learned throughout this program was that while some students are classified as special needs, all students have different needs in the classroom, whether they have a classification or not. I found that many of the strategies that I discovered in this class were just as beneficial for my general education students as my special education students.
Although I had always considered myself to adjust my lessons as necessary in order for the students who struggled the most to feel successful, I now realized that I may not have been adjusting the lessons and my teaching so that all students are learning the most successfully. The classification, while sometimes helpful in creating proactive strategies for learning, is not the criteria for me to create an individualized plan for learning. That is something that I should be doing for all my students, not just the students who are struggling but for also the ones who need an additional challenge. This class helped me to make the mental transition to realize that the special education and general education students in my class were the same…they were all individual students who needed to have instruction and assessment tailored to meet their individual needs.
One of the final projects for this courses was to create a Unit Lesson Plan for either math, science, or social studies. I chose math because I felt I would be able to take the lesson plans into my own classroom and use them with my students. After extensively researching a variety of ways to differentiate instruction to teach addition and subtraction to first grade students, I was able to better meet the needs of all of the students in my classroom and by the end of the school year I was more confident in saying that every student in my classroom had mastered the math facts required for first grade.
The last stop is ED 870 (Capstone Seminar). Although this course is my last stop as far as my master's degree, it is by far the least relevant as far as level of importance. This course has allowed for to reflect, recognize how I have grown as a teacher, student, and mom, as well as provided a way for me to demonstrate all that I have learned during my journey. This course has offered an avenue of reflection for all of my hard work during the completion of my master’s degree while at the same time learning and understanding all of the possibilities for the future.
I must admit that when I first started the course I was terrified of computers and the thought of creating an online portfolio terrified me even more. Knowing that I had the support of many professors as well as housemates made the step-by-step process of creating my portfolio an enjoyable one. As I created each page I began to see how this truly was a reflection of myself and all that I am capable of doing. The completion of the final portfolio allows one to see the growth I have made as a teacher, student, and mom. I am proud and confident to share my work with my family, friends, student's families, and future employers. I feel that I am now more apt to bring technology into my current classroom, as well as classroom's I may be in down the road.
A Fork in the Road
Now that my master’s program is quickly coming to an end I find myself at a fork in the road. One part of the road leads me to continuing my education only to fulfill the requirements necessary to be a teacher. One part of the road leads me to continuing my education in hopes of fulfilling an additional endorsement on my teacher certificate in special education. Although I will always be a lifelong learner, I am overwhelmed with the feeling of obtaining an additional endorsement, yet I am also excited to continue my journey knowing that my master’s degree was just one stop along the way.