What This Means: My Continuing Of Education Will Never Conclude

​​​​As I reflect upon my time spent working on my master’s degree at Michigan State University, I am excited but yet a little sad. I have truly enjoyed earning my master’s degree and know that my opportunities will continue to grow because of my work. However, I can’t help be sad that this may be the last formal degree I earn. I truly enjoy learning and feel like with every degree there is a major sense of accomplishment. As I look into the future, I hope that I continue to value education. I hope I am always trying to learn something new and I never become stagnant in my teachings. I know that in order to stay current I will need to focus on the ever-changing technology, and all the new ideas and practices for teaching.


When I think of today’s technology, I know tomorrow it will be yesterday’s news. I hope that with the knowledge I have on technology, in and outside of the classroom, that I can continue to grow with the new technology to come. Through my master’s degree, I have been given opportunities to be involved in “online classrooms,” creation of websites, as well as many other technology platforms. In the future I would like to be able to expand on this. I hope my classroom website can become even more “current” and polished. I hope that I can help my students outside the classroom by giving them an online classroom to visit when they are not in my physical classroom. I believe that it will give them a better chance for their success.

In order to continue to stay current inside the classroom, in regards to technology, I believe I will continue to need constant education in this area. One conference that I would love to visit every year, and will do my best to make a goal each year, is to attend the MACUL Conference (Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning). This conference gives teachers an introduction into new technologies in the classroom, how to use them, and the benefit they have in teaching/learning. By attending this conference every year I think I will continue to stay current in the ever-changing technology world we live in. I also think it will make me a key component in my school district and give me an edge to staying current as a 21st century teacher.

Although technology will continue to stay as a top priority, I also have two other goals for my future as a learner. These goals are literacy and special education. For literacy, I would love to earn an endorsement in reading recovery. Reading recovery is something I am very passionate about as a teacher of young students. Being trained as a reading recovery teacher would allow me to be knowledgeable in the best practices for early readers, as well as struggling readers. Reading recovery gives teachers the ability to work with students in short increments of time, yet make huge advances in their reading and writing. I believe that if I get reading recovery training that I will continue to be able to work towards my goal of always being the most educated teacher I can be.

As for special education, I would like to get endorsed in this area as well. Even if I do not become a special education teacher, even as a general education teacher I know I will be working with children of special needs. More and more special education students are being mainstreamed in the general education classroom. I believe that having the most knowledge I can on the different needs of children will only make teaching a variety of students easier. I want to be able to be a teacher that students can rely on, no matter what their need is. In the few courses I took on special education for my master’s degree, I found that some of the information I learned could be used for that of “typical” struggling students as well. Again, I feel this endorsement will improve me as a teacher and also make my job perhaps a little easier.

While reflecting upon my goals for the future, I am excited to see what the future holds for me. I can only hope that when I look back on this essay in the next few years that I can say I have accomplished or at least in the process of accomplishing these goals. I truly value all aspects of education for me and for my students. Continuing to learn new technologies as well as continuing my passions of bettering myself in literacy and special education, I can only become the best teacher I can be. This is my ultimate goal. Some things may change, but being a master of my field will always remain priority.