Gaining the Tools for Successful Teaching and Learning
By: Alissa Hamilton

As I begin to look back over my coursework at Michigan State University’s online Master of Arts in Education program, I would like to first reflect back to how I got to this point in my life.  Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to be a teacher.  When I was younger, my friends and I would spend our summers playing “school” with our own “classrooms” and our own “students.”  I have always seen the importance of learning, and how furthering my education would not only help me to have a good career, but also achieve everything that I wanted out of life.  As I got older, and stopped “playing teacher”, I was always the classmate that would help another classmate when they didn’t understand.  I took on a tutoring role when I was in high school, tutoring a sixth grade student that was too advanced in math for his teacher.  Although from a very young age I knew that I wanted to be a teacher, it wasn’t until I was in my first years of college that I realized I wanted to become a math and science teacher at the secondary level.  I had always had a vision of myself as an elementary teacher; I loved little kids and wanted to work with them.  When I took my first basic teaching courses at Alpena Community College and began doing observation hours in the classroom, I realized that I wanted to be focused on only one or two topics.  I observed in my favorite high school math teacher’s classroom and a couple new math teachers’ classroom’s as well.  I saw some students that were engrossed in the learning and some that were not.  I didn’t understand why some students could not love what they were learning, I always loved math!  I realized then that I wanted to teach math and science, those were my two favorite subjects in school.  I hoped my passion for math and science would show through my teaching and turn more students to the joys of math and science learning.

To further pursue my goals of becoming a teacher, I continued my studies at Central Michigan University.  I graduated from CMU with many bright ideas of how and what to teach in the classroom to make it interesting to all students, and what I could do to ensure every student was learning.  I was graduating into a time that there were still some teaching jobs, but not necessarily where I wanted to go.  I was able to get a job right out of college in Charlotte, Michigan.  It was only a temporary position, but it was a job that I wanted to take on the challenge of.  After surviving my first year, and learning many things along the way on the many different aspects of teaching they never teach you during school, I was laid off.  I then returned to my hometown and was a substitute teacher for about three years.  During my first year of substitute teaching, I knew I needed to gain more knowledge on the diverse world of teaching; my undergraduate education was not enough.  I sought out a school that would challenge me in new and unique ways; this is when I decided to apply for Michigan State University’s online Master of Arts in Education program.  I knew it was going to be a very different learning environment that would prepare me for the future. 

As my first classes began, I felt anxious to start in such a new learning environment.  I had a few undergraduate courses that used the online learning platform Moodle, but I had never had a complete course, let alone all of my courses, be strictly online.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to encounter, how I would be learning and how I would show that learning to my professor to evaluate.  I knew however, that this new learning environment would not only help me to achieve my master’s degree, but also open up doors into a whole new learning community.  I knew this new learning community would help me to  become a better teacher and learner in the ever changing field of education.

My first course, CEP 805: Learning Mathematics with Technology had me dive right into this new learning environment, teaching me how to change my learning habits in order to fit this new environment.  I was shocked at first that I did not have to purchase a textbook for this course, how will I get through a course without such an important learning resource?  I quickly learned how this new learning environment would be focused on a wide variety of resources given to me.  Articles to read, videos to watch, programs/applications to analyze; there were so many resources now at my disposal.  This course also taught me how to converse with other students, and how to use (and search) the internet as an additional resource to the resources given in class.  I learned how to work as a group in an online environment, how to have online discussions, and how to be a student in this new environment.

Not only did this course teach me how to learn and be a student in an online learning environment, but it was also one of the courses in my MEAD career that has helped me the most in the classroom.  In this course, I learned how to analyze technology programs for their benefits in the classroom.  I was not only shown specific technology resources from the professor, but I also had to search for valuable online resources on my own.  I learned how to analyze a technology resource for its ability to help students to better understand the Principles & Standards for School Mathematics, and for its teaching/learning benefits in the classroom.  In this course, I felt it was my first real look into standard development and how I can use the standards to develop the curriculum and what resources I can use in the classroom to support the development of those standards.  This course gave me many learning tools that I use on a regular basis and will continue to use throughout the rest of my teaching career.  Through this course I was able to learn how to not only look at the technology resources as a teacher, but also as a learner as well.  It taught me to envision how my students would be learning through the use of the technology, how it would help them to explore the topic being covered in greater depths.  It also showed me how to teach better when using the technology.  Technology in the classroom is more than just the use of an online grade book, a drill and practice tool, or a way to take attendance and look up student information.  It is a valuable resource that can help students explore topics in great depths, it can be used as a visual tool and much, much more.

My master’s courses were engulfed in the use of technology.  But it wasn’t until I took CEP 813: Electronic Portfolios that I was able to see how I could use that technology as a showcase for what my students have accomplished and how I can use a classroom webpage to better the learning environment.  In this course I created a website as a showcase of not only my accomplishments, but also my student’s accomplishments.  Having this ability to showcase student work can be a motivator for students.  They want to see their work on the website, to be able to show off what they can do to friends, parents and relatives.  I also learned how I could use a website as a classroom tool.  I was able to see and learn how other teachers used websites to update students on classroom announcements, assignments, etc., or as an integral part of the classroom in which the students had to make additions to the website as part of their assignments.  It was fascinating to see the possibilities that using a website could entail for the learning environment.

Action research is very important to the ever changing world of teaching.  Teachers, administrators, and anyone invested in the development of students, need to continually ensure that the education of the students is being effective.  In TE861C: Action Research in K-12 Science & Mathematics Classrooms, I was taught how to conduct action research.  Since this course was during the summer, I was only able to learn the planning aspects of action research, not the implementation of it.  But through this course, I learned how to choose a question of interest, research literature on that question of interest, develop a plan of action and how to modify my question of interest along the way when needed.  Action research will be an important tool that I will be able to use throughout the rest of my teaching career.  New teaching and learning strategies are developed all of the time.  Through action research, I can focus on a certain aspect of that new strategy, apply it to my classroom, analyze its usefulness and how well the students learned using the strategy, and plan for how I will continue to use and develop the strategy. 

Obviously teaching mathematics is important to me, so when I began TE 855: Teaching School Mathematics, I was very excited at all the possibilities this course could bring to my teaching.  This course made me think about teaching mathematics in a very different way than how I was taught during my high school years and how I was currently teaching my students.  The focus of this course was learning through problem solving.  Although the textbook and many of the activities/lessons we did focused more on the elementary aspects of teaching mathematics than the high school level, it still taught me many different learning/teaching strategies to take back into my classroom.  It taught me how I can focus my teaching on a problem that will teach them more than one concept.  For example, I can give the students a problem that they can be learning about rates and conversions all while dealing with basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and fraction concepts as well.  One of the aspects of this course that I enjoyed the most was our final project.  I had to develop an action research question, a plan to study that question within my classroom, analyze the outcomes and plan for future development.  This was further development from TE 861C, and gave me more practice in conducting action research in the classroom. Since I took TE 861C in the summer, I only had the opportunity to plan an action research question, complete literature research on the question and make a plan of action.  In TE 855, I was able to take that process further and actually take that plan of action into the classroom, then analyze the results and plan for future action.  This course taught me how to implement an action research question.  It also taught me ways to collect data during implementation, how to analyze that data and take the results into consideration when planning what to do next.  Working through the actual process of action research will further help me implement new teaching strategies throughout my career.  As I have said before, teaching is not a stagnant profession.  If you are not willing to learn and teach in new ways, you are not helping your students to reach their full potential in their learning.  Students change, times change, learning resources change.  Teachers need to be able to have the tools necessary to be able to implement those changes in the classroom, and know if those changes are being successful.  That is what this class taught me, and what I will be able to continue to use throughout the rest of my teaching career.

As I reflect back over the courses that influenced me the most throughout the master’s program, I look forward to how these courses will help me in the future.  I have learned so much that has changed how I teach and how I view student learning.  It will not end as the master’s program ends, but will continue to help me to become a better teacher in the future.  MSU’s MAED program has given me many tools that I can use in my teaching and personal learning for years to come.  I know that my days as a learner are not over.  I will continue my own education in new and exciting ways.  I will be able to use the knowledge that I have gained from MSU’s online learning environment to be able to continue my education, whether it be through more online learning classes, professional development opportunities, or maybe using new resources that don’t even exist yet.  I know that I am now ready to take on those challenges to ensure the success of myself as a teacher and learner, and also the success of the future students that I will teach.  Our future leaders deserve the best education, and I will continue to strive to ensure they are getting it.