Time Doesn't Always Change All Thoughts
By: Carolyn Moss
When I first reached the end of my masters program and was asked to look back I guessed, no I knew, that my goals must have changed. It had been almost three years since I first wrote my professional goals for my application to the program. Back then I knew I wanted to gain a better understanding of science so I could delve deeper into topics with my students. That was my main goal. My other goal revolved around the challenge of reaching students who might not find science interesting at first. Many students think science, real science, is unreachable. I want to bridge that gap and bring science to all students. When I wrote those goals down I had stopped sailing and held a steady teaching job. Since then I have changed jobs, moved across the country, gone back to sailing for a stint, and worked my way through 9 different grad classes.
Three years ago when I first applied to the MSU program I taught in a very low-tech school. Still had a blackboard in my classroom. It was a very old New England prep school where traditions seemed to keep new ways out of the classroom. I knew the technology was out there and growing. I had students showing me amazing things on their iPhones (at the time I had a very old phone that did nothing more than call people). I knew that if I could learn to embrace all of that technology and open the doors to what it allowed instead of shunning it my classroom could be enriched to the limits of imagination.
I stopped teaching at that school and have finished my masters program as a full-time substitute. Being able to be in and out of many different classrooms at a very high-tech school has allowed me to try all the different methods and approaches I have learned.
But even with all the time that has passed, all the knowledge I have gained, and the opportunities to utilize it presented, I still have the same goals. And I realize that years from now when I look back I will still want to further my education so I am able to further my students' education and open the world of science to those who might not take that dive on their own.
Three years ago when I first applied to the MSU program I taught in a very low-tech school. Still had a blackboard in my classroom. It was a very old New England prep school where traditions seemed to keep new ways out of the classroom. I knew the technology was out there and growing. I had students showing me amazing things on their iPhones (at the time I had a very old phone that did nothing more than call people). I knew that if I could learn to embrace all of that technology and open the doors to what it allowed instead of shunning it my classroom could be enriched to the limits of imagination.
I stopped teaching at that school and have finished my masters program as a full-time substitute. Being able to be in and out of many different classrooms at a very high-tech school has allowed me to try all the different methods and approaches I have learned.
But even with all the time that has passed, all the knowledge I have gained, and the opportunities to utilize it presented, I still have the same goals. And I realize that years from now when I look back I will still want to further my education so I am able to further my students' education and open the world of science to those who might not take that dive on their own.
My Original Professional Goals Statement Essay
Carolyn Moss - 2009
msu_goals_statement_2009.pdf | |
File Size: | 39 kb |
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