When I graduated in 2013 and started my first teaching job, I couldn’t imagine going back to school again to get a Masters. Despite the promise of a pay raise, I just couldn’t motivate myself to do it over the last seven years.
At first it was because I was too overwhelmed as a first year (and second and third…) year teacher to even think about taking on extra responsibility. Then as I started to feel more comfortable in my own ability to teach, I started to question what my long term goal in education would be. College version of me always thought I wanted to end up as a principal but teacher me quickly realized that even though I would be a great one, it wouldn’t make me happy. That coupled with taking on coaching responsibilities and my district not providing any financial support, gave me the perfect excuse to keep putting it off. After six years at my first school, I made the decision to move to a new district, for reasons I will discuss in another post, and the first half of the year was focused on figuring out my school.
Wouldn’t you know that my first year in this new school was the 2019-2020 school year. Just when I started to feel like I was making connections with my students and coworkers, we found ourselves at home for the rest of the year. I packed up my car and drove to my parents home in Florida. What started out as a short visit turned into a six week experience. Teaching from their home in the spring forced me to try out new technology. Although I have always enjoyed technology and considered myself one of the tech savvy teachers, it still forced me outside my comfort zone.
By the summer I was feeling more confident in my ability to teach virtually and I was back home in Virginia. For the first time in three years I found myself without a roommate. My last roommate, Anna, had decided to move to Texas. Even with all this free time and space, I still wasn’t thinking about starting my Masters. I’m almost embarrassed about what actually made me do it but in the end I did, which is all that matters.
So why did I start my Masters? Anna is why. When I first met Anna three years earlier she was a brand new elementary school teacher. Like me she got her undergrad degree from a school in PA and had moved to Virginia because it was easier to get a job. She worked for three years to get her permanent certification before moving to Texas. One morning in July I woke up to her Facebook post sharing that she was accepting into a Masters Program and would be working towards her degree. That was the final push I needed. If Anna (a fourth year teacher) could go back and start her Masters, I as an eighth year teacher had no more excuses.
I new I wanted a program that was completely online. From the last few years of being the go to tech helper in my schools I was leaning towards a program focusing on technology. These two decisions lead me to the Masters of Education in Learning and Technology at Western Governors University.
So at the end of the day, I guess I should say, “Thanks Anna!”.