Although I briefly thought of other careers when I was younger, I always came back to the world of education. I feel this is the best career choice for me as it enables me to help young children learn. My babysitting, teaching Sunday school, working in a child development center, and volunteering with young children confirmed this belief. Every August I am re-energized for the new year as the school supplies go on sale. I am really excited the first few weeks of school as I get to know my students and watch them learn something new!

The Teach with Your Strengths test indicated to me that lifelong learning is one of my strengths. This did not surprise me as I have always craved learning more about my favorite topics: education, travel, and American/British history, literature, and culture. Since I grew up in a family placing a high value on education, I had always planned on earning a masters degree. Although it took me a little longer than I had planned, I feel that I have developed significant knowledge and insight from the M.A. in Literacy Program at Michigan State University (MSU).

My sister who is a recent graduate of MSU�s College of Veterinary Medicine had a t-shirt that said, �The Hardest Part is Getting In� in reference to getting into the veterinary medicine program. I feel that MSU�s College of Education could have a similar shirt after my experience. It took two applications before I was accepted into the College of Education. I feel this challenge contributed to my perseverance to get into the world of education. I did not continue my masters degree right after I finished my internship as I did not find a full time teaching job until two years later. My perseverance continued as I tried to get a teaching job in Michigan�s very difficult job market for teachers. During the two years, I did learn a lot by teaching English to foreign professors, and subbing and volunteering in elementary classrooms. This experience made me think about what I did and did not want to do once that I was given my own classroom in Fall 2004. Once I was able to find a full-time teaching job, I was ecstatic to be able to finally complete my masters program. This perseverance continues today when I am working with struggling learners. I feel that my past experience in perseverance makes me a better teacher today as I have a better understanding of students that are struggling to grasp something.

As a teacher, I need to also be a learner to provide the best education possible for my students. I feel that teachers who feel that they �know it all� need to get out of education as they are doing a disservice to their students. Teachers need to be passionate about teaching and about children. If they do not value their own education, they will not remain current on "best practices" for long and thus provide their students a lower quality of education. I can think of many experienced teachers that I have interacted with that use classroom practices from many years ago, not considered to be "best practices" today. I feel that even if they are a "master teacher," they still need to keep on developing as a professional, whether formally or informally to provide the best education possible for their students. I plan on using four methods to maintain currency in education: on-line interactions, membership in professional organizations, working with colleagues, and continuing to attend seminars and presentations, as well as regularly reading professional development articles and books. As educational "best practices" evolve over time, so must teaching practices of all teachers. I plan on furthering my education in multiple ways.

First, I plan to continue being a part of several on-line mail groups/list-servs so that I can learn from other teachers. I sometimes feel that I am the only one having a certain problem in the classroom. Then I post it to the list, and generally get several responses and advice back from teachers having had the same issue. I plan on also working with my school and district colleagues to learn from them as well. I can only imagine how much more difficult the world of education was before these mail groups were in use!

I also plan on staying involved with several professional groups including the National Association for the Education of Young Children. This allows me to stay updated on best practices in the classroom with their monthly professional journal. I also plan on attending the Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children yearly conference as I have the past few years. This has allowed me to learn more from fellow educators on such topics as autism in the inclusive classroom, and teaching gifted children to name just a few topics of sessions that I have attended in the past. I also belong to the International Reading Association. I feel that this is an important association for me to belong to because of my interest in literacy.

In addition, I also plan on continuing to attend professional development opportunities as they are available to me. Since starting my master�s program, I have been able to attend seminars with: Debbie Miller (author of Reading with Meaning: Teaching Reading Comprehension in the Primary Grades), Carl Anderson (author of How's It Going? A Practical Guide to Conferring with Student Writers), Lucy Calkins (co-author of Units of Study), and seminars on topics such as: literacy centers, education of gifted students, autism in the inclusive classroom, special education, and teachers and the law.

I plan on keeping updated on my professional reading. Teachers at my school joke that if they are looking for a professional book in my school�s professional library and can not find it, they can come and see me because I probably have it. I have had a love of reading for as long as I can remember which has led to my love of reading professional materials. I will continue to read books written by practiced educators and academics so that I can improve the education that I provide for my students each day.

Completing my Master�s degree through MSU�s on-line program allowed me to focus on my classroom after school, and not fighting rush hour traffic. I appreciated the flexibility that the program allowed so that I could stay after school if need be. Even though I did not have face-to- face interactions with my professors and classmates, I still feel that I could interact with them through bulletin boards used in all of my classes. I have heard that some people think that on-line classes are easier than regular classes. I feel that may be true in some ways, but I feel that I developed more as a learner in the on-line format. Working on-line made me focus on what was going on, rather than sitting in a classroom where I have greater difficulty focusing. I feel that the flexibility that the on-line program had allowed me to obtain more from my classes.

Although my internship year was the 2001-2002 school year, I remember my first few graduate level classes reasonably well. Since the classes were integrated with the internship experience, I was able to apply my class lessons to my internship experience. I remember learning about the use of book clubs in my language arts classroom, and then being able to take them back to the 3rd grade classroom. I feel that part of MSU�s program is to give the students many ideas to apply in the classroom the next day. This includes the opportunity to learn from other students whether in the classroom or on-line.

This past summer allowed me the opportunity to learn more about the practice of looping through a research project for a class that I was taking. I created both a brochure for schools, teachers, and families that are thinking about the benefits and drawbacks of looping with research. I also created PowerPoint presentation on looping. Completing this research allowed me to obtain more knowledge regarding what I would be providing the following year, looping with my group of 2nd grade students that Fall. I developed insight regarding how to make the most of instruction at the beginning of the year, how to explain looping with parents, and how to gain the most from using looping with my group of students. I was very grateful for the opportunity in my TE 843 class to research the practice of looping before I did it in my classroom. I was able to use the brochure that I created to share with the families in my classroom so they could better understand the practice and its benefits such as a stronger classroom community and more learning time. This research also prepared me for some of the challenges related to looping including that some students become too comfortable in the classroom. I truly feel that with the research that I completed, I provided a stronger education for my students.

My children�s literature class (TE 836) enabled me to make better use of books inside my classroom. I learned about many awards that are given each year that I had never heard of before. I also learned about many diverse books that can be used to teach across the content areas. The class enabled me to think about children�s literature much more critically than I had in the past. Finishing this class gave me so many ideas that I was able to implement immediately in my classroom. I was able to improve the use of book clubs/literature circles by making them more student involved, rather than teacher led. I also became aware of many wonderful books that I would most likely not have heard of otherwise. In addition, our Little Women project allowed me to have a better understanding of the evolution of children's literature as we read academic literature about the book over time. As a history major (I double majored), I was fascinated to see how the book was viewed differently over time as we read articles written in different time periods about the book. We also watched a 1930s, and 1990s version of the film to compare the book with both films, and the films with each other. This unit enabled me to think very critically about a famous piece of children's literature. It also demonstrates how children's literature has evolved over time.

A few people have told me that I would make a great administrator. Taking my one and only educational administration class made me think otherwise. I chose to take the class because I have been on my school�s �school improvement team� for the past two years, and the topic of the class was �school restructuring.� I thought that the class would provide the foundation and confidence to speak up at our regular meetings. Although the class, as well as seeing the work that my administrator does, has made me think that educational administration is not in my career path, the class allowed me to feel more comfortable in speaking up at our meetings. I can now understand some of the difficult issues that my administrator has to deal with. I do not feel that this would be a good path for me as they have to deal with so much paperwork, and irate parents from what I can tell. Also, from reading the assigned readings, I had a lot of difficulty understanding different things. This class really challenged me as a learner! It did provide me with a better understanding of what administrators do each day as they try to restructure a school, but...I�ll stick to teaching in the classroom!

As I complete my master�s in literacy program, I have learned many things. Although I am now finishing my master�s program, my education will go on for many years to come. As a teacher, I know that learning never ends, but is a lifelong occurrence. Most of all, the program reiterated the importance of lifelong learning in the classroom. In the world of education, if a teacher feels that they no longer need to learn, I feel that they need to get out of the classroom as they are doing a disservice to their students. There is never an �end� of learning in the world of education.