How Completing a Master's Degree Program Empowered Me and Made Me a Better Teacher

Last year in my fifth year of teaching I decided to finally make the decision to start a Master's Degree program in educational technology. I had put off this decision for the first few years of my career, and had always made excuses that it would be too much to handle with work, or that it just wasn't the right time to do it yet. With the Covid-19 pandemic in full effect, I decided that it was as good a time as any, and to finally take the plunge and start the next chapter of my life. Now, as I am coming to the completion of my program, I am able to reflect on the knowledge and growth I have acquired over the past year and a half, and I can fully comprehend the benefits my time in this program have brought to me both personally and professionally. In the following blog, I will explain how completing a Master's Degree program has impacted me in an effort to encourage other who may be wondering if they should take this next step in their lives. 

Empowered Me to Take on a Leadership Role 

    In my first class through my program at the American College of Education (ACE), I was asked to complete an Individual Student Profile assignment in which I set forth goals for myself as I moved forward in my program. One of the most important goals I set, was that I wanted to gain the confidence to take on a leadership role at my school site in an effort to enact technological change at my school site. After taking my first few classes, I felt that I understood what a good leader truly was, and how to adopt and implement technology more effectively into curriculum. I felt that my school site and district were not utilizing best practices to implement technology into curriculum, and my newfound knowledge gave me the confidence to finally step up and seek out a leadership role. I decided to run for department lead, and ended up being voted into the position. As department lead, I have focused on trying to empower my coworkers to do things that I might not have in the past before I started my program. Before, I was more afraid to try out new technology tools because I thought they might blow up in my face and cause me problems. Now, I know it is important to try new tools and strategies to see how they can impact students, and I have encouraged my department members to do the same. In department lead meetings, I have fought for smarter technology use, and for more equitable practices at our school site that can help benefit the highly impacted students we have at our school site. I am proud of myself for taking on a leadership position, as I don't think that I would have prior to starting this program, and I encourage anyone who is thinking about starting a Master's Degree program to do so so that they can gain the confidence needed to take on a leadership role and make a real impact at their school site. 

Made Me Think More About Technology Decisions I Am Making in My Classroom 

    Throughout the course of my Master's Degree program in educational technology, I have created many different technology-integrated lesson and unit plans designed to be implemented in my classroom. Within these lesson and unit plans, I was consistently asked to think carefully about the technology tools and strategies that I was integrating, and to justify why I chose to integrate these particular technology tools or strategies. The assignments really forced me to think deeply about the role that technology plays in my classroom, and for what purpose I was utilizing it. This thought process has really transferred into my every day teaching now. Prior to my program, I tended to just integrate technology to make things easier, or because I thought students would find it fun, but now I realize technology use needs to be thoughtful and carefully planned, otherwise it can actually detract from learning. This is an important lesson for all educators to learn, and I think enrolling in a Master's Degree program is an excellent way by which to learn this lesson, and to learn the skills needed to implement this lesson effectively. 

Built Up My Time Management and Organization Skills 

    Throughout my life, I have not typically been the most organized person, or the best at managing my time. I realized really quickly as I started my program that I was going to have to work on developing and improving my time management and organization skills if I was going to complete my degree successfully. After the first month of my program, I was working full time as a teacher, while also completing my quizzes, discussion boards, and assignments each week when I was finished with my teaching work for the day. This was really difficult at first, as I felt like I was constantly working and overly stressed. With time though, I realized how to effectively maintain a Google Drive to keep track of all my work, how to best time all of my work so that I was able to get it done early and set aside time for my teaching work, and to save some time for myself to relax and de-stress as well. This was a difficult learning process, and it took me quite a few classes to get into the swing of things, but once I was able to figure out my time management and organization system, I also noticed these systems working their way into my teaching as well. My lack of time management and organization had often bled into my teaching as well, and had caused me to miss meetings or forget where I had left off in my classes at times. Eventually though, I started keeping a schedule which allowed me to keep track of important meetings and due dates, and also allowed me to keep a balance between both my teaching and school work. I developed a better organizational system as well for keeping track of assignments and student work, and it has really streamlined my classroom and made me a more present and effective teacher for my students. While this was a very difficult aspect of my program to work through initially, I was able to overcome the adversity I dealt with and become a more organized teacher. I have a great sense of pride in myself for being able to complete this program while working full time, and this has also given me a greater sense of pride in my job as a teacher as well. I think all educators could benefit from enrolling in a Master's Degree program as well, as it will help them push themselves to their limit, and grow both personally and professionally. 

Conclusion

    My time in my Master's Degree program has been a time of immense growth for myself. I faced many challenges and struggles, and have been able to overcome each of them to become a better professional, and person in general. I became more empowered, thoughtful, and organized in my professional life, and gained a great deal of confidence in myself personally as a result. I believe that any educator out there would reap the same benefits from enrolling in a Master's Degree program, and I highly recommend anyone out there considering this to take the leap.