Make New Mistakes
As graduation approaches, I find myself thinking about what skills I will bring to teaching now that the end of my MAEd program a few short weeks away. What experiences have embedded themselves in my mind? What will be useful on the journey ahead? What do I have with me now that I can build new classrooms with? What will I do with what I have learned? How terrified am I that I'm going to slowly blunder forward and make terrible mistakes? Or will I make some good ones?
Malcolm Forbes writes, “Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” Truly my time in the Masters of Education program has opened my mind to a myriad of new questions, new ideas, and new hope. I see curriculum and teaching from an entirely new point of view. This program is something that I will take with me, that will continue to open my mind and expand my horizons.
When I applied for this program in 2012, I wrote about my interest in curriculum development. I mentioned my previous experiences writing curricula for a fine arts program and how my experience expanding that curriculum to contain specific mathematics standards was extremely rewarding. At that time, I lacked was the power to speak for myself, to rise up and defend art as a powerful tool for teaching students both art and mathematics standards. Now, after completing the MAEd Leadership program I feel that I have the background knowledge to defend my position, the research that shows how students learn best, how curriculum can help teachers be more effective educators, and the resources to know where the advancements in curriculum are headed in the future of education. Aside from the specifics of writing curriculum, the knowledge I have gained about creative teaching practices, innovative classroom experiences, educational leadership practices will infuse my day to tray interactions with my fellow teachers. Keeping my interests focused on innovative, cross-curricular art classrooms is probably no longer possible, as I want to make every classroom creative, innovative, and a seat of enriched learning.
During my journey at in the MAEd program, I have pursued the goals I set for myself and have set new ones that I ams still working towards. I have learned a great deal about working through the higher branches of the education system, how to create innovative learning environments, the future of curriculum writing, and where the standards for education are taking both teachers and students. Yet, another goal I have set for myself is to put all of this to work in my current position working with severe special needs students. How can I make the most of my time with them, how can I infuse their learning with creativity, so rote memorization is no longer boring? How can I take their goals for learning and make it the most meaningful experience for them? I would eventually to keep working towards writing curriculum for fine arts classrooms, but right now this is where my experiences wight he MAEd program is taking me and I see a great future ahead for myself making glorious mistakes.
All images on this website have been created by C.L.Steele unless otherwise noted.