As I have moved forward through my masters program here at Michigan State University, the biggest take away that I have experienced is through personal reflection on my teaching style, my goals and really what I am good at in the classroom. It has become clear to me that really where I thrive is in building relationships and helping students work through their issues. Educating all students is what I have always strived to do and furthering my own education can only help me.

 

As I move forward in my career I have a few plans to continue my learning and professional development. I have a book I want to read, a four day professional development I will be attending in July and August and lastly I will continue to take classes and possibly complete the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Certificate through Michigan State.

 

The book I am planning to read is “Help for Billy: A Beyond Consequences Approaching to Helping Challenging Children in the Classroom.” This book deals with teaching traumatized children which is something that we are unfortunately seeing more of. I think this is very important and is a book I might consider buying for my paraprofessional staff so we can learn together. I think my primary job as a leader right now is leading my paraprofessional staff. Leading a book study with this group may help them become better educators and be more helpful to me in my room.

 

The professional development I will be attending this summer is Capturing Kids Hearts. Many teachers in my district have already attended this and there has been very positive feedback from all who attended. This course focuses on social emotional learning and educating through building relationships. I am looking forward to attending this to develop new strategies to build relationships and establish a positive classroom culture. Not only will this course be helpful to me personally, but it is also a direction my school and district is heading. There was a lot of push from administration this last year to get all staff signed up for this. There was also a lot of pushback from teachers and the union on whether or not we should use our time over the summer to take a four day course or if that should be provided over the school year. I think as educators, we do get to choose how we spend our time off, but I also want to keep learning and improving. Attending this course not only will give me new ideas to incorporate into my classroom, but also shows the district that I am willing to take the extra time to improve our school culture, which may open doors in the future.

 

Finally I am considering continuing my education here at MSU and completing the certificate for Multi-Tiered Systems of Support.  Many schools are adapting Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports systems and I believe the more compontent I can become in that area, the better chance I will have of fulfilling my goal of going into administration. I also strongly believe in those systems and their benefits so it would be interesting to learn more about them and how to implement them properly.  Whether I continue my career in special education or branch out to be a behavior specialist, dean of students or assistant principal, I believe this certificate will be very helpful to me.