"It's been rough, man...rough."
- Cindy Roy
June 2011
As my Michigan State University Master’s in Educational Technology nears completion, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, and Summer 2011 semesters are ending each time with me saying, “It was rough, man…rough.” I knew what kind of student I was during my undergraduate program, and I vowed to be a better student this time around; that was one of my goals as I applied for MSU’s graduate program in April of 2010. I was a “better” student at the beginning of the program, but I can look back and see what factor changed my performance. Ironically, it was going back to teaching. How can that be? I am an educator in the classroom doing what I can to motivate my students to have pride in their quest for academic success. I found it hard to balance a career that I feel requires me to be fully invested; teachers do not get to ever leave their job, it follows them home even when they have stayed in the building from 7am to 7pm.
At the beginning of my master’s, I had left my teaching job in Virginia so that I could return to Michigan in order to attend MSU, and I went back to one of those easy, coveted 40-hour a week jobs where I could leave at 4:30pm and not think once about my job again until I returned the next morning at 8am. Once I started teaching again, I found myself saying over and over, “How do people with families do this, because it is just me and I have a hard time balancing teaching, grad work, and finding me time!??” Unfortunately, I did not attain my goal of being a “better” student, but I always find a way to make it work. I have tried to follow some great advice that my father gave me a few short months ago. He said, “Cindy, not everything that you have to do right now needs to be perfect, it just needs to get done.” Those words of wisdom have helped me cope with my stress, but I have a hard time allowing myself to be mediocre, so the stress levels have remained high most days. My hat goes off to those who achieve their master’s degrees with families to care for…and I thought I was strong!
As for what goals I have completed, there are certainly two. One, I wanted to complete my Master’s program by the end of Summer 2011, and that is, indeed, going to happen. There was a moment when I said, “No, I really need a break, so I will take the summer off and knock the rest out in the fall.” Then I came back to my senses when I thought of going back to the next school year with my last two graduate classes yet to complete. Everyone makes goals, sometimes they are in the form of a “resolution,” and not everyone reaches their goals, but there are some goals that are just too attainable, and sticking to my completion date has always been in my control.
The second goal, to me, was the most important, and that was to come away from this program with a highly useful degree that could transcend my career in so many ways. I have friends and know many people who get Master’s degrees that only serve as a salary upgrade; their Master’s degrees do not really ever get used. My Master’s has given me an Educational Technology Certificate, an additional endorsement on my teaching license, two salary upgrades, an opportunity to leave the classroom and venture into the role of a Technology Curriculum Specialist, but most importantly, I have come to understand and to find ways to make the infusion of technology relevant and enhancing to curriculum and academic success. School administrators are pushing for technology-infused lessons, yet my argument has always been, “I am not going to use technology just for the sake of using it.” I always wanted it to be meaningful to the instruction and to student outcomes. Technology is not just a “tool.” When used properly it “supports” instruction and enhances students’ learning. That was a major theme of the MAET at MSU and that was what I had been searching for, and thankfully, my Master’s in Educational Technology degree from Michigan State University helped me reach my destination and provided me with direction to search even deeper as technology continues to evolve.
But still, “it’s been rough, man.”
At the beginning of my master’s, I had left my teaching job in Virginia so that I could return to Michigan in order to attend MSU, and I went back to one of those easy, coveted 40-hour a week jobs where I could leave at 4:30pm and not think once about my job again until I returned the next morning at 8am. Once I started teaching again, I found myself saying over and over, “How do people with families do this, because it is just me and I have a hard time balancing teaching, grad work, and finding me time!??” Unfortunately, I did not attain my goal of being a “better” student, but I always find a way to make it work. I have tried to follow some great advice that my father gave me a few short months ago. He said, “Cindy, not everything that you have to do right now needs to be perfect, it just needs to get done.” Those words of wisdom have helped me cope with my stress, but I have a hard time allowing myself to be mediocre, so the stress levels have remained high most days. My hat goes off to those who achieve their master’s degrees with families to care for…and I thought I was strong!
As for what goals I have completed, there are certainly two. One, I wanted to complete my Master’s program by the end of Summer 2011, and that is, indeed, going to happen. There was a moment when I said, “No, I really need a break, so I will take the summer off and knock the rest out in the fall.” Then I came back to my senses when I thought of going back to the next school year with my last two graduate classes yet to complete. Everyone makes goals, sometimes they are in the form of a “resolution,” and not everyone reaches their goals, but there are some goals that are just too attainable, and sticking to my completion date has always been in my control.
The second goal, to me, was the most important, and that was to come away from this program with a highly useful degree that could transcend my career in so many ways. I have friends and know many people who get Master’s degrees that only serve as a salary upgrade; their Master’s degrees do not really ever get used. My Master’s has given me an Educational Technology Certificate, an additional endorsement on my teaching license, two salary upgrades, an opportunity to leave the classroom and venture into the role of a Technology Curriculum Specialist, but most importantly, I have come to understand and to find ways to make the infusion of technology relevant and enhancing to curriculum and academic success. School administrators are pushing for technology-infused lessons, yet my argument has always been, “I am not going to use technology just for the sake of using it.” I always wanted it to be meaningful to the instruction and to student outcomes. Technology is not just a “tool.” When used properly it “supports” instruction and enhances students’ learning. That was a major theme of the MAET at MSU and that was what I had been searching for, and thankfully, my Master’s in Educational Technology degree from Michigan State University helped me reach my destination and provided me with direction to search even deeper as technology continues to evolve.
But still, “it’s been rough, man.”