The Truth Unfolds
By Patricia Monroe
E
I cannot believe how fast this program has gone by. It seems like I was just getting ready to start taking classes for my master’s program, and now I’m nearly finished. Throughout my time as a master’s student I have really learned a lot through the program and about myself. I have been an active participant in my educational growth and can truly say that this has been a very worthwhile experience.
Looking back, there are a few classes that really caught my attention, really challenged me and have helped me gain a better understanding of education. I will say though, that I wouldn’t have expected these classes to be the ones that stuck out the most. The first class that really stood out to me was EAD 801, Leadership and Organizational Development. I took this class, taught by Gerald Jennings, in the summer of 2010. The goal of this class was to expand our perspectives on organizational leadership challenges, thereby assisting us as potential leaders in formulating enlightened approaches to addressing the challenges of organizations and leadership. This course was designed for leaders within organizations, positional school leaders, leaders without titles and/or teachers and community leaders.
I was very pleasantly surprised in not only what I took away from this class, but also how I was able to really see myself as a leader. I was able to develop my understanding and behaviors related to growing as a leader. Although this class was designed for more of a leader within the educational systems, the class presented the material in ways that allowed me to see leadership roles within other organizations and positions. That was particularly helpful to me, as my future is not laid out in stone.
This was a great class for me to take early to half way through this program because it allowed me to sit back and look at myself as a leader. Throughout the course I was able to see myself grow as a leader and see how I could continue to grow as a leader. One of our very first assignments was to create a concept map (which can be seen on my coursework showcase page). We had to identify different qualities we saw in leaders or wanted people to have that hold leadership roles. It was then that I really started thinking about what kind of leaders I want and see in my life. At the end of the course we created another concept map with these same types of words/characteristics. The concept maps helped with my learning and understanding, as it was a visual way to grasp the concepts. When I finished the course, I could see my leadership growth and see that my future can include a leadership role.
We also had a lot of group discussions about leadership. The discussions/activities/case studies coupled with the readings really helped enhance and expand my knowledge and understanding of what it takes to be a leader. We analyzed and created case studies to directly relate to the material at hand. I also learned that I do see myself as a learning leader. I see a learning leader as someone who holds a leadership role, but is also learning along the way. I learned that superior performance depends on superior learning and that there is a need for understanding how organizations learn. Accelerating that learning is greater today than it ever was before. Leaders are designers, teachers, and stewards. These roles require new skills and the ability to build a shared vision. Above all, I learned that being a leader is about helping everyone in the organization; myself included, to gain more insightful views of current reality. This class has given me the opportunity to understand, evaluate and expand on leadership and ways to improve myself and those around me.
The second class that stands out to me would be KIN 855, Psychosocial Bases of Coaching. I took this class in the fall of 2010 taught by Dr. Marty Ewing. I took this class for my concentration in sport leadership and coaching. This class focused on sociological, philosophical, psychological, growth and development and teaching/motor learning principles of coaching competitive sports for athletes of different ages and abilities. What I was able to quickly understand after being in the class for only a short time is that there is a whole lot more to coaching than just the sport itself. We touched on all of these areas to help enhance my overall perspective on the different aspects that should be taken into consideration when working with kids and sports.
This class provided me with the opportunity to create my own coaching philosophy. I think that I took this class at a great time because I was a manager for the ECU volleyball team that same semester. What we were learning in the class I was able to see and translate into real life practice. I also noticed how I would pick up on different things that the coaches or players would do and be able to better understand it, both right and wrong. It was through this class and my experiences that I was able to realize that I did not want to make coaching my sole profession, as I thought before when I started this degree. Coaching is something I want to keep in my life, but just not at that level.
Other assignments for this class also allowed more development of my coaching philosophy and my knowledge of coaching. We completed a social reinforcement field observation where we had to attend a team practice and analyze the coach’s reinforcement techniques. We also did a book review and completed an interview. The book, Shooting in the Dark by Jim Thompson, was a book about tales of coaching and leadership. The book gives you some insight that you may have not known about coaching. It also helped me learn how to relate better as a coach with your team. From the book I learned plays, new techniques and ideas as well as learned how to be a better coach and more positive person by doing so.
For the interview, we had to select two head coaches in a sport that we were interested in coaching. I picked my high school volleyball coach and the current volleyball coach at ECU. I was able to learn about the issues they face as coaches in terms of the social context in which they work and issues they face in terms of their psychological concerns with performance. It was very interesting to see the different areas of concerns at the different levels of the same sport. This assignment threw yet another perspective in on coaching. The class in all allowed me to realize all of the other important factors that need to be addressed and considered when coaching. Now and in the future I will constantly be thinking about all of these compenents within coaching to help ensure a well-rounded session for both the athletes and myself.
Budget and Finance in Higher Education, EAD 876, proved to be quite the eye opening experience. I took this class, by Patricia Farrell, not knowing a lot about the financial situations within education and higher education. As someone who currently works at a university and who is working on completing a master’s in education, I thought this would be a great addition to my program. Through this class, we touched on the fundamentals of higher education finance including: the private and public benefits of higher education, the cost of higher education, the role of the federal government and state governments in financing higher education, and the implications of various financing strategies on access and affordability of higher education. It was through this class that I gained a new understanding of our budgets. I learned about the more in depth issues that face our educational systems and what people do to try and fix them. This class has changed my thinking of how the system works and how it is divided up. We are currently facing some serious issues with budgets and education and it will be interesting to see what happens with it in the future.
When Mrs. Farrell said that we could look forward to a challenging and stimulating semester of study, she wasn’t kidding! Through our discussions, readings, essays, case studies, budget project and research paper, we had our hands full, but our minds too. For our budget project we were to interview someone to become familiar with the current thoughts of a practitioner in the budgeting and finance area within higher education. I chose to interview the Executive Associate Director of Athletics at East Carolina University, Nick Floyd. Through the interview I learned about the budget, fiscal status, athletic scholarships, and challenges that the East Carolina University Athletic Department faces. This interview was particularly intriguing to me because I was a previous scholarship athlete there and now I work in their athletic academic department.
Adding on a research paper for the course also helped enhance my understanding of the situations we face with budgeting and finance in education. I chose the topic of gambling and the lottery for education. As someone who likes to occasionally play the lottery, this topic was of particular interest to me. I learned about the history of the lottery, who plays the lottery and why, where lottery money is distributed up, the pros and cons of having a lottery system in each state, and what the future looks like with lotteries and how it effects higher education. If this topic is also of interest to you, feel free to check out my paper on my coursework page.
In all, the budgeting and finance in higher education class really showed me the issues that we are facing today. I know that education is important, more now than I did before. This class was able to show me other aspects of education that I never really thought about and considered. It has helped me understand education in more of a well-rounded way.
The final class that has exceeded its’ expectations would be a class I just completed, TE 831, Teaching School Subject Matter with Technology. Eric Byker did a fantastic job challenging me and making me step outside of my comfort zone in this class I took as an elective. I thought this would be a great class to take because of how technology is booming and surrounding us in our everyday lives.
The TE 831 class presented so many different tools and skills to me that I didn’t even know existed. We learned about the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS*T), the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge Theory (known as TPACK), digital citizenship, digital literacy, digital immigrants and digital natives, digital storytelling, and using Internet-based technologies (like wikis and blogs) for educationally profitable outcomes. Taking the class inspired me to try new things and incorporate other learning technologies into my life. I learned how to use voice threads, how to create digital stories, how to use different programs/applications to enhance learning and even how to repurpose technology. This class really opened up new possibilities for me in my future and has shown me many new methods and different tools to use to incorporate technology with education. I now have a conceptual framework for integrating educational technology in with school subject matter and in my everyday life.
After completing the TE 831 class and nearly finishing the entire master’s program online, I have gained a new respect for technology. Initially, I was a little weary of what it would be like to complete an entire degree online. I took a few online classes during my undergrad, so I thought it would be okay. By taking my classes online, I believe it has challenged me more as a student and made me understand technology better. Each class offered something different and had different requirements. Adjusting to each class and their methods of teaching was a very positive learning experience for me. I now know that there are many different ways to learn other than just face to face. Through the program I learned how to learn online and learned that learning can really take place anywhere and at any time.
Although I only highlighted four classes here, my learning experience would not be complete without all of the classes I took. Each class provided me with new ideas, skills, techniques and challenges to push myself to become better. From my EAD 860 course, Concept of a Learning Society, we read many different books. The book Better by Atul Gawande helps emphasize the points on becoming just that, better. This doctor let us in on his life and taught us how to be better. He tells us that, “In the end no guidelines can tell us what we have power over and what we don’t. In the face of uncertainty, wisdom is to err on the side of pushing, to not give up” (Better, pp. 164). If we do as Gawande suggests, to never hold back and to never stop pushing, performance on all accounts will improve. Reading Gawande’s book has reiterated why I wanted to go to grad school to begin with, to become better and to continue to learn and improve.
As the great Confucius said, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Doing this program has opened many new possibilities for me and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for me. My formal education may be finished for now, but my learning will never stop. I walk away from Michigan State University being a more mature, smarter, and well-rounded individual to add and contribute to the learning society in which we all live.
Looking back, there are a few classes that really caught my attention, really challenged me and have helped me gain a better understanding of education. I will say though, that I wouldn’t have expected these classes to be the ones that stuck out the most. The first class that really stood out to me was EAD 801, Leadership and Organizational Development. I took this class, taught by Gerald Jennings, in the summer of 2010. The goal of this class was to expand our perspectives on organizational leadership challenges, thereby assisting us as potential leaders in formulating enlightened approaches to addressing the challenges of organizations and leadership. This course was designed for leaders within organizations, positional school leaders, leaders without titles and/or teachers and community leaders.
I was very pleasantly surprised in not only what I took away from this class, but also how I was able to really see myself as a leader. I was able to develop my understanding and behaviors related to growing as a leader. Although this class was designed for more of a leader within the educational systems, the class presented the material in ways that allowed me to see leadership roles within other organizations and positions. That was particularly helpful to me, as my future is not laid out in stone.
This was a great class for me to take early to half way through this program because it allowed me to sit back and look at myself as a leader. Throughout the course I was able to see myself grow as a leader and see how I could continue to grow as a leader. One of our very first assignments was to create a concept map (which can be seen on my coursework showcase page). We had to identify different qualities we saw in leaders or wanted people to have that hold leadership roles. It was then that I really started thinking about what kind of leaders I want and see in my life. At the end of the course we created another concept map with these same types of words/characteristics. The concept maps helped with my learning and understanding, as it was a visual way to grasp the concepts. When I finished the course, I could see my leadership growth and see that my future can include a leadership role.
We also had a lot of group discussions about leadership. The discussions/activities/case studies coupled with the readings really helped enhance and expand my knowledge and understanding of what it takes to be a leader. We analyzed and created case studies to directly relate to the material at hand. I also learned that I do see myself as a learning leader. I see a learning leader as someone who holds a leadership role, but is also learning along the way. I learned that superior performance depends on superior learning and that there is a need for understanding how organizations learn. Accelerating that learning is greater today than it ever was before. Leaders are designers, teachers, and stewards. These roles require new skills and the ability to build a shared vision. Above all, I learned that being a leader is about helping everyone in the organization; myself included, to gain more insightful views of current reality. This class has given me the opportunity to understand, evaluate and expand on leadership and ways to improve myself and those around me.
The second class that stands out to me would be KIN 855, Psychosocial Bases of Coaching. I took this class in the fall of 2010 taught by Dr. Marty Ewing. I took this class for my concentration in sport leadership and coaching. This class focused on sociological, philosophical, psychological, growth and development and teaching/motor learning principles of coaching competitive sports for athletes of different ages and abilities. What I was able to quickly understand after being in the class for only a short time is that there is a whole lot more to coaching than just the sport itself. We touched on all of these areas to help enhance my overall perspective on the different aspects that should be taken into consideration when working with kids and sports.
This class provided me with the opportunity to create my own coaching philosophy. I think that I took this class at a great time because I was a manager for the ECU volleyball team that same semester. What we were learning in the class I was able to see and translate into real life practice. I also noticed how I would pick up on different things that the coaches or players would do and be able to better understand it, both right and wrong. It was through this class and my experiences that I was able to realize that I did not want to make coaching my sole profession, as I thought before when I started this degree. Coaching is something I want to keep in my life, but just not at that level.
Other assignments for this class also allowed more development of my coaching philosophy and my knowledge of coaching. We completed a social reinforcement field observation where we had to attend a team practice and analyze the coach’s reinforcement techniques. We also did a book review and completed an interview. The book, Shooting in the Dark by Jim Thompson, was a book about tales of coaching and leadership. The book gives you some insight that you may have not known about coaching. It also helped me learn how to relate better as a coach with your team. From the book I learned plays, new techniques and ideas as well as learned how to be a better coach and more positive person by doing so.
For the interview, we had to select two head coaches in a sport that we were interested in coaching. I picked my high school volleyball coach and the current volleyball coach at ECU. I was able to learn about the issues they face as coaches in terms of the social context in which they work and issues they face in terms of their psychological concerns with performance. It was very interesting to see the different areas of concerns at the different levels of the same sport. This assignment threw yet another perspective in on coaching. The class in all allowed me to realize all of the other important factors that need to be addressed and considered when coaching. Now and in the future I will constantly be thinking about all of these compenents within coaching to help ensure a well-rounded session for both the athletes and myself.
Budget and Finance in Higher Education, EAD 876, proved to be quite the eye opening experience. I took this class, by Patricia Farrell, not knowing a lot about the financial situations within education and higher education. As someone who currently works at a university and who is working on completing a master’s in education, I thought this would be a great addition to my program. Through this class, we touched on the fundamentals of higher education finance including: the private and public benefits of higher education, the cost of higher education, the role of the federal government and state governments in financing higher education, and the implications of various financing strategies on access and affordability of higher education. It was through this class that I gained a new understanding of our budgets. I learned about the more in depth issues that face our educational systems and what people do to try and fix them. This class has changed my thinking of how the system works and how it is divided up. We are currently facing some serious issues with budgets and education and it will be interesting to see what happens with it in the future.
When Mrs. Farrell said that we could look forward to a challenging and stimulating semester of study, she wasn’t kidding! Through our discussions, readings, essays, case studies, budget project and research paper, we had our hands full, but our minds too. For our budget project we were to interview someone to become familiar with the current thoughts of a practitioner in the budgeting and finance area within higher education. I chose to interview the Executive Associate Director of Athletics at East Carolina University, Nick Floyd. Through the interview I learned about the budget, fiscal status, athletic scholarships, and challenges that the East Carolina University Athletic Department faces. This interview was particularly intriguing to me because I was a previous scholarship athlete there and now I work in their athletic academic department.
Adding on a research paper for the course also helped enhance my understanding of the situations we face with budgeting and finance in education. I chose the topic of gambling and the lottery for education. As someone who likes to occasionally play the lottery, this topic was of particular interest to me. I learned about the history of the lottery, who plays the lottery and why, where lottery money is distributed up, the pros and cons of having a lottery system in each state, and what the future looks like with lotteries and how it effects higher education. If this topic is also of interest to you, feel free to check out my paper on my coursework page.
In all, the budgeting and finance in higher education class really showed me the issues that we are facing today. I know that education is important, more now than I did before. This class was able to show me other aspects of education that I never really thought about and considered. It has helped me understand education in more of a well-rounded way.
The final class that has exceeded its’ expectations would be a class I just completed, TE 831, Teaching School Subject Matter with Technology. Eric Byker did a fantastic job challenging me and making me step outside of my comfort zone in this class I took as an elective. I thought this would be a great class to take because of how technology is booming and surrounding us in our everyday lives.
The TE 831 class presented so many different tools and skills to me that I didn’t even know existed. We learned about the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS*T), the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge Theory (known as TPACK), digital citizenship, digital literacy, digital immigrants and digital natives, digital storytelling, and using Internet-based technologies (like wikis and blogs) for educationally profitable outcomes. Taking the class inspired me to try new things and incorporate other learning technologies into my life. I learned how to use voice threads, how to create digital stories, how to use different programs/applications to enhance learning and even how to repurpose technology. This class really opened up new possibilities for me in my future and has shown me many new methods and different tools to use to incorporate technology with education. I now have a conceptual framework for integrating educational technology in with school subject matter and in my everyday life.
After completing the TE 831 class and nearly finishing the entire master’s program online, I have gained a new respect for technology. Initially, I was a little weary of what it would be like to complete an entire degree online. I took a few online classes during my undergrad, so I thought it would be okay. By taking my classes online, I believe it has challenged me more as a student and made me understand technology better. Each class offered something different and had different requirements. Adjusting to each class and their methods of teaching was a very positive learning experience for me. I now know that there are many different ways to learn other than just face to face. Through the program I learned how to learn online and learned that learning can really take place anywhere and at any time.
Although I only highlighted four classes here, my learning experience would not be complete without all of the classes I took. Each class provided me with new ideas, skills, techniques and challenges to push myself to become better. From my EAD 860 course, Concept of a Learning Society, we read many different books. The book Better by Atul Gawande helps emphasize the points on becoming just that, better. This doctor let us in on his life and taught us how to be better. He tells us that, “In the end no guidelines can tell us what we have power over and what we don’t. In the face of uncertainty, wisdom is to err on the side of pushing, to not give up” (Better, pp. 164). If we do as Gawande suggests, to never hold back and to never stop pushing, performance on all accounts will improve. Reading Gawande’s book has reiterated why I wanted to go to grad school to begin with, to become better and to continue to learn and improve.
As the great Confucius said, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Doing this program has opened many new possibilities for me and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for me. My formal education may be finished for now, but my learning will never stop. I walk away from Michigan State University being a more mature, smarter, and well-rounded individual to add and contribute to the learning society in which we all live.