The Impact of Education

Education has always been a part of my life.  I was brought up in a family that valued education and I took pride in that.  My grandfather was a science teacher at Juneau High School in Milwaukee Wisconsin.  I always looked up to him as an inspiration and strived in school to be a good student and learn as much as I possibly could.  My grandpa was a tough man and a tough teacher as I hear it, but also very loved.  As teachers, we have and see many ‘aha!’ moments day to day.  We notice when our students understand the lessons, we can see when they struggle, and we can see when something just clicks.  As teachers we see when they are hurt, when they are happy and when they are inspired.  Depending on the age level we teach though, we might not always see the impact we make on their education and their life.  I remember when my older brother graduated from high school he invited a select few of his teachers that made an impact on his education.  He had a graduation party at our house and when my brother’s science teacher, Mr. Smith, met my father (who is named after my grandpa) he teacher recognized the name.  Mr. Smith asked my dad if he happened to know a Charles Hackney, and my dad told him it was his father.  Mr. Smith then proceeded to tell my family what an inspiration my grandpa was in his high school days.  My grandpa embedded in him such a love of science and learning that he decided to become a science teacher himself.  He told us that he did not always appreciate it at the time, but later he understood the dedication and love that my grandpa showed everyday with teaching.  He told us how he hoped to show that same level of dedication and love to his students.  It’s amazing to hear stories like this, and it’s remarkable when a teacher can make an impact like that. 

Through this synthesis, you will hear how my education has made an impact on my life.  I am very proud to be able to say that I have almost completed graduate school.  I am very proud to say that I will have received my Masters of Arts in Education through Michigan State University.  I am very proud to have had the opportunity to choose my classes and I am extremely proud of myself in what I have taken out of each course.  It is through my experiences that I pull together the threads of education that I weave back into the lives of my students.  I strive to make a positive impact on their lives and their education every day.  I will discuss three classes that have made a positive impact on my life through my journey at MSU; Learning Math with Technology, Advanced Methods for Teaching Language Arts, and Electronic Portfolios. 

I took CEP 805 Learning Math with Technology my first semester at MSU in the fall of 2008.  Dr. Ralph Putnam did a fantastic job of putting together a course that introduced the multitude of ways that technology can be used in the classroom when teaching mathematics.  Throughout the course, Dr. Putnam provided opportunities for me to learn how valuable technology can be when used correctly.  Technology has become a very important part of learning in the world today.  It can help provide information that might not otherwise be available to students, parents and teachers; technology can automate, simplify and transform tasks to make learning more engaging; technology can help represent knowledge and thinking in a variety of ways, and it can encourage collaboration and communication between students, parents and teachers.  The course was set up to look into the different topics taught in mathematics; Number & Operations, Algebra, Mathematical Processes, Geometry & Measurement and Data Analysis & Probability.  Within each unit I explored and learned about the topic on my own through various activities and readings.  The second part of each unit was to collaborate and discuss the readings and activities in a small group.  The last part of the unit was to reflect on the week as a whole, what I learned, what I struggled with and how I felt the course was going.  I learned how to use many new technologies such as SimCalc and Geometer’s Sketchpad.  The final project of this class was to create our own online resource library.  The resource library shows different mathematical activities representing how technology can be used in the classroom.  Each activity follows the NCTM Standards for Pre-K-2 guidelines.  Through this course and with creating the resource library, I learned how to find and analyze different mathematical games and interactive resources available for young students.  I was able to analyze how and what the technology provided to the students’ learning.  This class really inspired me because I had been out of school for two years, but also out of the country for two years.  I realized how many new technology resources were available to teachers that I didn’t even know about.  When I completed my resource library, I was able to use it as a resource for parents.  It’s extremely beneficial when as a teacher I can provide additional support to my students and know that the activities provided are helping them to learn or solidify their knowledge in a variety of ways.  This class reintroduced me to technology and set up a solid foundation for the next two years with MSU.

The second course that I will discuss greatly inspired me in a different way.  In the summer semester of 2009 I took TE 847 Advanced Methods for Teaching Language Arts with Rebecca Shankland.  This course introduced new methods and ways to teach literacy in order to make it meaningful to my students.  Through readings in Book Club Plus: A literacy framework for the primary grades by Raphael, T. E., Florio-Ruane, S., George, M., Hasty, N. L., & Highfield, K. (2004) and activities in class, I learned how to introduce and carry out book clubs in class.  I wasn’t aware of how to do this within a primary setting and I was surprised at how easy it actually was.  What also inspired me was the fact that we had the opportunity to do our own book clubs.  I find teaching methods and activities more meaningful if I have the chance to also engage in them and participate while learning.  I read The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.  I had never read these books previous to the class and was really engaged in the books and activities that followed.  For the book club, we had to create our own blog and post the responses to the questions given.  I commented on other responses and learned how to look at similar aspects of a book in different ways.  This was also my first time creating a blog and I learned the challenges and rewards of creating and using a blog for education purposes.  These books also helped to show how culture can be brought in and used in class.  Obviously I wouldn’t use these books with my Kindergarten students, but there are many books available for young readers that do focus on different cultures and celebrating differences in each person.  The book club activities and readings showed me how to incorporate book clubs into my teaching and create meaningful discussion and follow up activities for the students.  Another method that was introduced in the class was by far one of the most meaningful activities that I have done in all my years of education.  The assignment asked me to think of two moments in my education that had an impact on my life.  These vignettes could be from any point of my education and were a foundation to write my memoir.  I did not have to think long and hard about what moments I would choose.  Only now, as I had reflected upon my grandpa, do I notice how similar my memoir is.  What made this activity so meaningful to me was the fact that I had just experienced a moment in my career where I felt I impacted the life of a student.  As teachers, we have a huge responsibility.  I received a magnet from one of my parents that said “Teachers are like Angels, they give children the wings to fly”.  Not only do we provide opportunities for students to learn and grow, but we also impact their life.  Once children start school, they spend more time with their teachers than they do with their parents.  As teachers, we need to provide students with knowledge, but also provide a loving, caring environment for them and instill a love of learning that they will carry with them for life.  The vignettes and memoir activity helped me to reflect on my education to the first moment this happened in my life, and the first moment I helped it to happen in the life of one of my students.  Overall, this class helped me to realize that literacy can be taught in so many meaningful ways and that student’s lives can be an active part of their learning process with reading, writing and speaking. 

The final course I will discuss that inspired me was CEP 813 Electronic Portfolios with Dr. Patrick Dickson and Denise Leach.  I took this course in the spring semester of 2010 and it helped me to create my first website and online portfolio.  Through activities in this course, I also learned how to reflect on the work of my students and choose authentic work to display on the portfolio.  Sometimes it can be difficult to determine what an authentic piece of work might be and it’s important as a teacher to take that into consideration and make sure that authentic work is displayed in the classroom throughout the year.  This course had me look closer into my views as a teacher and also provide my teaching philosophy on the portfolio as well as my teaching vision.  This course challenged me as a student to create my own portfolio, challenged me as an educator to reflect upon my work as well as my ideas and thoughts about teaching, and also challenged me as a colleague.  At this point, having lived and taught in China for nearly four years, many resources that are available in the States are not available here.  By this point, YouTube and Facebook had been banned.  I know that not many teachers use Facebook as a teaching resource, but YouTube is often used.  Teachers here sometimes do not realize the many other resources available on the web, including creating your own website and portfolio for free.  When I completed my online portfolio and showed my principal, he kindly asked if I would mind providing a workshop or tutorial for professional development to my colleagues.  I was honored and excited to be able to provide my knowledge and education to my friends and co-workers.  This opportunity only validated the impact that this class had not only on my education, but those around me as well. 

As an international teacher, it’s hard to always see the impact that I make on a student, whether it is regarding their education or their life.  As the school year ended in June and I knew that I would not be returning since accepting a job in Italy, some remarkable things happened.  One of the aspects of teaching that I love is being able to see my students grow and change, and as a kindergarten teacher it’s amazing how quickly that happens!  The past four years were amazing for me in China and the impact that it left on me will last forever.  When I announced my leaving I had parents hugging me and thanking me for being a part of their child’s education.  I had children writing me cards and giving me their email addresses and saying thank you for teaching me.  I had parents from other classes coming up to me that said not only did I make an impact on the lives of students in my class, but those in other classes as well.  I will always look back fondly on those moments and know that not only did I make an impact on the lives and education of students that I taught in one way or another, but also that teaching at that school made an impact on my education.  I learned so much about different cultures, different ways of teaching, different ways of learning, different ways of engaging my students and different ways of utilizing the resources that I had.  I learned so much that has not only impacted my views and methods of teaching education, but that impacted my life.  Through my experiences within teaching and my classes at MSU, I have learned that there are so many factors that go into an individual that impacts their education, and teachers are only one of those. 

By: Carley Hackney