I graduated form Kean College of New Jersey in 1979. Degree in hand, I set off to obtain my first teaching job. Mission accomplished, I then set out to be the best teacher I could be. I felt that mission was accomplished as well. Something was missing however. I had never progressed beyond my Bachelor of Arts degree, and quite frankly, I had no desire to!
So when my girlfriend called me and said, “Let’s go and get our Masters degree” my response to her was “you’re out of your mind”! I felt that I had let too many years go by since I had engaged in formal education, I had gotten set in my ways, and I had allowed my brain collect dust. So each day when she called again and again trying to convince me that we could do it, I repeated my same response “no way”! You would have to know my friend Brenda! She is really a persistent pain in the butt, who doesn’t know how to take no for an answer once she sets her mind on something. She called and harassed me every day for weeks until she finally wore me down and I said yes. We both completed a distance learning graduate program with a Masters in the Art of Teaching. Currently, we are both taking additional graduate courses to pursue a supervisor’s certificate. I am at the midway point to obtaining this goal.
When I heard about the Read 600 course I was immediately interested in spite of the fact that I do not have a literacy background. My years in the middle school were spent as a mathematics teacher. I am currently working as a teacher coach responsible for helping my colleagues implement the whole school reform model my district has chosen to implement. Since I work with teachers across all content areas I felt it was important to learn as much as I can about the various subjects.
It still amazes me though, that I went from this person with the mind set to never go back to school again, to one who’s not able to get enough of my continued educational pursuits. With the Read 600 class, I hope to strengthen the limited technical skills I now possess. I also hope to incorporate my newfound knowledge into the language arts literacy curriculum in order to help the students in my school progress academically and take their rightful place in this technological society.