ZOE GORSKI

As I near the end of my graduate school journey, it feels natural to pause and reflect on the growth of my professional goals. I have always wanted to further my education, but I did not foresee the path that led me here. I always thought my path would be fairly simple and quite well worn: become a teacher with my own classroom.

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The plan was going well, until two years into my teaching career when my husband was relocated. We moved to a state where my teaching experience was not enough to earn a reciprocal license.  My garage became a holding cell for my packed-up classroom, reminding me daily of my unpacked training and potential. I feared my identity would stay packed in those boxes, until I found the answer to my situation in Michigan State University’s (MSU) online Master of Arts in Education program.

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I began my courses while substitute teaching and baby-sitting part-time. Every day, I was in a new classroom with new students. I was gaining invaluable experience working with a full range of ages and subjects and had opportunities to apply my coursework. Every day, my identity as a teacher was challenged and transformed to accommodate different students who learned in different ways.

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After one year of classes and working part-time jobs to help me stay relevant in the teaching field, my life changed again when my daughter was born. I immediately became a completely different kind of teacher, in the role I was always meant for: a mother. My identity as a teacher grew and solidified again. Teaching finally became secondary to learning. I did not need a classroom or curriculum to be a teacher. I am a teacher every day, full-time, with my daughter.

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I started this journey towards my master’s degree as a frustrated teacher without a classroom and nowhere to put my passion for teaching. My brand-new teacher energy was nearly wasted, until I started classes as a student again. I wanted to learn about new methods to reach learners through reading, writing, listening, and speaking. I wanted to master new techniques to effectively teach and reach my students. I wanted to learn advanced strategies to reach a diverse group of learners and to build upon my knowledge of literacy education so that I may one day lead others in the pursuit of educating students.

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My classes kept me engaged and helped me achieve my goals. I was able to fully engage in the advancement of my training at a level that may not have been possible had I been teaching full-time as I originally planned. My goals to become a better teacher for diverse individuals, to share my love for literacy, and to lead others in education have intensified, and my identity as a teacher, even without a classroom, has strengthened. I will leave MSU as a better teacher and a better learner; ready to take on whatever classroom I find myself in next.