Becoming a Reflective and Responsive Educator

Becoming a teacher had always felt like a clear goal in my life. I come from a family of educators and service workers. No matter how hard my parents tried to steer me elsewhere, my heart always guided me back towards education. I was certain I wanted to be an educator. But understanding what it truly meant to be a teacher was far less certain. 

When I began my master’s program, I had just completed an undergraduate degree in education two years prior. I graduated from Michigan State University in 2022, finished my internship in 2023, started my first full-time teaching job for the 2023/2024 school year, and enrolled in the Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program in Spring of 2024. Upon starting my job and starting MAED, I knew how to plan lessons, engage students, and think about instruction. I believed that effective teaching meant delivering content clearly and creating engaging experiences for students. But I was only just starting to understand the complexity of sustaining my own classroom. The constant decision-making, the unpredictability of student needs, and the responsibility of ensuring every student had a meaningful opportunity to learn.
 

The MAED program reshaped that understanding. Because I attended MSU for my undergrad, I started what would become my first MAED courses during the year long internship program. I took four courses (TE801, TE802, TE803, and TE804), and three of which later transferred to my MAED credits. Through this combination of coursework and my experiences in my internship, I began to see teaching not as a set of strategies, but as an ongoing process of reflection, adaptation, and growth. I was no longer just preparing to teach. I was actively stepping into the role, making decisions in real time, and learning from both successes and missteps.
 

My educational transformation was not because of a single course, but the culmination of the program as a whole. Early coursework such as Reflection and Inquiry in Teaching Practice II (TE804) introduced me to the foundations of educational inquiry, encouraging me to think critically about research and its role in teaching. At the same time, my internship year placed me directly into the classroom, where I began to confront the realities of student teaching. As I progressed through the program, now a teacher in my own classroom, courses like Education in the Digital Age (EAD878) and Writing Assessment and Instruction (TE848) pushed me to reconsider my assumptions about technology, literacy, and instruction. With the freedom my own classroom gave me, I was able to use my course learning to adjust my teaching.

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A Bridge Between Preparation and Practice: TE804

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TE804 holds a unique place in my experience because of when I took it. I took TE804 after the end of my undergraduate program, during my internship year, and it later became the very beginning of my master’s coursework. It served as a bridge between who I was as a pre-service teacher and who I was about to become in the classroom.
 

​At the time, I was still preparing to teach. I had not yet fully stepped into the responsibility of leading my own classroom. Much of what we discussed in the course felt conceptual. We explored how to collect, analyze, and interpret data related to teaching and learning, and we discussed the role of inquiry in improving practice. I understood these ideas on an academic level, but I had not yet experienced the situations that would make them feel urgent or necessary.
 

What made this course especially meaningful was that it was taught by a professor I had worked with during my undergraduate program, Dr. Joanne Marciano. That continuity made TE804 feel like a transition point. It was an acknowledgment that I was moving from one phase of my development into another. I was being asked to think more deeply, to move beyond simply learning strategies and begin considering how I would evaluate and refine my own teaching.

 

Once I had my own classroom, I found myself returning to the ideas introduced in that course. I began to see the value of collecting data. Not just collection through formal assessments, but through observing student participation, analyzing their work, and reflecting on classroom interactions.
 

​For example, when I began noticing uneven participation in class discussions, I realized that what I had always assumed was effective teaching did not always match what my students actually needed. Instead of simply trying to fix the issue in the moment, I started to look for patterns: who was speaking, who was not, and under what conditions students felt comfortable contributing. This shift from reacting to reflecting was rooted in the mindset introduced in TE804.

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​What makes TE804 stand out to me now is that it did not fully “click” in the moment. But that is precisely why it was so important. Once I entered my own classroom, I began to understand that teaching is not just about making decisions, but about stepping back and studying those decisions over time. The course planted a way of thinking that I would continue to develop throughout the rest of the program.

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Looking back, TE804 was not the end of my learning, but the beginning of a new way of approaching my practice. It taught me that teaching is not just something we do, it is something we continuously improve.
 

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Reframing Technology: Education in the Digital Age (EAD878)

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While TE804 shaped how I reflect on my teaching, EAD878 transformed how I think about the tools I use within it. Prior to this course, my use of technology was largely functional. I teach two sections of virtual English at my school, so half of my teaching did need to be entirely online. I used digital tools to deliver content and manage assignments, particularly in my virtual classroom, but I did not deeply question their impact.
 

EAD878 pushed me to consider the broader implications of technology in education, including issues of access, equity, and purpose. I began to recognize that technology is not inherently beneficial. Technology’s value depends on how and why it is used. This realization led me to become more intentional in my instructional design.
 

In my own teaching, this shift has been especially important in virtual settings. Rather than relying solely on slides and asynchronous tasks, I began to design learning experiences that prioritize interaction, collaboration, and student voice. Often, my online classes felt like I was teaching to a digital brick wall, a sea of black screens. I became more mindful of creating opportunities for students to engage meaningfully with content and with each other. After this, participation in the course increased, from increased use of the chat to more purposeful engagement in assignments.
 

The course also encouraged me to think critically about digital equity. I became more aware of the ways in which students’ access to technology (and their comfort with it) can shape their learning experiences. As a result, I have worked to provide multiple pathways for engagement and to ensure that my use of technology supports student learning. Not limits.
 

Through EAD878, I developed a more intentional and reflective approach to technology. An approach that aligns digital tools with my instructional goals rather than using them for convenience.
 

​Redefining Literacy Instruction: Writing Assessment and Instruction (TE848)

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As an English teacher, literacy instruction is central to my practice. Personally, I love writing. My coworkers and I always joke that we could teach a perfect class together if I teach the writing half because it really is where my passion for English is. However, the current writing crisis made me feel unsure of how to best teach writing, even with my personal passion for it. TE848 significantly expanded my understanding of how to support student writers. TE848 focused my perspective on a process-oriented approach, emphasizing the importance of drafting, revising, and feedback.
 

One of the most impactful changes in my practice has been my approach to assessment. I now incorporate more formative feedback throughout the writing process, allowing students to revise and improve their work before receiving a final evaluation. This has helped students develop greater confidence and ownership over their writing. One of the essays my students write is a technology based research paper. They first draft this essay in a packet, step by step. This allows them to truly break down their writing and understand how to format an essay from the very beginning. This year, I added students checks ins to give feedback at each of these steps. This allowed me to work more in the moment with students, providing them with feedback as they went along. It streamlined the process for both students and myself. I was able to check in with more students, more often, because what I was reading each day was less than previous years, when I gave feedback after completion of the entire rough draft. 

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Additionally, the course emphasized the importance of supporting diverse learners. I have become more intentional in differentiating my instruction, providing scaffolds and flexibility that meet students where they are. This emphasis inspired me to offer more choice in writing topics and formats, as well as incorporating opportunities for peer collaboration. 
 

This course reinforced the idea that writing instruction should not be rigid or one-size-fits-all. Instead, it should be responsive, supportive, and centered on helping students develop their own voices.

 

While these three courses had the most direct impact on my thinking, they are part of a broader network of learning experiences that shaped my development. Together, my MAED courses helped me move beyond a narrow view of teaching and toward a more holistic understanding of my role as an educator.
 

Looking Forward: Continuing the Work

As I move forward in my career, I know that I will not have all the answers. But I no longer feel like I need to. Instead, I feel prepared to continue learning. I know how to reflect on my practice, question my assumptions, and make changes that better support my students.

Ultimately, this program has not just prepared me to teach; it has transformed how I understand teaching itself. I can see my classroom as a space that is constantly evolving, shaped by both my decisions and my students’ needs. Most importantly, I have learned that growth as an educator does not come from reaching a final point, but from remaining committed to the process of reflection and improvement. 

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