Lifelong Learning:
The Avenue to my Success
By: Keri Gurganus
My life up to this point has been full of different avenues that I have traveled to get to the point that I am now. In May of 2013, I will have graduated from Michigan State with a Master’s of Education. Ten years ago, I would have never imagined myself saying that. My new outlook on schooling has changed drastically from the 18 year old sitting in her senior classes wondering what the future might hold. I knew at that point I wanted to be a teacher and knew that I was going to attend Eastern Michigan University to get my degree. What would happen after that point of getting a degree and starting my career was not that clear to me. My mind was made up that I would not go back to school because I had what I needed to gain the position that I wanted.
After graduation I got married to my best friend and he and I started our teaching careers. In 2009, he decided to go back to college to get his Master’s in School Leadership. He convinced me to join him and apply to the master’s program. I did so and decided towards gaining more knowledge in the areas of Math and Technology. To be honest I was not sure if what I was getting myself into was worth it. I looked at a master’s degree as more work to do and with the schedule that I had and balancing all the things that I was doing at that time; more work is not what I needed.
My thought process of why I needed a master’s changed in the four years that I spent gaining it. A switch in my mind changed my outlook on my masters program from doing work to completing a degree to gain knowledge to better myself in the long run. I started to fall in love with school because it was no longer school but an avenue to a higher- level of knowledge. My program had changed the look of schooling to me. School is no longer a place where you go and read chapters in a book, take a test or write a ten page paper and get a grade. School to me is a place where I better myself and give myself new opportunities to achieve at levels that I previously never thought were possible. So what is next? I have two degrees now and on paper that is amazing, but do I stop here? Do I go further? The answer in short is yes!
I have decided that I want to be a life-long learner. How that is going to play out and look like in the future, I am not sure of yet. I do not think that I am going to go back into the college scene and try for another master’s or go for my PHD, but I definitely am going to continue to be a learner. My district offers many opportunities for professional development and I feel that the area that I want to continue to grow in is the area of technology in the classroom. As of right now, my district, I feel is truly lacking in the area of using technology in the classroom and I feel that if I continue to grow in this area that I can help my district grow and help students achieve. In my coursework at Michigan State I have learned so much about how to infuse technology into my student’s everyday learning. I want to incorporate website creation, blogs, video creation, Facebook, Youtube, and many more technologies to help my students gain the upper hand when it comes to achievement. That is what my future as a learner is going to look like. Learning new technologies and finding a way to infuse them into my classroom. Along with that I want to be able to help others in my school do the same. Hopefully I can run professional developments and teach my new found knowledge to those that I work with.
My time at college may be ending but the knowledge that I have gained and drive that it has given me to be a life-long learner will propel me to do bigger and better things than I could have ever dreamed or imagined when I was an 18 year old senior sitting in a high school class. I might not gain more degrees or certificates but I know that I will gain so much from the experiences that I will have in the area of improving myself in the areas of technology.
After graduation I got married to my best friend and he and I started our teaching careers. In 2009, he decided to go back to college to get his Master’s in School Leadership. He convinced me to join him and apply to the master’s program. I did so and decided towards gaining more knowledge in the areas of Math and Technology. To be honest I was not sure if what I was getting myself into was worth it. I looked at a master’s degree as more work to do and with the schedule that I had and balancing all the things that I was doing at that time; more work is not what I needed.
My thought process of why I needed a master’s changed in the four years that I spent gaining it. A switch in my mind changed my outlook on my masters program from doing work to completing a degree to gain knowledge to better myself in the long run. I started to fall in love with school because it was no longer school but an avenue to a higher- level of knowledge. My program had changed the look of schooling to me. School is no longer a place where you go and read chapters in a book, take a test or write a ten page paper and get a grade. School to me is a place where I better myself and give myself new opportunities to achieve at levels that I previously never thought were possible. So what is next? I have two degrees now and on paper that is amazing, but do I stop here? Do I go further? The answer in short is yes!
I have decided that I want to be a life-long learner. How that is going to play out and look like in the future, I am not sure of yet. I do not think that I am going to go back into the college scene and try for another master’s or go for my PHD, but I definitely am going to continue to be a learner. My district offers many opportunities for professional development and I feel that the area that I want to continue to grow in is the area of technology in the classroom. As of right now, my district, I feel is truly lacking in the area of using technology in the classroom and I feel that if I continue to grow in this area that I can help my district grow and help students achieve. In my coursework at Michigan State I have learned so much about how to infuse technology into my student’s everyday learning. I want to incorporate website creation, blogs, video creation, Facebook, Youtube, and many more technologies to help my students gain the upper hand when it comes to achievement. That is what my future as a learner is going to look like. Learning new technologies and finding a way to infuse them into my classroom. Along with that I want to be able to help others in my school do the same. Hopefully I can run professional developments and teach my new found knowledge to those that I work with.
My time at college may be ending but the knowledge that I have gained and drive that it has given me to be a life-long learner will propel me to do bigger and better things than I could have ever dreamed or imagined when I was an 18 year old senior sitting in a high school class. I might not gain more degrees or certificates but I know that I will gain so much from the experiences that I will have in the area of improving myself in the areas of technology.