Goals of MSU Past
By Anna Walters
On November 2, 2008 I wrote an essay for the masters program I was entering at Michigan State University. This essay was a professional goals statement that I would need to keep safe and sound until I am asked to pull it out at the end of my journey to obtaining my masters; a little bit of, “What was I thinking way back when” reminder. Like when you look back at a picture of yourself in middle school and wonder, “why would I leave the house with that outfit and those clothes? What I was thinking?” However, it’s funny that the goals I wrote many moons ago are still, pretty much, the same goals I still have. I guess you need a change in decade for the shock value to surface. Luckily for me, it did not take THAT long to reach my first goal—getting my masters. As for the other goals, I have not reached them yet but many things have happened since November 2008 and even though I still want to be able to check those goals off of my list, I have learned to live in the present and not fret over the future because you have no idea how many tomorrows you have left.
My second goal was to get a full time job in a district where I can grow as a teacher and put my knowledge and skills to use. I wanted this goal to be checked off my “bucket list” by the Fall of 2010 and get my masters the Summer of 2011. Well, you know I have succeeded in the latter but the former—that still is in progress. I am a part-time tutor in my district and coach two sports but that full time job is proving to me evasive. However, the impact of my not reaching this goal when I wanted did not affect me like I thought it would because in the Summer of 2010 my nephew Christopher Markus Kirvan passed away in a hiking accident; thankfully I did not have the stress of starting a new job, when suddenly I was taking multiple trips to Utah to comfort my sister. I have learned to plan for the future but live in the present. When it is meant to be, it will happen. I am still teaching and coaching and absolutely love the district I am teaching in. My classroom will come and when it does, it will fit me perfectly.
The third goal I listed is a goal that I will never be able to check off a list as being “completed.” I think the saying, “Why reinvent the wheel” has no place in the teaching field and my third goal reflects this. I want to keep adding “tricks” to my bag of knowledge; new skills, strategies, and methods that will keep me fresh in the classroom. I want all my students to learn and be successful and to make this happen I need to make sure I stay up-to-date with the latest educational practices and to keep trying new things in the classroom. Even though, my time at Michigan State University is coming to an end, my time as a learner will never come to an end. This goal will be the hardest by far to keep going but I know in my heart it is actually the most important goal to have as a teacher and I plan on sticking with it. “One day at a time--this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering.” ~ Anonymous