Kristie Howart's
Professional Portfolio
Goals of a Prospective and Present-Day Educator
When I wrote my professional goal statement in January 2012, I was working in a long-term substitute teaching position as a special education resource room teacher in an urban school district. The long-term position was coming to an end and I knew that I was headed back to the grind of day-to-day subbing. Since I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education from Saginaw Valley State University in December 2009, I was compelled to find ways to better myself as an educator with the hope of finding a permanent teaching position sooner rather than later! Hence, the decision to pursue a Master of Arts in Education (MAED) was an easy one.
Kristie Howart's Goal Reflection Essay
My perspective on teaching has continuously evolved throughout my time as a graduate student at Michigan State University. This is due in part to both the courses that I participated in and my experiences working as a substitute teacher and then, finally, a full-time educator with my own classroom. Based on my experience, an ever-changing perspective can lead to reinforced and modified goals. As I entered the online MAED program, my two main goals as a prospective full-time educator consisted of being knowledgeable on teaching strategies considered to be best practice and getting involved in a program that focuses on at-risk youth.
I can proudly say that my first goal of being familiar with strategies that have been proven to be helpful in the classroom remains intact. In fact, since my time as a newbie graduate student and educator, the importance of this goal has actually been strengthened in my mind. As a present-day full-time educator, I have gotten the chance to work with more students for extended periods of time and have witnessed firsthand the benefits of knowing and utilizing multiple strategies that data proves to be best practice.
My goal of getting involved in a program that focuses on at-risk youth has been modified over the course of the past few years. As a prospective full-time educator, I was a tad naïve and felt like I would be able to help every type of student, including at-risk youth, learn how to achieve success with ease. In addition, I was under the assumption that helping at-risk youth was simply more significant than helping non-struggling students. Since I have
gained experience working with a wide variety of students through long-term sub jobs and my current full-time teaching position, I have realized that helping at-risk youth is not always as easy as I had anticipated. Also, I have experienced genuine joy
helping both struggling and non-struggling students. I would never shy away from attempting to help an at-risk student in the future because I think it is worth every ounce of effort and time, but working with at-risk youth is no longer my only mission as an educator. I have learned the importance of viewing each student as an individual child with unique and important needs that require tender love and care regardless of a label.
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