Personal Narrative: My Journey To Become An Education Specialist

At the beginning of my journey to receive my Education Specialist degree, I was very apprehensive about whether I should begin or put it off until a later date. Personally, I wanted to prove to myself that I had the ability to do the rigorous work to gain my EDS degree. I would have never imagined that I would have gained this much amount of knowledge over the past year.
A little about my background would be helpful in understanding how I determined my goals of the Education Specialist program. After receiving my B.A. from Brenau University in 1995, I began teaching at South Hall Middle School and took on many teacher leader roles. Once Chestatee Middle School opened, I moved there and became the cheerleading coach. In 2002, not only did I graduate with my Masters from North Georgia College and State University, but I had my first child. After staying home for seven years with my four girls, I went back to work at Lakeview Academy teaching social studies. Having been home with my kids for so long, I knew I still had the skills to teach, but I wanted to improve my own knowledge of the educational system to help me become a better educator. …show more content…
As I began classes, I realized I had missed out on years of educational changes. I decided I needed to have a better understanding of the profession and to become more of a teacher leader. My goals were to become more professional, which falls under the Teacher Assessment on Performance Standards (TAPS) Standard 9, discovering new ways to engage my students through differentiation, TAPS Standard 4, and increase my instructional strategies, TAPS Standard 3. All of these goals have impacted me over the past