Reflective Discourse

It has been a long road to becoming an educator. Not an easy one, I confess, but one I would not trade for fear of not arriving at the same destination where I find myself today. My family immigrated to the United States in 1971 and while most of my siblings remained in this country I embarked on what I call my international agenda. It was not until 2004 that I obtained my teaching certificate. By then my experience in education already included administrative positions at the school and college levels. The year 2004 brought me to the United States, a very different country from that of my youth, through a teaching program with a three-year contract. Those were challenging beginnings for a teacher with no experience in public schools who had to learn at a fast pace not merely about the system but about what is implied and expected by the American school system. NCLB, FEP, LEP, EC, and a million more acronyms, policies, and strategies to be learned made me think: Will I ever make it or is it wiser to pack and go back to the comfort of my coordinators office? Reminding myself that during the interview I had pledged to stay for at least the first year, I decided to give it a try. Im so glad I did! The challenges I faced drove me to pursue professional development in the areas that I considered would best serve my students. I took random courses and attended workshops that I found were best aligned with the changing needs of my students but nothing in an organized fashion. Finally in 2010 a colleague planted the seed of a Masters degree in my head. I had just requested my entrance to a program to get certified to teach gifted and talented and the thought of the course load for two major certifications overwhelmed me for a moment, but not for too long. The entry process for me was a complex one and I almost gave up on the way, but after 9 months my journey at University of New England finally began. It was October 2011. Through the road Ive walked I reencountered one of my favorite characters of all times: The Little Prince and a quote that reminds me of the essence of differentiation:

All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. Youyou alonewill have the stars as no one else has them... (de Saint-Exupry, 1971). The Little Prince is the reconfirmation of Tomlinsons (2001) rationale for differentiated instruction and the acknowledgment of the influence that prior knowledge, interests, beliefs, learning styles, and students attitude play in the meaning-making process. Needless to say, differentiation is a key component of my everyday practice which has led students to finding academic achievement. However, I recognize that differentiation alone will not cause the desired effect in all of my students. The opportunity of conducting a case study on a student and working with the Expectancy-Value Theory (Anderman & Anderman, 2010) and the attainment value provided through differentiated activities such as leveled academic reading material in an intervention program has led this student to start succeeding both personally and academically. The University of New England has paved the way for new adventures: The adventures of PLCs, differentiation, motivation, reading and writing strategies, research, and technology. It is at this point that I travel back to 2011 and realize what a crass mistake I would have made had I decided not to pursue this degree on Masters in Education Literacy K 12. It has been a long walk since my first step as an educator. I have acquired much knowledge along the Path, but I am aware this is by no means the end of the learning Road. References Anderman, E. M., Anderman, L. H. (2010). Classroom motivation. Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. De Saint-Exupry, A. (1971). The little prince. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc. Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms, (Second ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.