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Crossing Your Line: Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone, Trying Something New, and

Taking Risks in Life and Education

MATC Synthesis Paper

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Master of Arts Degree in Teaching and Curriculum

Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

Amanda Blay

July 2023
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Introduction

In the auditorium of my old high school, you will find the phrase “cross your line”

written on decorated index cards posted on the back of the girl’s dressing room door. Back then,

I didn’t think too much about this statement; I was a stage manager, a backstage behind-the-

scenes person, and not an onstage actor. I didn’t understand the saying and frankly didn’t think it

applied to me. But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t hear it constantly. At many rehearsals and every

night before performances, you would hear the director reminding the actors to “Cross your

line!” It’s something that was ingrained in my brain and has managed to burrow its way into my

subconscious. As I reflect on this past year as a fourth-year English teacher, graduate student,

and now director of that very same drama program I was a part of, I now think of how often I

have crossed my line and how important that idea has become in my life. Crossing your line

means stepping outside your comfort zone and trying something you wouldn’t normally do.

When you try something new or take risks, you realize you had the power and strength to do it

from the very start; you just had to cross that line first.

My Beginning in Education

Very often you hear from current teachers that this was what they always wanted to do

ever since they were little. Perhaps they had an inspirational teacher that changed their life at a

young age or grew up with a family member in the profession. I wasn’t one of those people.

When I excitedly started at Michigan State University as an undergraduate student, I was an

athletic training and kinesiology major. My goal was to work for the Detroit Tigers after earning

my degree. Spoiler alert: that dream would die within two years. I quickly discovered that

science and I did not get along - I failed chemistry and physics, two subjects I liked in high

school. Failing classes was something I never experienced before, and this caused me to be
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unhappy and completely stuck. I knew MSU was the right place for me, but athletic training and

kinesiology were not the right paths for me. After a quarter life crisis, I reflected on what I liked

to do, which was talk about literature and drama. After consulting my favorite high school

English teacher and drama teacher, I scheduled an appointment with an English advisor. After

one meeting, I felt pure relief. I’d like to think that this moment is the first real instance of me

crossing my line. Switching majors was a huge risk. I still remained in the College of Education,

but had to start over with many of my credits. I actually ended up graduating with 152 credits, 32

more than necessary! But I knew this was the right path for me, because I liked my classes and

professors; I never missed a class and aced all education and English courses. College-freshmen

year me would be shocked to see me now: a fifth year English teacher working at her former

high school. But hopefully she recognizes how happy and confident she is after watching her

cross her line.

Michigan State University’s Influence

Crossing my line has led me to some amazing places in education, and one of those

places is here at Michigan State University’s MATC program. I don’t like to plan things too far

in the future because things inevitably change. It’s simultaneously one of my favorite and least

favorite interview questions because I always shock interviewers with my “lack of an answer”. If

I tried to stick to a plan or remain behind my line, I surely wouldn’t be an educator, let alone a

graduate student. I stepped outside my comfort zone by applying to grad school. I love to learn,

but I don’t always love school. I didn’t think I was a strong writer, which deterred me from

wanting to apply since I would need multiple writing pieces to try to get into the MATC

program. And I felt like I was already doing a lot as a teacher and director. I then thought about

where I was and where I wanted to go and felt like I was remaining behind my line. If learning is
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something I value, I should honor that by continuing my education. Writing shouldn’t scare me; I

teach fourteen-year-olds. And there is not much that is scarier than them and their writing! I was

seemingly doing a lot, but I like to be busy, especially when I’m busy doing things I care about.

So I crossed my line and found my way into Michigan State University’s MATC program.

One instance of crossing my line takes place during my internship year at Michigan State

University. We were in this in-between state of freshly graduated but considered both a student

enrolled in graduate-level classes and an educator learning the ropes as a student-teacher. An

opportunity arose when one of my professors, Dr. Vaughn Watson, encouraged us to present our

Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) assignments at a conference. I am not one for

public speaking. I had never attended a conference and felt that I wouldn’t like doing either of

those things. So I ignored him. With a lot already on my plate it felt like a good choice. After

bringing up the idea in class again, I thought of how this experience is incredibly unique and how

it was unbelievable no one was taking advantage of this opportunity. As an English teacher, I

should have seen the irony sooner. I teamed up with my friend and classmate Carolyn Brown to

discuss a passion of ours: using diverse texts in the classroom to ensure student engagement. We

strongly identified as movie lovers and proponents of diversifying and decolonizing our

curriculums. This led us to survey students, collect data, and compose a Google Document using

supplemental texts (such as movies and television shows) in the classroom to teach classics that

are often a part of our curriculums. We presented this information at a roundtable discussion with

other student-teachers. This experience and the other sessions I attended showed me another fun

side of teaching - sharing what you know and love with others. I met authors, discovered new

stories to bring into the classroom, learned from educators who challenged my thinking, and

most impressively, met the authors of many articles I read and discussed in class (many of those
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being former and current MSU students and professors!). Once I returned full of knowledge and

excitement, Dr. Vaughn Watson then encouraged us to write about our topic and publish it,

another new experience that seemed scary. In a very similar fashion, he planted the seed in our

heads and watched us bloom as we proudly shared our experience in a blog post shared on the

NCTE website (Artifact 1). What started as a class assignment turned into a chance to try

something new and introduced me to a professional learning community that I value and

discovered a love for collaboration.

Continuing to Cross My Line

Sometimes you don’t realize you have crossed your line until you’re safely on the other

side. This is what happened to me while co-teaching. In the four years I’ve been teaching, I have

co-taught two of them. I was not at all familiar with the concept of co-teaching; my hazy

memory did not recall being in any co-taught classes as a student. All I knew was that I would

have another person in the room with me, and thought that was neat. I found out that I really

liked co-teaching. I worked well with my partner; I now had someone to celebrate the highs and

lows of the day with. But I also found it incredibly rewarding to share my classroom with

someone else and help support students when it came to their learning. This co-teaching

experience was one of the main contributors when it came to applying for the MATC program. I

wanted to learn more about myself as an educator and different topics and techniques that would

best support my students in my co-taught classes. This led me to take courses such as TE 846:

Accommodating Differences in Literacy Learners. This class, in particular, was so rewarding.

Our semester-long project had us focusing on one student so we could assess, analyze, create,

and teach literacy skills that targeted areas of weakness. I worked with one of my students from

this past school year and got to know her better as a student and learner. I looked at my student’s
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test scores and had her read out loud to me. The data from the tests matched what I was

witnessing as she read. I then created three mini-lessons focusing on syllable review and word

manipulation, matching prefixes and suffixes while providing examples, and identifying

vocabulary in context. I had her read another article and she showed improvement after working

with her on those three mini-lessons (Artifact 2). I also explored the notion of student advocacy

in my EAD 801: Leadership and Organizational Development class. This was interesting

because I was merging two core principles in my life into one cohesive project: co-teaching and

leadership. In this class, we learned about how leaders can identify and diagnose adaptive

problems. I took a common problem I had, a lack of student advocacy, looked at it from different

perspectives, and created possible solutions (Artifact 6). Because I crossed my line when it came

to co-teaching, I was later able to find meaningful ways to better myself when it comes to

teaching my students.

My most recent example of crossing my line has come in the form of becoming more

directly involved in the school. As I settle into teaching, I realize there’s a lot of work to get done

in terms of positive change. Teaching is a very reflective profession, so it’s no surprise that

educators are interested in altering things after collecting data. For me, that much-needed change

comes in the form of our school’s curriculum. The school I teach at is becoming more racially

diverse, and yet the texts we teach remain stagnant. Literacy and diversity are two things I value

as an educator. I’ve worked hard to bring in a wide range of supplemental materials and create an

inclusive classroom library for when we participate in independent reading. But that’s not

enough. Our school is looking for a new curriculum, a process I am unfamiliar with as a newer

teacher. The English department at my school is great and included our thoughts and opinions on

the matter and answered any questions I had. Conveniently, I had taken the class TE 870:
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Curriculum Design, Development and Deliberation in Schools. One of our assignments asked us

to identify a familiar curriculum that would benefit an update, identifying problems and solutions

between the old and new. In this project, I looked at what our current curriculum lacked, what

positive aspects we already had, and also how the Oakland Atlas Curriculum could be integrated

into our school (Artifact 3). I created a realistic way to incorporate this new curriculum into our

existing one, allowing us to make small yet effective changes to keep costs down and retain

student and teacher flexibility, an important aspect many of the teachers in my department value.

I enjoyed problem-solving this issue, and this writing has become one of the best things I have

created. Another opportunity recently occurred when the grading advisory committee formed.

Grading has become a huge discussion at my school, with higher-level administrators, teachers,

and students having vastly different opinions. The district wants to enact a 50% rule, where all

students receive half credit on all assignments. This has caused numerous issues with grading,

maintaining grade books, and a lack of student participation (because they earn some credit

regardless of completion or correctness). The alternative option that the grading advisory

committee has proposed is a standards-based grading system. I look forward to piloting both of

these ideas in the near future. I am happy to be a part of positive change in the education system,

especially, when it benefits both the students and staff in the building. Sometimes crossing your

line often leads you to create a lasting impact on yourself and others.

Other times you have to seize the opportunity presented and take a risk. As mentioned

previously, I was a drama kid in high school. It was a large part of my high school identity and

remains a passion of mine. When I switched to English education, I hoped that somewhere down

the line, I would get involved with theater. When I returned to my former high school, the

intensity grew. It was quite literally right there within my reach. Due to many circumstances, the
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directors (all of whom I worked with) left the drama department, and the program was now

looking for new leadership. The original intention was to ease into this transition of becoming

involved in the program. But due to Covid, things accelerated quickly. This was yet another

example of me crossing my line, more like taking a running start and leaping over it. Another

teacher I was not familiar with, Christy Szukielowicz, and I was up to the challenge of restoring

our drama department. We both were involved with plays and musicals during our high school

years but had no prior experience running a drama program. But we wanted to bring back that

love of theater we knew existed, especially after a small Covid hiatus. This was not an easy task.

Our first show was a huge learning curve, and our students performed on stage with masks. Half

of theater performances rely on body language, interacting with castmates, and projecting your

voice. Due to strict limitations, all of those things were lessened. But despite all odds, we have

directed and performed three more shows since. I owe a lot to theater. The friendships formed

during those times still remain today. The experience I gained helped me get into college and

helped inspire me to apply to graduate school. Theater is not just about acting. It has many things

in common with teaching English: it’s literacy. It’s about analyzing your character and the

scenes you’re in, and the different interpretations you and your castmates bring out in the

performance. It also intertwines with many of the passions I have already expressed:

collaboration, co-teaching (in this case, co-directing), and designing committees. Not to mention,

this is where the entire idea began. Crossing your line was introduced to me by my previous

directors, forever solidified in my mind as a life-changing mantra written on some index cards on

the girl’s dressing room doors.

Final Reflection
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What was once a common saying has quickly become my philosophy in life, especially

regarding my educational career. I’d like to think I first crossed my line when I switched majors

to become a high school English teacher. Looking back on all the most impactful education

choices I made, it all started from crossing my line, whether I realized it or not. By crossing my

line, stepping outside my comfort zone, and trying something new, I found new interests when it

comes to my educational career, such as graduate school, going to conferences, co-teaching,

joining committees, and becoming a true leader. All these things, these instances of crossing my

line, have led me to find new passions and ways of becoming and maintaining being a quality

teacher. I am forever grateful for my time at Michigan State University, both undergraduate and

graduate, for instilling such strong values and beliefs as a teacher. My time during the MATC

program was truly invaluable. From the professors and the thoughtful and challenging

coursework to the informative discussions, I have grown so much as an educator. My goal is to

continue this work on my own and embrace opportunities to cross my line. Because once you

find the courage to cross your line, you never know what wonderful things lie ahead.