A few years ago, the music teacher at Grant Wood got me thinking about taking some Master's classes. I talked about it with my parents and Trina, but really didn't commit to the idea of going back to school. I had told myself that when I graduated from University of Northern Iowa with my teaching degree, I was done with classes forever! Little did I know that my break from classes was about to end.
There were two instances that I remember that lead to me signing up for classes. The first one was when one of my parents said to me that "there is a big difference between talking about going back to school and actually doing it." It must have been the tone that the comment was said in, because I took it as a challenge. I'm glad that they said that, because I needed a push. I was scared, but I was also determined to prove to myself and others that I could do it. Thanks Mom and Dad for helping me realize that talking about something and doing something are two totally different things.
The other memorable conversation that got me to sign up for classes was with Trina. We had decided to expand our family and the planner that she is, had come up with a plan. She figured out that if I took some absurd number like 19 credit hours during the first summer of my program, I could get by with only taking one class at a time during the school year. This sounded very overwhelming, but she knew that when we had Grayson I wouldn't want to take time away from the two of them to sit at the computer. Her plan was terrific. I don't think I could have finished in two years if I wasn't pushed into working so had that first semester.
Trina was a huge help during the last two years. She regularly reminded me to do my homework even when I was procrastinate. She was great at proofreading and editing almost every major paper I turned in. One of the biggest challenges of this program was that all of the examples I read about were for classroom teachers, not physical education teachers. I had to come up with my own examples for way more than I anticipated. Trina regularly tried to relate the examples given to my classroom. It was a big help to have her in my corner. My classmates and teachers seldom responded to any of my message board posts. I finally decided it was because it was too hard for them to relate physical education to their classroom. I had to find that relationship with every single assignment for two years.
Here is a small list of things I'm really proud of over the past two years...- I took 19 graduate credits in one summer (more than I ever took at UNI)
- My research paper was accepted the first time I submitted it (most have to resubmit multiple times)
- My comprehensive exams were accepted the first time I submitted them (most have to resubmit multiple times)
- I had a perfect score on the final paper of my final class (still received my only A-)
- I finished graduate school with a 3.95 GPA (High School and UNI GPA's were around 3.00)
- I graduated in two years just like I planned (easily could have done it in 3 years)
- I challenged myself with a difficult goal and reached it
3 comments:
Wow!!! I didn't realize you had taken so many credits that first summer. You did a great job! We are very proud of you!
I don't know if I told you or not, but Congrats! This is a big accomplishment and you should be very proud!!
So proud of you, Tanner!
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