Ever Changing Goals
When I began my master’s program my plan was to become a college lacrosse coach. I was, at the time of acceptance, working at the University of Detroit as the Director of Lacrosse operations, and I wanted to become a college head coach as quickly as possible. It was my goal to obtain a master’s to help me achieve that career goal. I was twenty-four at the time, young and naive, how much has changed since then. Like most of my goals back then, I wanted everything as quickly as possible, to be the youngest person to accomplish each life event. Throughout my Master’s program my life has changed a great deal, and so have my goals. The lessons learned through my classes, coupled with my on the job experience, has led me down a new and exciting path.
Coaching was, is, and will always be a part of my life. It is my passion, and while I may not dream of becoming a full-time college coach anymore, I see myself always being on a sideline, at least at the high school level. This passion for coaching led me to directly to which concentration I choose upon applying for graduate school, Sport Leadership. I didn’t know at the time how much of an impact the program would have on my coaching, but I figured I would at least learn some new techniques. Additionally, a secondary goal of mine was to be an athletic director, and a master’s in education with a sport leadership concentration is definitely geared toward a career in educational athletic administration.
I spent the first semester of graduate school at the University of Michigan working for the lacrosse
team, still chasing my goal of coaching in college. Near the end of the semester I quickly realized that
while coaching is my passion, it can’t be my career. Coaching is a volatile profession with lots of moving
, and little job security. This was the first time my goals for my master’s changed dramatically, as I
started to look for teaching positions. Luckily, I was able to secure a position at a brand new high
school as a physical education and health teacher (aligning with my undergraduate education). This
was also the first time I was able to use my master’s program, as the position included the title of
athletic director, and was it not for my enrollment in the sport leadership courses, I may not have been
hired. This job, at the time seemed to meet my goals, spend some time in the classroom while also getting administrative experience.
During my year as an athletic director there was one course that I fell in love with, Kinesiology 854, Legal and Administrative Issues in Sport. I loved the course so much that I briefly considered entering law school. The reason it attracted me was that the course examined sport from the perspective of a school administrator, examining facility risk, liability, title IX, all things that an athletic director has to do. Each lesson I was able to learn something that I could then take to my day job and apply. In general, this course taught me how to look at athletics from a risk standpoint, and how to limit the risks that the school, myself, and the coaches take. I found myself routinely looking around the gymnasium and locker rooms trying to see what could be improved, how to improve it, and what risks there were if things weren’t changed. These lessons were all learned while taking KIN 854.
This past fall I took a course that heavily influenced my coaching, Kinesiology 857, Promoting Positive Youth Development in Sport. This course immediately asks students to look at sports from a developmental point of view, and causes a lot of self-reflection. How should we develop athletes? How should we teach skills? When should we teach skills? In what order should we teach skills? Am I teaching skills in a productive order? I will admit that after answering all of these questions, and reading more about positive development in class, I needed improvement across the board. The single most productive project was when I had to examine a long term athlete development model for youth lacrosse. Through this process I was able to create a plan based on scientific research on youth development, that would improve the way lacrosse is taught to young players. Additionally, the model showed how to progress the teaching of techniques to match the athlete’s progress in development. Thanks to this course I know look at working with younger athletes completely differently, and have a much more organized plan for teach my 3rd and 4th graders through their progression to high school lacrosse.
Earlier this summer my goals changed again. At the beginning of the school year I was excited to teach, be an athletic director, change the world. Working at a charter school changed all of that for me. Working sixty hours a week, being paid to be a teacher while also being an athletic director for a mere 1,500 dollars. Traffic duty, lunch duty, hallway duty, monday elective, tutoring, I was not only underappreciated and underpaid, I lost my desire to teach. Now I understood working at a charter would be different, that they would work teachers harder for less, but when I went in for my review and found that I didn’t get the raise of bonus I was promised, I decided enough was enough. I immediately started looking for a new job, one that would lead in a new direction. This past year may have helped me realize that I don't want to be in a classroom, but it also taught me I love being in schools, and my new goal is to work in administration.
While one course alone has not prepared me to be an administrator, nor do I think one class could, the master’s program itself has better prepared me to pursue a career in educational administration. One week after school ended a contact I had met at a graduation party (the Director of Novi Adult and Community Education) called me and asked if I would help run summer school. The summer school program had ballooned to over 800 students, mixed with students seeking to get ahead in the summer, and those just trying to stay on track to graduate. Having previously worked in administration as an athletic director, this was the perfect transition into working in a non-athletic form of administration. My job is essentially to make sure the entire program runs smoothly, covering classrooms, helping with grades, lunch duty, truancy, payroll, and taste of everything a school could offer. While one course cannot prepare me to be a principal, one course did help me deal with certain aspects of summer school. Given the very diverse population, both socioeconomically and culturally, I found myself benefiting from a course called Literacy Education 820- Issues of Culture in Classroom and Curriculum. Many of the students were high achieving children from Indian families, and I’m not kidding when I say they were scared to get lower than an A. Along with these students were a handful of kids retaking classes to improve their grade or to gain credit for a class they failed. Being able to teach both of these student groups at the same time, and effectively, means understanding the needs and goals of each type of student, something TE-820 caused me to do.
During the last week of summer school I was offered more administrative duties, assisting the director of the local alternative high school. This school is filled with students who did not finish high school due to a varying number of reasons. Being able to recognize the issues that each student brings to school, what roadblocks they have to learning, and what their ultimate goals are for school, will lead me to better help them. While I have not yet started this position, I know that understanding the cultural differences within a classroom is a skill that TE-820 has helped me refine.
Lastly, the and most appropriately, the class that has caused me the greatest amount of thought and reflection is Education 870, the Capstone Seminar. As I previously stated, my goals have changed dramatically from when I entered the master’s program, but was it not for ED870, I would never have really put any thought into this. Thanks to the capstone class I was able to ask myself what it is I really want in my career while also realizing what it is that’s causing me to change my goals. For instance, I like being around kids, working in a school environment, and solving problems that arise, but I dislike the monotony that is being a classroom teacher. I dislike teaching 95 minute block classes, and teaching the same course four or five times a day does not appeal to me. However, what does appeal to me is the exciting and ever changing schedule that a school principal or assistant principal deals with. For these reasons the capstone class has helped me discover my new direction, becoming an administrator. Were it not for this class, I’m not sure I would have a steady direction, or a clear career goal moving forward.
All in all I owe a great deal to the master’s program and the staff at Michigan State University. Through the online program I was able to achieve my master’s degree within eighteen months while increasing my marketability in the job market. An education degree from MSU is highly regarded and distinguishes me from my peers. The concentration I choose also helped me to become a better coach, and has taught me skills that I can use to possibly coach teachers in the future, not just athletes. Now that I have completed my master’s program I am prepared and have been accepted to several programs that will allow me to obtain a Michigan School Administrator’s Certificate. Were it not for my new degree, my life would lack direction, my resume would lack the extra education I need, and my career would be less likely to evolve.
