Work complete, recognized, and published!!

Many of you all ready know that I have been working on my MaED the past 2 years. I started my graduate program at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN in January 2005. It has been an amazing 2 years of reflection, growth, and accomplishment. The compilation of this study is the completion of what the academic world now calls "The Capstone". The Capstone is a 5 chapter action research, literature review (traditional thesis style) and investigation into a chosen education topic. In the past 3 months I have finalized my capstone, sent it to committee for review, and published the final product. It is an amazing accomplishment given the fact that it was done while working full time and parenting full time and living full time. The greatest element of all is that this work has been formally recognized by Hamline University in the form of the Beulah Benton Tatum Award, which is given to a capstone that shows reflective work in multicultural issues. Last night, my advisor, facilitators and cohort gathered for a wine and tea reception to celebrate the completion of the program and honor those capstones receiving awards. Since I am not currently in the country, I sent, via email, an acceptance speech of sorts to share with my learning community last night. I thought it would be fun to share it all with my blog readers as well:

Fellow Hamline graduates, advisors, and friends,

To begin, I am sorry not to be with you all tonight. I wish I could look out at all of your faces now, smiling with respect and the sense of accomplishment and the completion of hard work. What an amazing group of people Hamline University brings together. I am very proud of each of YOU and all you shared with me in this process. It is an honor and a privilege to call myself Hamline Alumni. See, my Hamline experience and the Hamline influence on my teaching career is vast.

I graduated from Hamline University CLA in 1995 with a BA in English, a secondary education certificate, and an incredible amount of experiences not formally represented in the diploma I walked away holding. I knew in 1995 that I wasn’t finished with my formal education. I also knew, thanks to my experiences as a Hamline undergrad, that I wasn’t finished with my real life learning either. Actually, it was just beginning. For this reason, it was clear to me when I began my search for a graduate school that Hamline would be THE option because I was all ready familiar with the quality education that is Hamline University.

I, like many other stateside public school teachers, was motivated to earn my master’s degree for the pay increase. (Remember the brainstorm activity of “Reasons to get your master’s degree” on the first class?) However, I also wanted my degree to mean something. I wanted to work hard for it. I wanted to feel the burden of studying again while teaching full time and grading papers full time and parenting full time and trying to live life full time. In essence, I chose rigor. So did all of you.

It’s funny because the pay raise doesn’t recognize rigor—we all knew that when we started though. I won’t receive more money solely because I worked hard. But I, like all of you, wanted to have that sense of accomplishment for myself. The trick was to balance all of those “full time” obligations successfully. What I was surprised to find through the process was that being a graduate student at Hamline while teaching full time clearly enhanced my teaching. In some ways, it even made it easier.

Do we realize the privilege we have in being knowledgeable about the leading researchers and best practices in education? Routman, Johnson, Tomlinson, Tatum, Howard, Pruden, Banks, Kriete. Do we know the power in being able to write “letters to the next President?” Do we know that as a result of the evaluation process in place currently at Hamline our programs are evaluated and reevaluated consistently to ensure that we are privy to what is current in the further education of practicing educators? This is not to be found every where. Thanks to Hamline, I know that now.

Do we realize the strength there is in having a cohort of professionals working, experiencing, growing, learning, and often influencing the current education system together? Thanks to Hamline, I know that now.

After every class session, throughout all the reading assignments and writing assignments and distributed learning assignments and community building assignments and treat duty…I was regularly applying what I learned in class with all of you to my classroom with my students. I wonder if my students know they really had a team of teachers throughout this process because each of you vicariously entered my classroom on more than one occasion. Each of you influenced what I knew, what I wanted to know and what I didn’t know. You even helped me to see what I didn’t know I didn’t know. Because of that collaboration, fostered by Hamline’s graduate school of education program, I am a better educator.

I never saw myself as a researcher before this program. I always saw myself as a learner. I recognized the need for and the joy in continuous learning, but being a part of this University again reminded me what I am capable of accomplishing as a researcher and practicing educator. I am a researcher. The power in that is immense.

Receiving the Beulah Benton Tatum Award for capstone work on multicultural issues is an honor larger than I can explain. The validation of hard work is incredible. The acknowledgment that research on multicultural issues as significant and worthy of attention means a great deal to me. I live my life running against a walkway, working daily at educating children in getting along with each other while being heard individually. This award is a boost to my pace, a help in my race against the moving walkway of social injustices worldwide.

I write this now, from miles away, knowing that one of the most influential people for me in this process will read it to all of you, and I am overcome with gratitude. I thank you Terry. You and Marcia have both been key components to my success and growth. To all of my colleagues in the Learning and Literacy community—hats off to all of you! Your students are blessed with your expertise. We are blessed with one another. And we have so much work to do still in ensuring that children don’t fall through the cracks or go unheard. Thank you. I can’t wait to see you all on May 19.