Final Thoughts

It has been a long journey this past few years. I say that because this is my second attempt at a Master's Degree. I began my Master's Degree in Elementary Education back in 2003, immediately after finishing my Bachelor's. I found, as I continued, that I did not particularly care for the field. I felt like the teachers I spoke with were stuck by the standards and unable.e to be creative in the classroom. I co tinued my degree off and on for the next several years until it became time to student teach. I then realized I had to make a decision between flipping my life upside down for 12 weeks so I could student teach and get a degree I didn't want and would not use. Or, start a whole different field,which I was already working in and loved. I decided to abandon my Elementary Education degree and begin my degree over in the field of early childhood. One realization I had in this process was that I finally found a passion and a career that I am happy with. I don't feel like I am settling and that I am constantly trying to convince myself it is what I want to do. The second thing I really took away from this process was that I have more passion than I thought I did for issues and trends in the field. Before doing the capstone project, I had never thought I had an interest in policies and regulations until I started researching current issues and trends. Finally, I had a realization this past two years that I am diverse and work with a diverse group of people. My goals for the long term now that I have completed my coursework is to continue to develop training sessions and technical assistance projects in a variety of topics. In a few years, after my youngest child starts kindergarten, I hope to begin coursework for my PhD in early childhood so I can do additional research in the field and teach at the college level.