{"id":1918,"date":"2026-07-29T17:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/?p=1918"},"modified":"2026-07-29T17:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:34:09","slug":"growing-as-an-educator-and-literacy-leader-amandas-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/growing-as-an-educator-and-literacy-leader-amandas-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing as an Educator and Literacy Leader: Amanda\u2019s Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

I originally began the Master of Education with a concentration in Literacy<\/a> program at Furman University in 2021 after taking a break from teaching in order to stay home with my daughter. Before becoming a mother, I taught 7th and 8th grade ELA and Social Studies at Ralph Chandler Middle School in Greenville, SC. After two years away from teaching, I was eager to get back into the field that I love so much and learn more about literacy. My intention in starting the program was to stay up to date on current research and trends in education, while also being able to stay home with my child. However, during my first course at Furman, I found out I was unexpectedly expecting twins. After the completion of the first course, I took a break from the program and reentered in 2023. Upon reentering the program, I had a new hunger to learn because so much had changed since I left teaching in 2019. COVID completely changed how the field of education functioned and the literacy crisis had only grown. This fall, I will reenter the classroom as a 7th grade ELA teacher at Rudolph Gordon School in Greenville, SC, and I am excited to implement the new knowledge and skills I gained through my coursework at Furman.<\/p>\n

I chose to focus on literacy during my time at Furman because literacy is crucial to success in every subject. As technology continues to evolve, it is crucial for educators to stay up to date on ways to engage students to think critically. It is so important for students to learn to read and develop logical conclusions in the digital age. Literacy opens doors for students to develop a diverse worldview, one where people think, look, and behave differently than they would. When students read stories that contain experiences they have not had, they can develop empathy and understanding. These skills are essential for both academic and social emotional success.<\/p>\n

This program has had a large impact on my professional growth as it has allowed me to grow both as a teacher and a literacy leader. One of the greatest strengths of the program was its emphasis on practical application. I worked with students with a wide range of literacy abilities\u00a0and learned how to design instruction to meet their individual needs. Although my teaching background is in middle school, the program expanded my understanding of early literacy development. This gave me valuable insight into the foundational skills many older struggling readers may be missing. In my final semester, I was paired with a struggling Kindergarten student who pushed me outside of my comfort zone entirely. My work with him was eye-opening as it allowed me to dive into the aspects of literacy that I was not as experienced with and, therefore, allowed me to grow as an educator. My experience with teaching younger students allowed me to refocus my understanding of how literacy skills develop and gave me a better understanding of how literacy instruction evolves as students grow.<\/p>\n

The program also allowed me to grow as a leader. One of the most valuable experiences I had was planning and implementing a professional development session that I then taught to undergraduate students at Furman. Sharing my passion and knowledge with future teachers was powerful and fulfilling and allowed me to reflect on other ways to be a literacy leader in my community, school, and state.<\/p>\n

Perhaps one of the most lasting lessons I will carry with me is the power of reading and writing to expand students\u2019 perspectives. Reading has the unique ability to expose students to ideas, people, and concepts that are new and that they would otherwise not encounter. By allowing students to engage with new ideas, we can encourage them to think deeply about the world and their place in it. This is especially important for adolescent students as they begin to make sense of their identity. Another major takeaway from the program is the importance of creating authentic learning opportunities that allow students to respond to their reading in meaningful ways. Authentic learning experiences allow students to make deep and lasting connections to texts. This not only helps them to grow as readers, but also as people. In my\u00a0classroom this coming year, I plan to expose students to different types of stories in order to build empathy and inspire action through engaging and realistic responses to reading.<\/p>\n

My time at Furman was truly invaluable and changed the way I think about literacy and teaching as a whole. The coursework helped me to renew my passion for education after being away from the classroom. For anyone considering pursuing a degree in literacy, I cannot recommend the program more. Not only did I learn so much, but I also had so many real-world experiences and chances to practice implementing the skills I learned. My professors were absolutely incredible, and their expertise, guidance, and care made a huge impact on the overall effectiveness of the program. I can now go confidently back into the classroom knowing that I am equipped with the most up to date research and skills on literacy, learning, and teaching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I originally began the Master of Education with a concentration in Literacy program at Furman University in 2021 after taking a break from teaching in order to stay home with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1919,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[223,42,133,41],"class_list":["post-1918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-furman-innovation-lab","tag-furman-university","tag-graduate-studies","tag-literacy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1918"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1923,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918\/revisions\/1923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}