The most valuable and formative learning experiences that the MAT program has brought me have without a doubt been in the classroom. However, the impact of my work with Dr. Nam, the rest of the English cohort and the entire secondary cohort of MATs cannot be understated. They have all made me a significantly better teacher than I thought possible in just one year. I also cannot emphasize enough how valuable it was to student teach for a full school year. The level of preparedness I feel after student teaching has grown exponentially at the 2 month, 4 month, and now 8 month mark. I am so grateful for the connections I was able to make, wisdom I gained, practices I observed, and opportunities I had to take risks and try new things in the classroom.
I met all of the MATs for the first time in Heather Roberts class, Literacy Across Curriculum in the spring of 2021, but we became a community for the first time that summer, as we started visiting schools in person as a group, and the following fall as we all stepped into leadership roles in the classroom together.