Which graduate program is right for me? What benefits are there to attaining a master’s degree as a literacy specialist with a teacher leader endorsement? When one is shopping through the master’s degree catalog, it can be more than overwhelming to know what is best for you. Upon finishing the M.A.Ed. in literacy specialist with a teacher leader endorsement at Georgetown College, I know that this is a top contender for any educator who wishes to take a lead in impacting the Llteracy programs within their districts.
What is a Master’s in Literacy Specialist with Teacher Leader Endorsement?
With this degree, you can step into one of two roles: the role of a literacy specialist, or into more of a leadership role within your building. A ‘leadership role’ could mean joining a leadership team, coaching other educators in your building, becoming a mentor teacher, or stepping up to make more intrinsic decisions alongside administrators. This program is designed to build you into a confident decision maker and efficient supporter, as well as a literacy specialist, so this program has quite an exquisite design!
This program is intricate and rigorous enough to build specialists who also have the capacity to be leaders. A large part of this program focuses on data analysis, curriculum resource breakdown, and content study, in order to build its students into a successful and effective literacy specialist. With research projects, hands-on learning, and engaging class discussions, the expectations quickly help you reach a level of confidence to positively impact the world of literacy. The specialized leadership tasks along the way are a beautiful part of this program that help shape you into a much stronger leader. From learning the best ways to be professional, all the way to building effective systems in your building, it’s incredible in the end to see how far you’ve come. This program truly equips its students with exactly what they will need to become more comfortable in making leadership decisions beyond the borders of just their classrooms.
What Will You Learn in a Literacy Specialist with Teacher Leader Endorsement Program?
When stepping into a literacy specialist position, one must be confident in their abilities to dive head first into solving problems in literacy instruction, working to move struggling students from being below grade level to being on or above it, and working with other educators to build a solid literacy program in your district. There are endless tasks that could be thrown your way, and having the confidence in yourself to overcome them is something this program at Georgetown College can give you.
Through hands-on study, you learn the building blocks of literacy and exactly how students move from learning phonics to independently reading full novels. Being able to explore effective strategies, dissect solid literacy curriculums, and study the best ways to reach struggling learners will help you feel more than prepared to walk into this type of position and be successful.
Sometimes stepping outside of your day-to-day classroom decisions to make leadership decisions within your building can be intimidating. The tasks within this program help you learn the best ways to offer assistance and coach others, organize effective instructional processes, and take more responsibility for the success of your district. As you can see, this program was designed to produce both content specialists and leaders who can transition into either of these roles without hesitation.
Advantages of a Literacy Specialist with Teacher Leader Endorsement Degree
Though graduate programs can be lengthy and rigorous, they enable you to have new career goals and options. The literacy specialist with teacher leader endorsement program at Georgetown College opens many new doors for its students. Having this degree will enable you to apply for the following positions: instructional coach in your district, literacy specialist, reading intervention specialist, literacy coach, or apply to teach reading/writing all grades K-12. Most districts view many of these positions as a step up from the general education classroom, so in many cases, this transition will include an increase in salary as well.
It would have been hard in the beginning to fathom all the ways growth would occur during the process of attaining this degree, but looking back on it now, I am a much stronger educator because of it. Whether you wish to move into a different position or stay in the classroom, this degree will positively impact you either way. As a classroom instructor, I have been able to dig deeper into data and allow that knowledge to directly impact my instruction. Knowing dozens of new reading strategies has helped me to influence my struggling readers in ways I could have never imagined. I also feel that I am far more involved in the literacy teams within my district. I have more knowledge to offer in meetings and feel comfortable problem solving for our district.
This degree has given me a new sense of self, as well as many new career goals. If you love the wonderful world of literacy, this program will make you stronger, help you positively impact your students/district, and truly energize you to be ready to go out and change the world.
Interested in pursuing your master’s degree in literacy specialist? Explore our program here to get started today!