Goals

=Updated Goal Statement=

When I looked back at my original goal statement I noticed that several of my goals are consistent; however, I have now gained a more focused approach to my learning and career. I still strive to become a better educator in an increasingly diverse community. My passion and eagerness to recreate myself through continued education still prompts my desire to work with others and witness how education transforms lives. Yet now, my ultimate goal has become more focused. I believe it is crucial to foster international mindedness in all aspects of education. My purpose and goals are more direct, but I have also learned many different avenues through which I can accomplish my goals through the PhD program at George Mason University.

====My current professional goals are to encourage all pre-service and practicing teachers to create internationally minded curriculum within their classrooms. For the past ten years I have worked in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) as an elementary and secondary teacher, and as a teacher educator and mentor to beginning teachers. I have had the opportunity to work with different teachers along different stages of their career. My professional goals are to consult, collaborate, and coach pre-service teachers, beginning teachers, and veteran teachers in many different ways. First, as the role of professor and expert I teach pre-service teachers through Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC), second, in the role of Mentor Resource Teacher (MRT) in Fairfax County I mentor first year teachers, and third I serve as a collaborative colleague with teachers in professional development courses I designed though NVCC. Working with teachers along these varying stages in their career allows me to think critically about research as I make practical connections to theory within the classroom. In my experience, I found that teachers are an undervalued resource in many school districts. This is disheartening because teachers are powerful, and they themselves do not seem to be aware of it. Merryfield (1998) calls teachers, “curricular-instructional gatekeepers” which makes it vital to examine a wide variety of teachers’ beliefs, opinions, and application of content when conducting educational research (p. 345). What teachers think about curriculum and their practice matters and should be heard (Clark & Peterson, 1986). My professional goal is linked to my research goal, which is to give teachers a platform to share their knowledge with the research community. My desire to conduct research is twofold: first to learn from teachers and their experiences, and second, through the process of looking to teachers for answers, I believe it would ultimately encourage them to see themselves as leaders in the field.====

====Now entering the final phase of the PhD program I find that my goals and interests as a researcher have become more focused over the past several years. My goal continues to be to master and utilize qualitative methodologies in my work and research as I prepare for dissertation. Moving forward with my proposal I have established a question I would like to investigate, "What beliefs about international mindedness can be inferred from teachers who teach a curriculum that promotes international mindedness?" This question will drive my dissertation study and my proposal.====

====As I move forward to proposal I have goals to work toward. I plan to delve farther into the literature and identify case study methodologists (such as Stake, Yin, and Merriam) in order to prepare for my proposal. I will also look to other researchers who have conducted classroom observations and consider instruments they have used to collect my own classroom observation research. With the advice and feedback I receive from my committee, I know I will meet my goal and be able to successfully prepare for my dissertation proposal.====

====After spending several years learning about the effective models of international education that exist in the world, I have a stronger desire to learn about and support them. Employment with one of these organizations is my goal and a means for further developing my talent, career, and research. For example, the International Baccalaureate (IB) offers many career opportunities that impact education inside and outside the classroom. I would love to work for an organization such as the IB because I am passionate about internationalizing education. One of the IB positions that interest me is the “Development and Outreach Manager” because the main responsibility of this position is to promote the implementation of IB programs in school districts. The position also involves organizing and contributing to regional and global conferences (IBO, 2010). A PhD from George Mason would best prepare me to successfully take on this new career. I am also interested in the IB “Manager of Teacher Education Services” position because the responsibilities include preparing teachers for IB schools and recruiting educators to join IB (IBO, 2010). The training and other opportunities in my PhD program allow me to be a very competitive candidate for these positions.====

__ Original Goal Statement __ 

 My career began when my desire to reach beyond my bounds led me away from family and childhood friends to pursue a career in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). Despite the training and classroom education I underwent in Ohio, I realized I was not adequately prepared for such a varying environment of social economic and cultural diversity present within FCPS and the surrounding community. Growing up in a predominantly Caucasian area, I had never been exposed to such cultural affluence which made me want to find out more about my students and develop more effective ways to communicate within my community. Mid-way through my first year of teaching, I researched continuing education opportunities that could offer an intense curriculum focusing on cultural dynamics which in turn could increase my skills and abilities as a teacher in my diverse community. I heard about the Initiatives in Educational Transformation (IET) program at George Mason University and found the curriculum matched my exact requirements. When the program started, the intense interactions with my professors and classmates widened my cultural lens and ignited my passion for the subject. I found myself constantly pushing my limits and questioning myself in order to create new parameters to satisfy my cultural curiosity. While in the IET program, I also had the amazing opportunity to travel to China. This experience changed my life and perspective on the world. In addition to the beautiful sights, I enjoyed a complete immersion in an unfamiliar culture. The experiences and interactions with the locals there made me realize how much more I had to learn about people and cultures. Although I traveled to many places within the Middle Kingdom, the city that lingered in my mind the most was Hong Kong. The blend of Chinese culture and western influence represented a model of relationship which I wanted to understand. I knew this was a place and culture I would love to study. When I returned from China and finished the IET program, I started to heavily reflect on the next step for my career. Although I had my masters degree, I did not feel “done” with learning. Instead, I felt it had just begun and I was yearning for more. How could I become a better educator in an increasingly diverse community? After much self reflection, I realized the need to pursue a PhD in order to meet my individual goals and desires which seemed to have cultivated over the past few years. These experiences inspired me to pursue a continuing education in international education. I am honored to present myself in consideration for the PhD program in International Education at George Mason University. This program will undoubtedly guide me on my journey to becoming a better practitioner as well as satisfying my curiosity in international education through research of curriculums and educational structures while comparing and contrasting the methods to my own experiences. I am confident I possess the personality and inherent traits to be a successful researcher and educator in the field of international education. I am an imaginative individual who often reflects in an introspective way about many different subjects which gives me the ability to recognize relations and associations that may not be apparent to everyone. This will be extremely beneficial to my career goals because as an educator and researcher I can discern the balance between conjecture and practice. I communicate effectively and enjoy conveying concepts and theories in verbal and written form. My passion and eagerness to recreate myself through continued education will aid in my desire to work with others and witness the way education can transform lives. My ultimate goal for obtaining a PhD in International Education from George Mason University would be to one day become a professor and adequately prepare teachers to work with students of diverse backgrounds. With a PhD in International Education, I envision more doors would be open for me to have the opportunity to inspire others about what I have learned through my experiences and research. I could contribute to new teachers by showing them research and teaching methodology that would help them become culturally aware. I am certain that obtaining a PhD from George Mason University will provide me with the experiences, research opportunities, and interactions that will take my career and potential to new heights. I would be honored to call George Mason University home again as I continue on my journey of research and professional development. I am proud of who I have become and am amazed at my development as a person, student, and educator. However, I look forward to who I can become as a result of transformations aided by the International Education PhD program.

Research Statement

A unique combination of experiences and career goals contributed to my interest in pursuing research at the doctoral level**.** My experience with George Mason University’s Initiatives in Educational Transformation masters program inspired my desire, enthusiasm, and appreciation for educational research. This program introduced me to the fundamentals of research—both the methods and the prominent researchers in the field—and exposed me to a side of education I had never seen. Another experience that prompted me to pursue research at the doctoral level was my experience in Hong Kong in 2007. As I mentioned in my goal statement, I would love the opportunity to conduct research in Hong Kong because I am amazed at the unique blend of Chinese culture and Western influence that coexists there. Lastly, my career goals have a great impact on my aspirations to enter into doctoral research. I realize I inherently possess a great skill set for being a motivating and successful educator which I hope to transfer to a position where I can encourage and influence other teachers. Research will undoubtedly help me to obtain my goals and make a lasting impact in the field of education. I am very enthusiastic about the assortment of courses offered as part of the International Education Program and I know George Mason University is the best place to continue with my higher education because of the renowned faculty and the individualized attention the program entails. George Mason University offers such a well balanced program because of the combined expertise the faculty offers which I look forward to utilizing. In particular, I am eager to study the connection between culturally responsive teaching and the classification of diverse populations for gifted programs with Dr. Beverly Shaklee. As one of Dr. Shaklee’s students, I hope to gain knowledge about the relationship between differentiated instruction and student achievement. This research topic is of particular interest to me because I see some of the benefits and hardships it presents in my current position as a middle school math teacher. With Dr. Shaklee’s guidance, my goal is to learn more about this topic to better mold my own teaching style and relationships with students' assessment data. I am also interested in studying performance-based assessments of teacher candidates and beginning teachers with Dr. Sharon Castle. This area of research is important to me because of where I would like to take my career in the future. As previously mentioned, my goal is to work with teachers to help improve their methods in a classroom comprised of students of different cultures. Dr. Castle’s research would be a powerful aid to my career goal. Having the opportunity to study under the faculty at George Mason University, I know that I could make an impact on the students, teachers, and the community in the field of International Education. Through the PhD program, I hope to contribute knowledge to the academic community through research focused on questions that permeate throughout the education community. The specific area I would like to take my research would be to compare and contrast the teaching methods of Hong Kong mathematics programs with that of the United States curriculum. As a current math teacher this topic is imperative to me because I find that the United States math curriculum could really improve. I would like to take an in depth global look at the pacing of international math curriculums and compare the pacing to what we do in the United States. My hope is to take the knowledge obtained through my research and determine various directions to help improve the United States math curriculum and teaching methodologies of our math teachers. To effectively learn the math system in Hong Kong, I want to immerse myself in the environment. I would like to live and study in Hong Kong. Living in Hong Kong would be beneficial because I would obtain a better understand of the way the school is structured. These experiences would help me to become an expert in the field of math curriculum, so I would be able to impact the schools in the United States with the knowledge attained from my research. As an aspiring PhD student, I look forward to strengthening my skills as a researcher through advanced instruction in research methods as well as broadening my academic horizons. I hope to build on the experiences and knowledge I have of qualitative research and strive to acquire better comprehension in quantitative research methodologies. Through a PhD education, I also hope to expand my abilities not only in the classroom but in a globalized culture. I am proud of my ability to self reflect and will continue to set the bar higher in order to improve myself and the collective academic community through the International Education PhD program at George Mason University.