Month 11 - Mastery Reflection
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Mastery in my opinion is an unattainable goal. Not in a negative sense, but one that is open-minded and aware that learning never seizes. The world changes constantly and with it, so does perceptions of what reality is and is not. Mastery, I find is the journey that you embark on in pursuit of happiness. It is the chosen path acting as a road map guiding your way through accomplishments. I honestly hope that I do not feel that I am a master at anything; I feel that something as definitive as claiming that I am a master will stifle my growth. What continues to motivate me every day is the chance to gain new knowledge to keep my mind open to new possibilities. I wish to absorb everything. It is this notion that has led me back to school.
I have always admired Maya Angelou. “Live your teaching,” is something that she said in a video for Oprah’s life class. She lived her life by these words even when she did not realize that she was. She fought through the worst of times and embraced the best of times. Those words resonated with me and came at a time where I was questioning if I was giving my students enough. I have always been a huge advocate to utilize their creativity and encouraged them to put the craft into everything they do. I decided that in order to show them their possibilities; I needed to prove it to myself by taking the time to celebrate my craft.
As long as I have been an educator, my signature line for correspondence has been a quote from Socrates, “What I know, is I know nothing.” I have sworn by this notion as a way to illustrate to my students that we all have something to give to each other. We all have knowledge and experiences to share and can learn together. I am not ready to call myself a master, but I am proud of my classmates and myself hat we have hung in there and learned a ton of new skills. Personally, I never thought that I would write the pieces that I have written, created the characters that I created, or find that I had the capabilities of writing in a medium other than poetry.
I have goals set in place for the New Year and plan to submit to literary magazines in hopes to get published in something other than poetry. I set out on this journey to step outside of my comfort zone. I have accomplished that way beyond my expectations. I am happy to be writing again and look forward to maintaining my old self for a while.















