After earning her bachelor’s in Secondary Education for English Language Arts from Samford University in 2017, Mattie Gardner quickly got a job and settled in the Birmingham area. She teaches 10th and 11th grade English at Mountain Brook High School and helps coach the varsity volleyball team. In 2020, she decided it was time to go back to school.
“When I first started teaching, a lot of people were saying, ‘Go ahead and get your master’s now!’ But I purposely waited because I wasn’t sure yet what I would want to get my master’s in.” After a couple of years in the classroom, Mattie recognized that it would be best for her to pursue a master’s beyond classroom instruction. “Although I love working in the classroom and love my students, I have the desire to have a broader impact on my school and the educational system,” she said. She considers her colleagues the experts, so she asked them for advice. One of them who had graduated from UA suggested she check out UA’s graduate programs, and that’s when she found the online master’s in Educational Leadership with Instructional Leadership certification.
While the Instructional Leadership master’s was ideal for her career goals, Mattie was on the fence about earning her 
master’s online. All her learning experiences had been in person, and she had concerns about the aspects she would miss by opting for online instruction instead. “I was worried about it being really impersonal and full of busy work and not having the support I was looking for from classmates and professors,” she explained. As she considered several master’s options from various institutions, UA’s program stood out. Not only was it among the most affordable options, but it also offered 100% online coursework along with regular Zoom meetings for students and professors to engage around class topics and develop relationships in real time.
Mattie began the program in Summer 2020 and has found this setup of online coursework plus occasional synchronous videoconferencing to be the perfect balance. She said the online coursework has been beneficial, especially with the additional stress of being a teacher during a pandemic. “I’ve just been so thankful to be in a program that is adapting to everything that’s going on and that hasn’t been significantly affected because it was already designed for virtual learning. It can be difficult to transfer in-person instruction to online learning, and I can’t emphasize enough how essential the flexibility to work whenever I can has been,” she said. “Sometimes it’s at odd times of the day or from another city for a volleyball game that’s three hours away and I’m able to log on and get some schoolwork done. The online program gave me that flexibility I needed, and it’s way more interactive than I thought it would be.”
Just two semesters into the program, Mattie has already gained concepts that she’s been able to apply to her career. “One of my first classes was Educational Law and Ethics. I found it so interesting because my wheelhouse through undergrad and so far in my career has been focused on English and literature. But as an aspiring administrator and educational leader, I have to switch my mindset from leading as a classroom teacher to leading an entire school. That was an eye-widening class for me.” She said learning more about professional learning communities has also been helpful. “I’ve learned how to look at research, what data to look at and how to implement that into my teaching and how to work with colleagues in the most efficient and effective way to accomplish our goals. That’s not beneficial just for being an effective leader but also for being an effective instructor in my classroom, too.”
Mattie is on track to graduate in Summer 2021, and her educational and career aspirations have grown since she began. “I didn’t begin the program for this purpose, but I plan to apply to a PhD program when I finish. After that, I can pursue a role as a school administrator or move into higher education as a professor.” Mattie said one professor in particular, Dr. William Bergeron, has been especially encouraging to her to keep moving forward, but that the program’s content and its faculty are responsible for these aspiration changes.
“I’ve so enjoyed learning about a whole new facet of education that I’ve never learned about before, and this program has given me the confidence and curiosity to study more.”
Published: January 9th, 2020