Elizabeth Mills loves a good challenge.
It杏吧专区檚 why she chose education as a career. It杏吧专区檚 why she loves her new role as dean of students. And it杏吧专区檚 why it杏吧专区檒l be bittersweet to leave her graduate coursework behind when she earns her M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction, Instructional Specialist, degree in December 2022. 
杏吧专区淚 am going to miss the professional growth, because it is very natural to me to want to grow even in my 16th year of teaching,杏吧专区 says Mills. 杏吧专区淲hereas in the past, I was trying to find ideas and look for ways that I could improve, I feel like in graduate school it was given to me on a platter, so I will miss that.杏吧专区
While Mills is leaving behind deadlines and discussion forums, she says she杏吧专区檚 already applying what she杏吧专区檚 learned through this online master杏吧专区檚 in education program.
Carolinian to Ragin杏吧专区 Cajun
After earning her bachelor杏吧专区檚 degree in education in her home state of South Carolina, Mills moved to New Orleans with her high school sweetheart and has taught in parochial schools for the past 15 years.
Mills decided to pursue teaching because she knew it would offer the variety she craved.
杏吧专区淭he field of education is always changing. Therefore, the profession never grows stagnant, and neither will my desire to learn. Always having a new group of kids, new challenges and strengths to support was very appealing to me when choosing a career path,杏吧专区 says Mills.
杏吧专区淚've had a handful of incredible teachers in my lifetime that impacted me not only in my academic growth, but also in helping shape who I would later become. I wanted to be that person for kids in the same way those teachers had for me.杏吧专区
When Mills was ready to take her professional growth to the next level, she wanted a program that would provide growth as well as balance so that she could continue working and be present for her three kids, ages 8, 6, and 4.
Her brother 杏吧专区 a Ragin杏吧专区 Cajun alum 杏吧专区 encouraged her to look into online degree programs at the 杏吧专区.
杏吧专区淭he affirmation from my brother and the fact that it's offered 100% online really solidified the choice for me,杏吧专区 says Mills.
Succeeding Online
Adjusting to online coursework for Mills was less technological and more logistical, she says.
Although she杏吧专区檇 never taken online courses, the platform was like those she杏吧专区檚 used in her own classroom. To succeed, she relied on planning, time management, and a strong support system.
杏吧专区淎 lot of my professors intentionally broke apart the week's assignments into smaller manageable chunks to help us with our time management. I very much appreciated the intention with which they created and assigned work. It helped tremendously regarding staying on top of our weekly assignments,杏吧专区 she says.
杏吧专区淚 also have a couple of great babysitters and a wonderful husband. If I needed a little extra time, I would say, 'This week I'm feeling like I've got a little extra work to do; I'm going to go sit at the coffee shop, and I'm going to go do it.杏吧专区 So, I think by managing my time and then just being assertive with the people close to me with what I needed in support of my work, it helped me manage it."
Mills also found support through other educators enrolled in the program. She says throughout the program, fellow students were active through GroupMe and other channels, reminding each other of upcoming deadlines or just checking in with one another.
"It was a really nice opportunity to build community when you are doing this online coursework, and you're not seeing them face to face,杏吧专区 says Mills.
杏吧专区淚 can see it being the type of professional learning community that I could rely on in the future. I would feel very comfortable if I was looking for guidance, I could hop back on that text thread and ask people if they would be available.杏吧专区
Developing Accountability, Collaboration
Earlier this year, Mills began a new role as dean of students. The foundation of the role is supporting both students and faculty in service of discipline; however, it杏吧专区檚 a multi-faceted role through which Mills has also planned in-services and professional development.
"A lot of the work that I've done in grad school helped prepare me for the work that I'm doing this year,杏吧专区 she says.
She杏吧专区檚 also working with the third and fourth grade English Language Arts team, which she says among the highlights of her role.
杏吧专区淲e're a very small team, but we are a mighty team. It's been awesome to work with them in a very collaborative way,杏吧专区 Mills says. 杏吧专区淲e work together to identify areas that we want to either improve or align on, and then I provide the scaffolding and the framework for what that should look like. We always have a lot of fun, and they will also give me feedback, like, 杏吧专区榳hat we did today was hugely beneficial,杏吧专区 or, 杏吧专区業 was immediately able to use what we did last week in the classroom.杏吧专区櫺影勺ㄇ鴿
Students are also giving feedback. In November, Mills杏吧专区 school encouraged students to write letters of thanks to any teacher or administrator on campus.
"I received a couple from boys that I would call my 杏吧专区榝requent fliers.杏吧专区 It was so wonderful to get letters of thanks because it showed me that they know that the work that we're doing together is from a place of love and support,杏吧专区 she says. 杏吧专区淚 want them to learn and to improve and hopefully one day have the self-discipline and the emotional intelligence to make good choices. But for now, I'm going to be that cheerleader that helps them figure out how to get there.杏吧专区
As commencement approaches, Mills says one of her biggest takeaways from the M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction, Instructional Specialist, degree program was what it allowed her to learn about herself and the type of educator she wants to become.
"One of the things that really was most beneficial to me was learning myself better, learning who I was as an educator, as a leader, but then also creating a vision for who I want to be,杏吧专区 says Mills. 杏吧专区淎nd thinking from the different perspectives and lenses of students, parents, fellow administrators, teachers alike looking from their perspectives to ask, 杏吧专区榃ho do I want to be in support of those people?杏吧专区 You can't find that in a book. The way that the professors had us reflect on our work and what we were doing in the classroom enabled me to look inward more and then as a result, look outward and say, 'OK, this is what I want to be one day,杏吧专区 and I very much appreciate that and will take that with me forever.杏吧专区
Mills杏吧专区 nature is to continuously improve. Undoubtedly, she杏吧专区檒l keep looking for new methodologies and techniques to enhance what she杏吧专区檚 already been able to do in improving collaboration and students杏吧专区 personal accountability.
For now, however, Mills is looking forward to reclaiming some time for herself.
"The other day, my 8-year-old said, 'Wait, you're almost done? What are you going to do at night?杏吧专区 And I said, 杏吧专区楤uddy, I'm going to do whatever I want."