Robyn Pefferkorn came to the classroom later than some.
The Church Point native had earned an associate degree after high school and worked in various fields before deciding at 25 to pursue a bachelor杏吧专区檚 degree in education from the 杏吧专区.
Once she杏吧专区檇 hit her stride teaching 10th graders English at David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy, she began looking for a way to grow and expand her opportunities within the field.
She found her path in UL Lafayette杏吧专区檚 online M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction, Instructional Specialist concentration.
Onward and upward
Pefferkorn has been teaching since 2013 and knew she wanted the ability to branch out of the classroom, without necessarily dedicating herself to administration. In the master杏吧专区檚 in curriculum and instruction, Pefferkorn saw that opportunity. 
杏吧专区淭here's a lot of room for me to work at the university level or work at a company,杏吧专区 says Pefferkorn. 杏吧专区淚t gave me a lot of options, so I didn't feel just like locked in to being a principal or administrator.杏吧专区
The program also allowed her to balance being a full-time teacher and mom to a rambunctious 4-year-old with her coursework.
"That杏吧专区檚 why I chose the online program, because I wanted to be able to have like the freedom to work on my own time but still get my degree,杏吧专区 she says.
But, she admits, it was still a challenge. Staying on top of her coursework has required careful planning and dedicating consistent blocks of time.
She also found she was able to blend her coursework and classroom instruction in unexpected ways. As she was earning her master's degree, Pefferkorn transitioned to teaching English and dual-enrollment English to juniors and seniors. She had to quickly learn and adapt to a new curriculum. However, because many of her students are preparing to embark on their own collegiate paths, Pefferkorn used her coursework as examples of scholarly writing and research.
杏吧专区淚 could blend both worlds there,杏吧专区 she says. 杏吧专区淚 would say, for example, 杏吧专区楬ey, you see how I integrated this textual evidence, and do you see how I cited this,杏吧专区 or, 杏吧专区業n my class, we just read this book and then we can bring it into there.杏吧专区 So, I was kind of teaching and doing coursework at the same time.杏吧专区
Fresh perspectives
Although Pefferkorn had taken a couple online courses during her time in undergrad, she found the format had changed significantly over the last several years.
杏吧专区淚t's definitely much more interactive, and I find that you get more out of it,杏吧专区 she says. 杏吧专区淣ow we have our forums, we can talk to the teacher, we can do Zoom, we can do all these like different things, so it definitely feels more like the class without having the set schedule. It's easier to work around a full-time job, kids, all of that.杏吧专区
Those interactions provided fresh instructional perspectives from different content and geographic areas.
"You get a viewpoint of how it is in Baton Rouge, for example, or somewhere up north or even in another state, seeing how they handled different situations and what they implemented in their own classrooms and the different variety of things they plan to do,杏吧专区 she says.
She says that interaction extended beyond coursework to providing 杏吧专区 and receiving 杏吧专区 support and encouragement.
杏吧专区淭here's a few of us working all at the same time and graduating together. So, we would text each other just for support, like, 'OK, I'm not feeling like doing this at all. Please convince me to do it.杏吧专区 Just little things like that, having a support network and the professors have been great,杏吧专区 she says.
Pacing ahead
Pefferkorn says with her master杏吧专区檚 degree in hand, she杏吧专区檚 not sure what her next step might be.
"I杏吧专区檝e finished my master杏吧专区檚. I know I杏吧专区檓 supposed to want to leave, but I enjoy being with the kids,杏吧专区 Pefferkorn says. "The crazy things they come up with, and their perspective on everything 杏吧专区 it's just fresh.杏吧专区
For now, she says she杏吧专区檚 looking forward to juggling a little less to dedicate more to her instruction and her daughter.
杏吧专区淪he knows that I do homework, so she'll ask like, 杏吧专区楳ommy, do you have a project you have to do?杏吧专区 But I really wanted to do it for her, too. That was a lot of motivation for me,杏吧专区 says Pefferkorn. 杏吧专区淔or her to see that even whenever there's so many things going on, if you have a goal for yourself, you have to go for it even if it's going to stress you out for a little bit. So I did it for her.杏吧专区