Mikaela Gerba has always been an avid reader. On any given day, you might find her in the aisles at Barnes & Noble or Half-Price Books. But until recently, she didn’t know how to channel that interest.
Today she’s in her seventh year of teaching and in her third year of teaching AP literature in high school. She’s also a student in the IU Online MA in English. Her MA is supplying the extra credentials she needs to become a dual-credit teacher.
IU Online has clear advantages
Gerba had no trouble choosing a program. Because IU Online offers 4 credit courses rather than 3 credit courses, she’s going to able to finish her degree more quickly and save money. In addition, she says, “IU’s program is much more rigorous than others.” Gerba describes the application process as “super simple.” Her graduate advisor, Lindsay Allen, was “knowledgeable and helped me lay out all my courses.”
Learning online has had its advantages. “I struggle with hearing,” says Gerba, “so in-person lectures can be challenging. The benefit of online work is I can go back and replay lectures and use closed captioning. The ability to work at my own pace is valuable. Most professors publish the syllabus for the whole semester, so I can plan for vacations. I can schedule my own work and make it my own.”
Gerba has been impressed by her classmates. “We introduce ourselves and get to know who’s who. Though most fellow students are educators, I was pleased to find a good diversity in age, location, and background. We’ve talked about our journeys with literacy, literature, poetry, and what we find challenging about English grammar.”
Learning with outstanding faculty
Gerba hails Brian O’Camb from IU Northwest as “awesome.” She admits to being daunted by his course on the history of the English language. “But he made it fun. He’s incredibly knowledgeable. The videos were helpful, and he was willing to talk as much as I wanted outside lectures. I enjoyed this class so much that I enrolled in his Media and Literature course, which focused on the Middle Ages. I hated Beowulf in high school, but O’Camb had us read a modern feminist interpretation of the ancient work. He put an entirely new spin on ancient language and literature. loved it."
Coursework aids my teaching
Gerba says she’s learning a lot about student-centered teaching. As a student in Kelly Blewett’s course New Literacy Studies, for example, she learned the importance of assessing a student’s “literacy narrative” by finding out whether the student speaks two languages at home and whether their parents promote reading. “I have learned to include literature students can see themselves in, either through language or experiences,” says Gerba. “This stretches me as a teacher and motivates students to speak up. There’s more give and take. Students have more agency in the classroom.”
Coursework is relevant to my job
Gerba says her coursework directly impacts her job. For example, after reviewing syllabi from other universities, she realized that her AP English curriculum needed to include a greater diversity of writers. She’s learned what to teach and how to teach it, how to create learning objectives, and how to develop a college-level syllabi. She says, “I really appreciate doing some of that heavy lifting in a course that will carry over into my job when I begin teaching dual-credit English.”
Future
As Gerba looks to the future, she dreams of helping students find their passion and discover a love of reading. “I dream someday of being a college professor. I’d love to find a PhD program that would fit my lifestyle and requirements. Literature has always been a big part of my life. Now I have made it my life.”
