Issac Marsh
Elon M.Ed. Alumni Voices
Read about how our Elon M.Ed. graduates are reimagining education. To read stories from other graduates and learn more about the Elon M.Ed. program click here.
Reshaping Perspectives and Fostering Collaboration
Issac Marsh ’23
How does Issac Marsh describe Elon’s Master of Education in Innovation? In a phrase, “reinventing the wheel.”
For Marsh, the M.Ed. meant broadening his horizons, and shaking up his perspective on education. “When I started the M.Ed. I had not been in a classroom in a long time” Marsh emphasizes. “When you’ve been teaching for over twenty years you are set in your ways, and you have that fixed mindset.” The coursework in the M.Ed. quickly prompted Marsh to reexamine what he knew about teaching. “The first summer in those first two classes, a holistic approach just opened up, the possibility of trying something new. I remember Dr. Barker saying ‘we’re accustomed to the traditional four walls of a classroom, but let’s change that mindset, let’s think outside the box’. In one class we did an opening circle with Dr. Morrison as a community-building exercise.” Marsh confesses that he was skeptical about whether this exercise would work in his classroom. However the opening circle “is something that I carry over to my classroom to this day.”
Marsh’s M.Ed. journey was about building community as well as broadening perspectives. “When we first started in the M.Ed. program we came in as individuals working in silos, and then we learned how to communicate with each other and collaborate.” Today, says Marsh “I don’t want students to work in a silo, I want to see them communicate and talk with one another”. Marsh says recognizing the power of collaboration between learners is perhaps the biggest impact of the M.Ed. on his teaching,
Marsh credits the M.Ed. with helping him to see teaching and learning in a new way.
“Everything does not have to fit this typical mold. If I can get a student to explain slope in their own language, as walking up a stairway for example, then I’ve got the students on the right track, I’m doing what the M.Ed. program has taught me to do, having kids think outside the box to formulate a non-traditional answer”.
Marsh hasn’t stopped at learning and using innovative methods himself: He’s keen to help other teachers develop their skillsets as well. His capstone focused on professional development for teachers working with twice exceptional students, students that are gifted in one area but exhibit learning disability in another. Prior to the M.Ed., Marsh says, “I had a student on my caseload who was identified as twice exceptional. I did not know how to fully reach the student because of my lack of training, so all I focused on was the disability; I did not focus on the giftedness as well. The student graduated, but I felt like I did not finish the job completely. I didn’t like that feeling.” Helping other teachers work better with twice exceptional students became the goal of Marsh’s capstone project in the M.Ed. Marsh is better equipped to deal with twice-exceptional disability, but he is also able to share his knowledge with other teachers to help them do the same. “I recently prepared a presentation on Specially Designed Instruction. I think my Capstone helped me see the direction of what professional development could be for teachers that one, lack the information or two, have a basic understanding of disabilities but are not fully there.”
In other words, Marsh’s journey isn’t just about new teaching methods; it’s about reshaping perspectives, fostering collaboration, and ensuring that all students get the education they deserve.
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