Current special education teacher at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in Oklahoma City, Ryan Taffe entered her tenth year with Oklahoma City Public Schools. Working with students in the third and fourth grade with mild to moderate learning disabilities is very rewarding for Taffe who recently pursued her Master of Leadership degree at Southern Nazarene University.
“I chose SNU because I really liked the way that the program was formatted. I liked the concept of completing the program with a cohort and focusing on one class at a time only one day a week. The fact that the program was only 20 months was a big selling point as well. I have co-workers who have been working on their masters for over two years now who still won’t be finished by the time our program is completed,” said Taffe.
There are many things about the program Taffe enjoyed, but meeting and working with her fellow students from different backgrounds and schools made it more enjoyable and satisfying for Taffe.
“I have really enjoyed getting to know and work with the other students in my cohort. It’s great to know that you have a group of people who are always willing to help or answer questions or who just also understand the struggle of working on your masters and working full time. Everyone truly does have everyone else’s best interest at heart and is always will to lend a hand and share what they know,” Taffe said. “It is also fascinating that we have such a wide range of backgrounds in our cohort such as an expert in school safety and security, state department special programs, and several special education specialists. We have a residential life and acting dean at OSSM and two veteran teachers for Epic who have mastered virtual teaching. We have people who come from small rural districts, suburban districts, urban districts that represent charter schools, private schools, and public schools. Everyone brings something unique and different to the table and every class period and class conversation enables you to gain new insights and challenge your own way of thinking or doing things.”
Having her master’s degree from SNU will certainly help Taffe reach her career goals moving forward.
“Ever since I became a teacher, my goal has been to impact the lives of the students I teach. As an administrator I can help shape young minds while also making it possible for teachers to do their jobs. Moving up to an administrative position allows me to exponentially increase the number of students lives that I will be able to impact. As someone with a passion and love for helping students to reach their potential, I know that I would thrive as an administrator and help students, teachers, and parents to do the same and earning my master’s degree in educational leadership allows me to do that,” said Taffe.
