From Playing School to Certified Teacher with an M.Ed.
| by Hannah Sparling
When Molly La Pan was in kindergarten, she would come home from school every day and play — more school.
She labeled all her books with sequential numbers and “Ms. Anderson” (her maiden name). Then she’d grab her little brother, who was then in preschool, and give him reading lessons.
“I taught him how to read,” La Pan said. “Actually, he read at almost 5, so I just knew since then that that’s what I wanted to do.”
After high school, La Pan went to a community college and earned her associate’s degree. From there, while working full-time, she went back to school at night to earn her bachelor’s in psychology.
“I wanted to teach,” she said, “but I knew I couldn’t do student teaching while working full-time. It was the whole, ‘I can’t take a semester off [work] to student teach.’”
‘More Than Capable’
La Pan spent 6 years working in a preschool and the past 7 as a paraprofessional in Connecticut. Her dream has always been to earn her certification and become a lead teacher, but as a full-time mom with a full-time job (La Pan has a 2-year-old), that dream got pushed to the side.
It was actually her little brother — the one La Pan taught to read — who told her about Moreland University. Her brother is enrolled at Moreland to become a high-school Spanish teacher in Washington, D.C., and when La Pan looked into it, she saw she could earn her teaching certification in as little as 9 months or her certification and her master’s degree in as little as 12 months, 100% online.
La Pan’s brother is doing his student teaching right now, so he’s almost finished with Moreland’s program. His main selling point for his sister: “It’s really flexible.”
La Pan was still scared. She was still nervous about fitting it all in. But she decided she was going to do it, anyway.
“I got to the point where I was like, ‘You know what? I gotta do it,’” she said. “I need to get past the fear of not being able to do it and know that I can. I’m more than capable.”
La Pan enrolled at Moreland and started her program this year. She’s expecting to finish in November, with both her certification and an M.Ed. in Educational Technology.
Becoming ‘That’ Teacher
Much of La Pan’s work in schools has been in special education classrooms. About a year ago, she moved back to her hometown and started working as a special-education paraprofessional in the same school district she attended as a child. It’s challenging work, and it can be draining, she said, but it’s also incredibly rewarding.
And, it’s shown La Pan the type of teacher she wants to be when she earns her full certification.
“Most teachers don’t know how to act with sped kids and see all the things they can’t do,” she said. “I want to be the teacher that sees all the things every child can do.”
La Pan currently gets to work with a gen-ed teacher who does a phenomenal job with La Pan’s special-education students. This teacher gives the students her time and energy, La Pan said, and makes sure they’re included in every activity.
“I want to be that teacher,” she said. “There’s not enough of those teachers.”
Molly La Pan spends a lot of her time in 1:1 or small-group interactions with students.
Part of Their Journey
La Pan has already learned a ton through her Moreland classes. When she started, she didn’t even know how to record a video, she said. Compare that to a few months from now, when she’ll have her M.Ed. in Educational Technology.
“There were so many parts of technology and implementing it in the classroom that I did not know about,” she said. “I will use it on a daily basis, because it’s part of every curriculum now.”
La Pan has enjoyed learning with her cohort, most of whom are already full-time classroom teachers, she said. She’s also learning a lot from her Moreland instructors. It’s like a “little community,” she said, and even though she’s never met any of them in person, she feels like she knows them well.
“I would absolutely recommend Moreland,” she said. “I think it works really well with working full-time, with having a family. … It was a really good decision.”
Once she earns her certification, La Pan would love to get a classroom teacher job at the school she’s in now. She wants to be a general education teacher for a while, but she does think she’ll eventually end up back in a special education room.
No matter where her career goes, her goal as an educator is to be a positive role model for her students, someone who is fun, affirming, welcoming, and above all, safe.
“Just knowing that I’m part of a kid’s journey,” she said.
Become a certified teacher in as little as 9 months with Moreland University. Our TEACH-NOW Teacher Preparation Certificate Program is 100% online, with small class sizes, dedicated mentors, rolling admissions, and monthly start dates.
From there, you have the option to add on a master’s degree in just 3 additional months.
Apply for free (takes about 15 minutes), and you’ll hear back within 2 business days.
