Student Profile Archives

Julia Alley
Discovering Opportunities!

An effective teacher embraces knowledge and views learning not short-term, but rather as something that continues throughout a lifetime. Julia Alley is just this kind of teacher who believes that learning is a lifelong process. A student of UMBC’s ISD Graduate Program, Alley has always been drawn to teaching and helping others reach their full potential.

For seventeen years, she has been educating others; twelve years as a classroom teacher, and five as a teacher specialist. After several years in the education field, Alley decided to enroll in a graduate program. Exploring her options, she enrolled in

several different programs, studying guidance, library science, and English. But, after taking a course or two, would find that she wasn’t completely satisfied with her choices. Then, a friend strongly recommended UMBC’s ISD Program, and after researching it herself, Alley discovered that this was the program for her. Even more, that she could complete the entire degree online!

“After taking my first course, I knew right away that what I would learn was going to be so practical and universal in scope. I could immediately apply these new discoveries to my job,” Alley said. Her primary responsibility is to improve teacher instructional strategies which ultimately improves student learning. With new concepts in-hand, she is now able to examine what is currently happening with job performance and assess where teachers are hitting the mark and where they are falling short, and then delivering interventions to improve performance.

As a student, she attends seminars and has access to job listings that have proven that there are many options outside of public education. “Learning what opportunities are out there in the field helped me realize my options. I was able to use what I learned to revitalize my job, and to broaden my usefulness within the system, which has created new opportunities for me.”

A teacher who believes that learning is a lifelong process, Alley has made a pact with herself that once she completes her master’s that she will continue to enroll in new classes. “Courses are not something to complete and leave behind. They are something that continues to shape people long after they answer that last exam question. They are with us as we go through our work, our life.”

Alley’s goal is to never stop learning and teaching. “UMBC has taught me that there are endless opportunities out there for me to keep my love for learning alive.”