As this is my third semester in the College of education I have taken many education courses; my list of courses that I still need to take is much shorter than the list of courses that I have taken but I’ll list them for your enjoyment! I’ve taken: Social Foundations, Learning and Development, Childhood Literature, Teaching Writing, ESOL 1&2, Reading, Linking Literacy to Assessment, Integrating the Exceptional Child, Classroom Management, Math 1, Measurement for Teachers, Creative Experiences and of course, Level I internship. The class that most impacted me was Classroom Management and my first internship. My Classroom Management was linked up with my Level 1 Internship, which, was joined with a special education cohort. We were paired with a special education major to co-teach during our internship. By the end of the semester I was left with a deeper understanding of cooperative professional relationships as well as special education in general.
In the past I’ve babysat a two year old, a five year old and a seven year old. I’ve tutored my peers (10th and 11th grade) informally in high school and of course, I’ve interned. Overall, I feel as though the babysitting impacted me the most. I babysat the two year old and the seven year old when I was fifteen and it had a major impact on my decision to become a teacher.
As I look ahead into this semester’s internship I expect to be able to take on the majority of the teacher’s role and responsibility as soon as possible; my last internship teacher let me take over the day, plan lessons, and sit in on her after school tutoring. After that experience I hope to have the same responsibilities and learning opportunities. With that being said I am afraid that I wont have the same chances, like for instance, my supervising teacher will give me clerical tasks or not want me to follow him/her instead of letting me take on the teacher role Tuesdays and Thursdays. Also, I fear that my supervising teacher will either criticize me too much or too little; I don’t want to feel uncomfortable, as if I’m doing everything wrong, but also I want some constructive criticism to work with.
The best teacher’s I’ve had were my 2nd grade, and 4th grade, and my 7th grade science teacher; they all:
- Integrated the Arts
- Plan lessons that vary modalities
- Took on a constructivist way of teaching
- Gave extra help if needed
- Created a classroom community
- Used real world motivation
- Used understanding and intrinsic motivation instead of intimidation
All of these teachers created a very comfortable learning environment, in which I could create and learn in various ways. They found ways to motivate me to want to learn, not just get the work done. They are each memorable to me because each one of them is responsible for my general love of learning.
I’ll never forget Halloween, 7th grade, because of my science teacher. She dressed up as a witch (complete with cauldron and dry ice,) and performed science based magic tricks. This kept us settled, regardless of our sugar-highs and engaged. Throughout the year she would refer to these tricks as she taught her lessons; this gave us a fun shared experience where we could all draw background knowledge.
