Brittany Balash 12/3/08 Through out this past semester I have been asking myself, do I truly have what

it takes to become a teacher? I have gone over the reasons why I have chosen to be a teacher and combined them with the experiences I have had throughout the past semester to come to the conclusion that yes I do have what it takes to be a teacher. As a future teacher I will understand that the material I am teaching is ever evolving. I will make sure that the information I am teaching will be full of new and exciting ideas. By adding excitement the students will be more intrigued to learn.

The excitement that the students bring to the classroom has a huge impact on the effect of the entire lesson plan. I witnessed this disposition when doing my student teaching at Honey Creek Elementary School. During my second day in the classroom the students had a science lab. They split the class into three groups, one group with main teacher,

one group with the full time student teacher, and the final group worked with me. Each group was given two microscopes and slides to look at. then instructed to draw what they saw in the microscope. The students were I noticed that the head

teacher and other student teacher were very strict and to the book with their students, however I remembered when I was in school, science was the best time to experiment and learn from my own experiences. I therefore decided to let the

students figure out how to focus the microscope, as well as to teach each other if one was having difficulty. In the end I was worried that it might not work out in my

favor, and that I would have been better working the lesson like the two other teachers. However my group of students was the only group to complete the This showed me that my theory about the

lesson in the designated time period.

children learning through their experience does work as long as there is some supervision. Another aspect that I think is highly important when it comes to a classroom, is the appreciation for diversity. Diversity can come in many forms. It can be the

styles of learning throughout the classroom, the cultures that are represented, or even the interests of each child. When I become a teacher I will make sure to

design my lesson plans to interest all the students, or at least attempt to. I know from experience that if diversity is not incorporated in the lesson plans, then students will not know how to accept each others differences. When I

went from a private grade school to a public high school, it was a complete shock. I had gone from a school of all one race to a school where I was the minority. not know how to act, nor did I know how to make friends. I had never been I did

around people that were different from me, and didnt know anything about their different cultures. As I went through high school I began to become more

comfortable with diversity, I was no longer intimidated to talk to someone that was different from me. I always wondered if maybe I had been taught about diversity

while at the private grade school, then I would have been more prepared for high school, as well as the real world. As a teacher I will make sure that we talk about the cultures that are represented in our classroom, as well as ones that may not be present. This will

allow the students to talk about their home life and express themselves in a way that might not be present in other classrooms. were celebrated in one form or another. the classroom to celebrate as well. Another form of diversity that I would incorporate into my classroom setting, would be different forms of learning styles. I understand that people learn in I I I would make sure that all holidays This would allow the other students in

different ways, therefore making sure to have lesson plans that support this. would make sure to have a hands one experience to go along with each unit. know many children, especially at the fifth grade level, learn better when the experience something first hand. If I have one activity for each unit, then if

anything they will definitely learn the information from that exercise. From my experience as a student I had one science class, where all we would do is read the text, take notes and have a test. and every week I failed the test. Every week it was the same routine

When I confronted the teacher about my failing However the following

grade she simply said that science was just not my thing. year, when our school got a new science teacher. doing experiments and hands on activities. flying colors.

That year we were constantly

Surprisingly I passed that class with

This experience showed me that sometimes it wasnt the students

that were failing, rather it was the teacher failing the students. Another part of being a teacher that I feel I am very experienced with is planning. I have had experience with both long and short term planning. a day care I did the weekly theme planning. While I

was working at

I would make sure

that each week we had an art project, a letter worksheet, a food project and if

possible a field trip. far ahead as possible.

I know that when it comes to planning it is better to do it as This makes it easier to get all the supplies needed.

However when doing planning you need to be flexible because sometimes the best learning experiences are ones that you dont plan. An example of this occurred

just the past week when I was going over math a math review with my group of fifth graders. The original plan was to just go through the problems and have them Then one of the kids said that they had never played a math

work by themselves. game.

This made me remember all the math games we used to play in fifth grade They loved the idea and

so I decided it would be fun to review with a game.

seemed to pay more attention to me when I was doing something fun and educational versus just educational. Intertwined with planning teachers need to be able to use assessment in a way that will benefit their students. When I have my own classroom I will make I will have the standard tests that I will also use

sure to use a different variety of assessments.

will show me if the students are picking up on the information.

group assessments and oral assessments as a way of seeing each childs different skill level. In the fifth grade class that I am in the students just finished doing a huge research paper. At the end of the paper they were to design a visual and present

both the items to the class. This form of assessment was excellent for the students especially as such a young age level. Each one of them got up in front of the class It was interesting to

and spoke about their Olympian that they had researched.

see how intrigued their classmates were. At the end of every speech they had to ask

the class if their was any questions. students listened to one another. depth.

It was interesting to see how closely the The questions what were asked had so much

As a teacher I would use this as two forms of assessment; first I would

assess the presenter based on their speaking ability and their preparation, second I would assess the audience members. If an audience member asks a in-depth

question then he or she was obviously paying close attention to the presenter. This would show me as a teacher that my students are willing to listen and learn of each other. Students learning from each other will be another important aspect of my classroom. I feel that in some situations students can learn better from each other They are able to explain things to each other that I have

than they can from a teacher.

may not make sense to us, but it definitely makes sense to that age level. witnessed this first hand.

While teaching my math group there were a few I allowed them then to work in

students that did not understand variable tables. pairs on a few problems.

After that exercise the ones that were confused now I asked them how they were able to

completely understood the lesson.

understand and they then explained that by working with their peers they were able to see how their friends were doing the problems. Teaching is always said to be learned through experience and I believe whole heartedly that this is true. As teachers we will learn everything we need to know The students are the purpose of what we do. To

from one source, our students.

put it simply I feel that helping children is the purpose of my life. One of the main reasons why I chose to be a teacher has to do with an aunt I

had.

She was the strongest, more creative woman, who did everything and At the age of 37 my Aunt Penny lost her life to pancreatic

anything for children.

cancer, and on the day she passed away I made it my mission in life to impact as many children as I could because she had made such a huge impact on my life. To me a teacher that has what it takes has to be: ambitious, excepting, courageous, a role model, fearless, loving, spontaneous, encouraging, strong willed, adventurous, inspiring, creative, thoughtful, caring, organized, prepared for anything, intelligent, accepting, compassionate, open to new ideas, diverse and willing to do anything for his or her students. and more. I feel like I have all of those abilities I want them to Most

I want to make my classroom a home for my student.

be welcomed at all times and to never feel out of place or embarrassed.

importantly I want them to feel safe and loved just like I always did when I was a student, if they feel all those things than the learning will come. They will be able

to overcome any obstacles that they may face, and I will make sure that happens. Just as the voice in the Field of Dreams said If you build it they will come. If you teach it, they will succeed!