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Reflection Paper Miranda Landaluce Education 201 College of Western Idaho

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Reflection Paper My desire to become a teacher started at a young age and it has been my goal ever sense. There were many factors both intrinsic and extrinsic that played a role into my decision to choose education as my career. Some of those being teachers that had made an impact on me, my love for children and for learning, and my desire to have a career that is more than just a job. There were also several situations that took a part in it as well, such as moving and religious beliefs. These are just a few examples of things that have a part in why I am choosing education as a career. My personal education and the experiences I had along with it are also important factors. My education was different then one of a student who went to public school, because I went to private schools from kindergarten through graduation. I attended three private schools and was homeschooled for a year. The first private school I went to was Maranatha Christian School, which is located here in meridian. I went to school there from kindergarten to half way through my fourth grade year. Then during the fall of that year my dads job was transferring a great number of their employees to either Mexico or Virginia, so my family moved to Virginia that winter. I started in another private school that January where I finished out my fourth grade year and completed fifth grade as well. While I was going to school there my family became involved in a local church and my mom took over the youth ministry. My mom really enjoyed working with the youth group and she decided after talking to some of the parents that she would homeschool the kids from church for a year and see how it went from there. There were about 7 other kids along with my brother and me in her class.

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I personally really liked being homeschooled, for the fact that I was able to push myself and work ahead as far as I could go. In sixth grade I was doing eighth grade level work, because in a matter of months I had finished the sixth and seventh grade levels assignments. The constant drive to do more and keep pushing myself really motivated me and gave me a sense of accomplishment that really benefited me. However the homeschooling only lasted one year. This was because my dad got offered a job back in Idaho, so my family moved back that summer. For seventh grade I went back to Maranatha, but it was not a good experience. The school had a very small number of students, so the grade levels were combined in most classes and I had the same teacher for two or three of my subjects. Following that year my family decided to send me to a different school for my last year of junior high. They still wanted me to attend a private school, so they chose Cole Valley Christian. The way that Cole Valley is set up is that they have the elementary at one campus and the junior and senior high are combined at a different campus. I attended Cole Valley from my eighth grade year through graduation. It was a great school to go to for so many years. It had high academic standards and great spiritual quality. After graduation in the spring of 2010 I started attending CWI that fall. I chose CWI because it is an in state community college. Both of those factors are important to me because I am paying for my education myself, so I needed the most affordable option. This is my second semester and that brings me to where I currently am with my education. My education journey is important because it is a large part of who I am. Getting a private school education gave me opportunity to grow academically and spiritually, and because of the small school size I also got a sense of community and family while I was there. I know that I am very blessed to have the education I do and I am thankful for everything that I learned.

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Throughout my education so far it is clear that I have had a different experience than that of a student who has gone to public school. Both public and private schools have their benefits, and I personally benefitted a great deal from the private education that I had received. The greatest benefit that I received was my love for teaching, and had I gone to a public school I do not know that I would have gotten that desire. The teachers I had at the schools I went to made a huge impact on me and helped inspire me to want to do the same to others in the future. The teacher who impacted me the most was my second grade teacher. She was always excited for class and what she was going to teach us that day. She did not just teach us the lesson, she taught it to us in engaging ways that keep us interested and focused on the lesson while it was being taught. I remember always being excited to go to school the next day, because I knew that it was a new day of learning and fun surprises. I will never forget my second grade teacher and how much fun I had learning that year, and from then on I knew that I wanted to teach second grade. Some of the other teachers I have had that made an impact on me were my eighth grade English teacher, my history teacher for freshman year, and the teacher I observed during my senior project. My English and history teachers were important to me, because they had so much love for what they were teaching and they knew how to teach the students the material. It is important to have a teacher who is passionate about what they are teaching, but it is equally important that they can teach their students the subject. Lastly the teacher that I observed during my senior project inspired me and made a huge impact on me. From the first day I was in here class at the beginning of the fall to the last day I was there before the year ended I learned something new. She always had fun new ways to teach the students and get them interested in what she was teaching. Everyday her students were enjoying class and were learning the

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material. Being in her classroom and seeing how the students loved learning made me so excited to graduate college and start teaching. Knowing that every day when I go to work I will be with kids and that I will be making a difference in their life makes me so happy. I want to be able to help my students grow not only academically but as a whole person. When children are so young they are still absorbing and taking in so much that is going to have an impact on them as they continue to grow. So being able to help and be a positive influence on them when they are that young makes me very excited. I have always thought that teaching second grade is so great, because of what age they are at. They start to show some independence and are learning to do things on their own, but they still need you and want your help along the way. Teaching this age group gives you the opportunity to help them develop that new sense of independence, and grow as a child. Another reason why I want to teach is simply that I love little kids and the way they think. Their thoughts and ideas about life, the things they are going through, and about what they are learning are so interesting and refreshing. I know that I am going to learn just as much from them as they will from me. Kids always amaze me and that is one of the things that motivates me and makes me what to be a teacher. There is nothing that I would rather do then spend my day with 25 second graders. They are so sweet and so much fun to be around, its like why would I want to be sitting in a cubical by myself all day when I could be teaching a room full of energetic children. My love for children and the desire I have to teach them and help them grow every day, my goal to have a job that is more than just a job, and wanting to have a career that means something are the major intrinsic motivators to why I choose the education field. Most of my reasons for wanting to teach are personal intrinsic ones, I can only think of one reason that is

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extrinsic. My extrinsic motivator is the vacation time off during the holidays and over the summer. This is important to me because when I have kids I want to be with them as much as possible so to have the same holidays as them and to have the summers off together is going to give me more time with them. Having a family and being able to spend a great deal of time with them is one of the greatest benefits that will come from teaching. My personal goals for my career in the education field are to learn just as much from my students as I want them to learn from me. To strive to teach them how to grow in every way possible, to get them excited to learn, and to inspire them to reach every goal they have whether it be an educational or personal goal. Every day in the classroom is a new and different day; no two days are the same. That is a tool that I have to make every time we are together as a class a learning experience for them as well as myself. My professional goals are that I want my students to be prepared and 100% ready to move on the next grade. I do not want to send students to the next level that I know are not ready to go and at the same time I do not want to hold any of my students back. The only way to accomplish this goal is to make sure that I teach them everything they need to know and that I teach it effectively. A second goal is that I want to make my lessons engaging and fun for my students, at this level of education it is important to keep their attention by doing things that they are interested in. If they are not interested in the least bit about what you are teaching you will lose their attention and they will not learn. A third goal that I have is to be able to teach every student in the way that best benefits them. All of my goals both personal and professional are what I will strive to accomplish in every one of my classrooms. Being a teacher is so much more than just teaching the lesson. My decision to choose the field of education as my career is something that I am excited about and I

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cannot wait to start teaching when I graduate. My plan is to graduate a year early so that I will be done in four years instead of the normal five. The reason for this is that my fiance is currently attending West Point and he will be graduating in four years. When he does we plan to get married and move where he is posted. I plan to teach at the schools on the bases were we live. I do not know everything that the future holds but I do know that as long as I am teaching I will be happy and excited to go to work every day, which is more than some people can say. My decision to choose the educational field was influenced by the education that I received, the schools I attended, and the teachers I had. It was also impacted by the motives I have to want to teach, such as the opportunity that I will have to help children grow and achieve their dreams, the desire I have to make a difference, the fact that I love children and that I want to be around them every day, and that teaching will give me the chance to be around my own children more. All of these things are reasons as to why I made the chose I did, and I could not be happier about it. Most children as they grow up change their minds about what they want to be when they grow up, and most college students change their major multiple times. However I have always known that I wanted to teach and now that I am on my way to achieving that dream I am sure that it is the right path for me.