“To see a child learn is to see a miracle unfold” –Anna Rosewell.

As a teacher to be, I have prepared myself to see miracles unfold within my own classroom. I want to see my students constantly enthused about learning, to be rising tides that lift the ships around them. I want them to feel confident about their ability to succeed. I will do this by being a motivated, caring, and skilled role model that nurtures an environment conducive to learning.

My preparations for teaching have been on going throughout my life but especially focused within the last two years. I had the opportunity to train in the CalStateTEACH program, which has truly refined my diamond in the rough. I feel prepared to teach just about any class, knowing I have developed the necessary skills. I’m especially grateful for the wide variety of fieldwork I have had. I was able to work in a broad spectrum of teaching environments, including Stanton, Fullerton, Brea, and Fountain Valley. My mentor teachers all modeled very different, but excellent teaching styles.

Throughout the course of my time with CalstateTEACH, I have truly developed into a professional, competent, and dedicated teacher. I started out teaching as a substitute in grades K-8, then observing in 1st and 3rd grade, next student teaching in 1st grade class, and ending in a 4/5 Combo GATE class. Through 340 hours of classroom observation and volunteering, 810 hours of student teaching, and 28 units of activities, research, and lesson planning, I have come full circle as an educator.

In my program, I had the distinct advantage of learning new knowledge and strategies at night, and applying them immediately the next day in the classroom. This gave me the opportunity to really cement my knowledge into practical teaching strategies.

During Stage Three, I truly grew in the areas of behavior management and organization. I gained experience planning monthly, weekly, and daily. I worked with students on behavior management, evaluating several students hourly as they fulfilled their individual contract goals. I learned to work with parents and model capable and strong leadership. I learned to hold high expectations for behavior, making it first priority in the classroom, always waiting until all students were ready for instruction. I learned to require respect from each student and redirect unacceptable behavior immediately. I learned to keep my routines, lessons, and activities to a manageable level in order to maintain organization and attention to detail.

My experiences within Stage Four truly molded me into the educator that I am now. Going into this stage, I had acquired basic planning and management techniques. Coming out of this stage, I could actually manage a class and teach. Beside acquiring more subject matter knowledge and lesson planning skills, I learned to be flexible to the needs of students, parents, and the school. My transitions and classroom management became more effective. I learned to set appropriate pacing for assignments, follow up with my students, and test student knowledge at short intervals throughout the learning process. I have learned to model organization, attention to detail, and neatness for my students by consistently maintaining a clean workspace, keeping materials orderly and in good shape, writing neatly on the board, and anticipating loose ends before they arise. During this stage, I also had the opportunity to attend a Rick Morris behavior management workshop, which truly influenced my teaching and classroom management. Because I student taught at the same school for three months, I was able to gain a more realistic picture of teaching and develop better management skills.

As I continue to progress as an educator, I would like to further cultivate my communication skills. I would like to use gentle humor in the classroom, with parents, and other staff members. I would like to be more diplomatic and articulate in my relations with colleagues, parents, and students. I would like to further fine tune lessons and units that I have developed thus far. I want to increase my repertoire of teaching models, strategies, and content area knowledge. I would like to become even more organized and neat when it comes to my classroom, materials management, and scheduling. I would like to further develop my sense of awareness while teaching, being able to consistently and immediately work with individual students as problem behaviors arise. I would like to further involve parents and the community in my classroom. This has been only the tip of the iceberg for me.

As I look forward, I know I will see many miracles unfold in the lives of young children. It has already been such an amazing journey. I truly look forward to the challenges and experiences of tomorrow.