I am one of those people that has known that I have wanted to be a teacher from a very young age. However, I believe that this has been encouraged by a couple of people and experiences. For all of my life my father has been an educator, and a football coach. Although I know that my dad is a great educator, I believe that it has been watching him as a coach that has really inspired me to work with kids. His passion for his players, and seeing the impact he leaves on them makes me want to do the same with my students someday. Another person that was very influential to me was my high school U.S. History teacher. I loved everything about his class, from his teaching style to how he seemed to care so much about each and every one of his students. In fact, I loved his class so much that I went back to the same exact one, and had the opportunity to do an independent study with him. This involved observing his and his student teachers’ teaching styles, and even getting to present to the class a couple of times. Overall, I believe it was a good learning experience for me because I learned that being a teacher was a lot harder than it looked.
I believe that the reason I chose my grade level and content area comes back to the same reason I want to be a teacher in the first place. My father works with high school students, and he always comes home with some great stories. Some stories are funny and some are not so funny, but most often, some that are pretty inspirational. Most recently, my father was given an award from a student because he was the teacher that influenced him most in his high school experience. After hearing stories like that, I know that I want to be that teacher for my students one day. My U.S. History teacher that I mentioned above, was that teacher for me. History and social sciences in general is something I have always been interested in, but after his class I knew that was what I wanted to teach.
Personally, I need to be in a comfortable and accepting environment for me to able to learn. I am the type of student that shuts down permanently for the rest of the day if I get shot down in class early on, whether from a student or teacher. However, I am also the kind of learner that needs structure, and needs a teacher to tell me, “No, you’re going about that wrong, try this.” I am also the kind of learner who cannot spend too long on one task before I get bored or frustrated. I feel that for my students, I am going to create a comfortable environment, but I’m also going to be very detailed with what I expect from them in the classroom and with classwork. I am going to try to incorporate many different ways of delivering information, and have appropriate changes of pace when needed.
My biggest fears when it comes to teaching include: not being able to keep students engaged, not knowing a certain topic well enough to be helpful to my students, and juggling so many different needs at one time. I consider myself to be a shy person when I first meet people, especially in large group settings, and I fear getting overwhelmed with having to make sure that every students’ needs are met. My expectations are that I will eventually overcome my fears when it comes to teaching. I hope to create some great bonds with students as my dad has with his students.
I hope that I will come out of practicum knowing how to be a better manager of my time. I hope to come out of this course ready for whatever the teaching world has to throw at me. I hope that I will overcome my fears that I have, and that I’ll hopefully know my strengths as a teacher. I hope to learn how to meet all of my students’ needs without it seeming so overwhelming.
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