Following In The Footsteps

Following In The Footsteps

When I was growing up, I was always around the teaching profession. My mother is an educator and I had always been told that I would make a great educator too because my mother was a teacher. They said it was in my blood. I was never too sure about that. I never really knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I did not know if teaching would be right for me. I did not know until the summer after graduating from high school; the summer I found my calling in life.

At the time I did not know it, but the summer after graduating from high school would be one of the greatest summers of my life. During this summer, I became involved in a program called Energy Express. In this program, I had my own classroom of approximately ten students. I instructed these students in improving their reading and writing skills. I became more deeply involved with the program as the summer progressed and I fell in love with the art of teaching. Until this time, I did not know of anything that gave me the type of joy that teaching gives me. I had not known what a thrill that it would be for me to watch a child that could not read at all in June, read very well by the time August came around. I knew for sure after my summer was over with Energy Express that I wanted to be an educator, but not just any educator. I want to be the teacher that has a lasting impact on the lives of every single student that comes into my classroom.

During my tenure with Energy Express and in my Education classes at Concord College, I have developed my teaching philosophy. I believe very strongly in cooperative learning, meaning that students should be heavily involved in the classroom by participating in group activities and discussions. By participating in a discussion and/or hands-on lesson, the student is more likely to retain what he or she has been taught. I also believe that teachers should do their absolute best to inspire the children to learn by making the classroom a fun place to learn, but at the same time having structure and discipline.