Mentoring Experience : Early Childhood Education

Mentoring Experience

Early Childhood Education is such a beneficial class to take in High School, especially being a young student who does not know what career field they want to go into. This class benefited me in so many ways. I went to Ms. Casillas ' first grade classroom at Lindbergh Elementary. The students were six to seven years old. There were 22 students in Ms. Casillas ' class. Two of the days I was there, a students parent came in and helped out with reading, and other miscellaneous things that Ms. Casillas needed help with. Given the chance to go to an Elementary classroom is something I will never forget.

The environment of the classroom is a very important component to how a child learns. It is important to have different learning centers within the room. Ms. Casillas ' room had a writing center and a reading corner. It is tough to have a learning center for each subject taught, when you are limited to one classroom because there is not enough room. Even though the space is small, the room is very organized. In the front of the room, there is a whiteboard where Ms.Casillas puts the date, the helper of the day, and any other important news she wants to share with the class. There is also a smart board in the classroom. The smart board was used for various circumstances ranging from writing sentences, to playing matching games to help with their words for that week. The class also has an iPad for every student. The students used the iPads for recording themselves when they read. Using technology for this is very useful because it allows the child to hear how they sound when they read and fix what needs fixing. The environment of Ms. Casillas ' classroom is great for successful learning.

When in a classroom settin...

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...m this experience, I learned that you must have a lot of patience. I also proved my notes to be right that each child is unique in their own way and each child is at a different developmental stage, whether it be physical, emotional, social, or even cognitive development. While observing Ms. Casillas teach, I came to the realization that there are a few matters I need to improve on before becoming a teacher or parent. I need to work on having a little more patience for the children who continually do not listen. Before I mentored in a classroom, the thought of being a teacher had crossed my mind, but I never looked into the occupation. After my experience, I am seriously considering going into the Elementary-Education field. The mentoring was an amazing experience and I cannot wait to take the knowledge I gained the past three weeks and see where it takes me in life.