Experience Summary
I have a fervent desire to play a role in the education of our children. Since my early occupations in school administration, I knew that I wanted to be in the classroom, guiding students and experiencing the excitement of learning something new alongside each of them. I used this initial motivation to eventually move into education, eventually landing at Choices In Learning. It is clearly evident from my experiences that I have a passion for teaching and, more importantly, for walking with students through each challenge, success, and failure. Through my experiences, I have also learned a great deal about what it takes to be a teacher, a mentor, and a friend, and I have had the opportunity to learn about myself through my interactions with students from different backgrounds. This high level of experience, my ability and desire to try new teaching techniques and my openness to new ideas allow me to reach out to a range of students who learn differently and who are at different stages in their education. Along these lines, I greatly value cultural diversity as well as diversity in learning and education. My experiences have taught me the importance of not only acknowledging differences in thought and action, but, more crucially, the importance of taking using these differences to augment students’ educational experiences.
My work tutoring students has given me the opportunity to teach and mentor students who have struggled in the areas of math, reading, and/or science. One key experience that partly summarizes my work at Choices In Learning was with a young girl who struggled with reading and math. As I began evaluating the student, I slowly realized that the problem was not math. Rather, the main challenge for this young lady was reading; she just could not understand the words that were on the page. Math had become a problem because of the word problems that involved using her reading skills. As the year continued and I, along with her teachers, continued to help her with her reading skills, the student became more and more anxious about the upcoming FCAT exam. She felt doomed and this feeling was evident every time I saw her. The word problems in her math book loomed ahead of her, becoming a mountain that she was determined not to climb. However, I knew that something could be done and had to be done. In the next few months we worked together to develop a strategy of solving the math problems without having to understand all of the words on the page. This technique allowed the student to focus on increasing her reading skills while succeeding at the math problems. This experience demonstrated the importance of trying new methods. It also gave me the opportunity to walk a student through very tough problems for them. At the end of the year, we learned that the student had passed the FCAT math section. The happiness and pride on the girl’s face was something that really struck me; seeing the genuine response to success after hard work illustrated the importance of the role of the teacher as an educator and mentor.
In addition to an increasing desire to work with students as illustrated above, I have an interest in working with students outside of the academic area. During my time at Choices In Learning, I spent approximately 10 years (check) designing, implementing, running, and modifying the Safety Patrol program. As part of this program, I was able to become a mentor to students outside of reading passages and math problems. I was able to teach them about being a leader, respect, organization and management, and many other aspects about being a productive individual in society. I learned how to be there for students when they wanted to talk about their home lives or the drama that goes on between students outside of the classroom. Overall, it was a great opportunity to become a mentor to many students over the past years. I hope to bring this same drive to my future employment. I believe that a student’s education depends on more than what happens in the classroom and as instructors, we must be willing to acknowledge these other factors that drive a student’s motivations and actions. Furthermore, programs such as the Safety Patrol program give students the opportunity to become leaders in their schools and communities. I frequently encouraged my students to ask questions, try new things, stand up for their beliefs, and help those around them. I also believe this is key to a healthy school environment.
As mentioned above, each student brings something to the table. Although an easy statement to make, I also know that realizing the potential of each student does not always come naturally. Because of this, I strive to remind myself of this before each encounter with a student. I want to come to the table with an open-mind just the same as I would like them to come to the table, so that then we can both learn from each other. I also try to bring out the best in students by trying new methods of teaching and assessment as much as possible. There is no “right” way to teach or learn, therefore, changing how we do things sometimes is a beneficial way of dealing with students who struggle or need more challenging material.