My time at Tiebreaker Elementary School allowed me to develop even further professionally than I had previously. Prior to Senior Practicum, I had not had an opportunity to develop a strong mentor relationship with any of my mentor teachers. I was able to develop a solid, professional relationship with my mentor teacher. I went to her to receive feedback, ask for advice, and learn from her experience. This was an extremely rewarding experience that allowed me to practice professional communication. Due to the amount of time that I spent with my mentor teacher’s class, I also was able to develop more professional skills and show that professionalism in turn. I got to understand each of my student’s unique needs and access resources to support them in their learning. Additionally, I was able to plan and make decisions in the classroom while still keeping my student’s needs in mind. This professionalism also carried over into my experience in summer school. In my summer school experience I truly learned what it means to be an advocate for your students. One of my students from Tiebreaker was not enrolled in summer school. However, on the second day of summer school, he hopped off the bus with his backpack, ready to learn. When he saw me, he walked up to me and stood there. The summer school supervisor noticed him and was trying to figure out who he was and where he belonged. At that moment, I immediately stepped in and explained to the supervisor who he is, how old he is, what school he came from, etc. Then, I offered to keep him with me in my class. As small as it may seem, that was one of my proudest moments as a teacher. I was his advocate in that moment and I was able to clearly explain what my student needed in that moment.

I believe one of the key aspects of showing professionalism can be seen through communication. This email is an example of the kind of professional communication that I incorporate into my teaching in every way possible. When I communicate with my students, I speak in a professional manner that is grammatically correct and allows them to clearly understand the meaning of what I am trying to convey to them. In this email, I am contacting one of my Literacy Practicum student’s parents in order to determine what she believed he needed the most instruction in. As I communicated with this parent, I kept the student’s best interests in mind and sought to truly understand what he needed. I had never emailed a parent of a student before and the task seemed incredibly daunting when I began to compose the email. However, I knew that in order to get a more holistic view of what my student needed in terms of instruction, I needed to reach out to his parents to hear what they believed their child needed. As I corresponded with this student’s mother, I remained professional at all times and was able to gain some important information about the student that helped me teach him more effectively.