For our September Forum we had the experience to go to Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh to learn about their facility and the benefits of play based learning for students. Not only was this forum so much fun, but I was able to connect it to one of the classes I took this semester, ELM 340 Children Design, Create, and Invent. We explored hands on learning all throughout the museum and how to integrate science and engineering from our classrooms into the real world. 

One of the most impactful moments of my Junior year was my first time student teaching. This semester I was placed in a 2nd grade classroom and learned so much about lesson planning, classroom management, and all the roles of teaching. Not only did I learn so much in my classroom, I also grew so much in my confidence as a teacher. It was so inspiring building relationships with my students and watching all the growth they made throughout the semester. 

This optional teaching fellows event was a panel with beginning teachers who have recently graduated from the Teaching Fellows program at NC State. During this panel, I learned so much about how to navigate through new experiences, stresses, conflicts, and positive moments of being a beginning teacher. These events are my favorite because as a preservice teacher, I am looking for all the advice I can get and I love hearing it from those who are actively in the field as a young teacher. 

This third-year forum was about equitably teaching multilingual learners and navigating parent relationships with ELL families. It was educational because Dr. MariaRosa Rangel presented shocking statistics about languages spoken in our schools and how inequitable our school system is in engaging multilingual families. This forum was so impactful for me. I am looking to use everything I learned from Dr. MariaRosa Rangel to create an inclusive classroom environment and family for my multilingual learners. 

This semester, I have taken some extra time to visit my mom in her 3rd-grade classroom. This year she has a student on the spectrum in an unfit placement and in need of a 1 on 1. I have gone into her room to assist this student by working with him in social studies and math in a 1-1 setting. Working with this student I have seen the positive impact a 1 on 1 has on many students and it has been enriching working with him and watching him grow. It is also so inspiring and fun to watch my mom teach. She is such an amazing teacher and I strive to be as good a teacher as her one day.