Experiences as a student

In reflecting on my past, I realize that I have had many experiences in education and working with students before I even knew I wanted to become a teacher. My first job in high school was a weekly babysitting job. I watched two kids – aged 4 and 7 – in their home. During the school year I would help the oldest with homework, and during the summer I would facilitate games and activities for both. After that job, I began tutoring elementary and middle school students for New York Standardized tests in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Looking back on these tutoring sessions, I realize that I probably was not the most effective teacher. I helped the students with their homework (independent reading and summarizing, practice standardized tests), but that was about it. Knowing what I do now about the methods of teaching and working with students, I would say I had some growing to do (especially with math work!). Nonetheless, I loved getting to work one-on-one with students and watching them think through their work. I think this was the first instance I realized that I love helping others learn and I get excited about their learning, even though I did not know it at the time.

Later on in high school, I became the editor-in-chief of my school’s newspaper. It was a small, understaffed paper, but in my typical overachieving fashion, I committed a great part of my senior year to getting the club on its feet. I collaborated with my favorite teacher to plan weekly club meetings and talking points. I think of these now of simplified and uninformed lesson plans. I had a schedule for each meeting, important topics to discuss, and small activities to work on writing/reporting skills. This was my first role as a traditional front-of-the-classroom figure, collaborating with a group in more of a classroom leadership position.

Aside from these work experiences, I have also gotten to watch my niece and nephew grow and begin school over the past 4 years. As I have prepared to become a teacher, they have become students. Watching them develop has given me great insight into how children learn and what makes them excited to learn. My nephew has an IEP for a speech delay and language and occupational therapists to guide his verbal and motor development. I have had several opportunities to sit in on his sessions with these educators, which has proven immensely valuable. I applied what I had learned in classes, especially in my Special Education class, to my observations of those sessions, then researched activities I could do at home with my nephew to supplement his actual schoolwork. I would often do sensory table activities with him to show him how to communicate his senses and ask him recall and comprehension questions whenever we read books together. Teaching him new words and skills was inspiring, and I saw him progress throughout his language learning. Working with my nephew gave me an additional space to learn how to work with students.

This collection of experiences, when retrospectively taken together, have inspired my teaching methods and proven that I am passionate about working with students. Being able to work in a variety of contexts with a variety of students has helped me understand how important it is to tailor pedagogy to the individuals for which it is intended. In reflecting on my tutoring days, I can correct some of my misguided efforts to explain concepts and answers to students. These experiences gave me a taste of what being an educator is like and have kept me on top of constantly adjusting how I teach. Each of these is invaluable to my preparation, and I intend to record and remember them so that I may track my own progression towards more effective pedagogy.