Becky Reents 9/8/15 Introductory Assignment ‘When I look back on some of my earlier education experience, I remember that I always enjoyed school and learning. Before I even started my preschool my parents would read to me and helped the to read, lear the alphabet and how to count. My mom wes a preschool teacher for a long time, so she knew fun ways to teach my sister and me new things, She utilized puppet shows and education TV programs. My mom told me that I went into school each year very excited, a little nervous, but excited for a new year of learning. AS I went to middle school and high schoo! | continued to love learning but started noticing that certain teachers and experience had an impact on what I liked and didn’t like in school, Elementary school was a lot of fun for me, I loved seeing my friends each day and the teachers always had something fun planned, Its hard for me to remember how each of my teachers were, but I know that I liked all of them. They were all very good with dealing with us at cach age and enticing use even more with homework passes and candy. Playing games was a big part of the learning process and was a lot of fun for me. I loved competitive games where I had the change of winning something. There were a lot of spelling bees, which were always a lot of fun; spelling was definitely my strong point. Another really fun game we played was SPARKLE, We would have a ball that we would throw around in class and once you caught it you answered a question the teacher asked. If you got I right you stayed in the game, At first it as hard because | wasn't very good at catching the ball. [ wouldn't even get fo answer a question but | got better and it and sometimes would be the only girl left with a couple of boys, This felt good because all the girls were rooting for me, Educational a games were w big part of my elementaryschool experience and I hope hat when I’m a teacher that I can get my children just as excited with any games I may play with them, and entice them to want to keep learning. Middles school was a big step from elementary because it was a lot bigger and their wee a lot more kids to deal with I had to get used to big crowds in the whale lays and also using a locker. I continued to enjoy learning but I definitely had a fair share of “friend drama” and also first crush experiences. I leamed here that the children I had went to elementary with, weren’t as innocent as back then. I discovered that a lot of sheathing when on and a lot of kids would ask ‘me for my homework. Unfortunately I wasn't as smart when it came to moments like these, and I always let kids take a look at my homework or copy my answers. I was unaware that teachers noticed and weren't happy with me about it.I learned then that letting other kids simply comply my answered was not benefiting them at all. When I got tot the upper school, 7" and 8" grade, I ‘was imore conscious the when other students wanted to see my homework. I would either make up excuses or try to help them find the answers for themselves. Not just with my fellow students, but also with teachers, realized they weren't as nice as they used to be. I got yelled at a couple of times and even got detention for the first time in the 8" grade. I went from being a very animated and hyper individual in the class to a very shy, and quiet and withdrawn students. I learned not to draw attention to myself, that way T didn’t give teachers a reason to yell or get mad. I began to see that teachers weren't always fair with students, especially with my 7 grade English teacher. She had favorites in her class. She letter favorites sit in her chair but if anyone else tried she Would tell them to get off. She let het favorites get away with anything. This experience definitely changed my view of teachers, that not all of them respected their students. It definitely motivates me to be a teacher who respects her students and doesn't make anyone feel ess or more important than someone else. As a teacher, I want to be someone who makeslearning fun and to do that, I have to make sure that my students don't fear me; 1 would never ‘want to take the fun away from learning simply because my students are too afraid. When I entered high school 1 was definitely more experienced with the students and teachers around me. I would ask around about each of my teachers and find out if they were or not. Unfortunately more students tired to take advantage of me and after receiving a zero in my history class I told myself that was it and I wasn't going to let anyone else copy my homework. It worked because I always told the other kids that I couldn't let them or that I left my homework in my locker. I learned that certain teachers would impact my decision to become a teacher because high school was where I found some of my best teachers. It was these teachers who had a strong passion for the subject they were teaching and that made me enjoy the subject I was taking, Two teachers that stand out for me were my performing arts teacher and my English teacher in my senior year. My performing arts teacher, Mrs. Seigrist, not only changed me as as student but her class changed my as an individual. Right off the bat in freshman year, I loved taking acting class with her. She had amazing improv games and picked out really good scene and monologues that fit each of her students well. She wanted all her students to sueceed and gave us all really good advice and critiques after each of our performances. She worked with cach of her students individually on a a scene or monologue to make sure that they could perform at their best. Not only was she the acting teacher, but she also directed the plays and musicals each year. She always encouraged me to try out but I was very hesitant my first two ‘years. However, in my junior year, I decided to try out for the musical and I'm so happy I did. It was such a fun and amazing experience. 1 loved working with her, not only as a teacher but also as a director. She always saw the potent in in me even when I couldn't see it myself. She helped to get me to perform out of my comfort zone and really pushed me to do my best. Senior year Ihad the joy of working with her in both the play and the musical that year. She even gave me my first solo in the musical. | owe a lot of who | am today to her because she gave me the confidence to walk up to someone and introduce myself or start a conversation with a new coworker. She's definitely the type of teacher I hope to be; one who can he their students reach their full potential and give them confidence about the subjects she taught that year. We focused a lot of Greek and Norse mythology, which I absolutely loved. My teacher, Mrs. Walsh was always excited to teach us something new. She didn’t have us read straight from a book or read to use but she had us read to each other. We could pick parts or characters we wanted to be. Not only that but each day she had the same amount of energy and excitement as she did the previous day. I always looked forward to her class, even though it was at the end of the day and by then I was tired. I still greatly enjoyed her class the whole year. Just like her, I hope that I can give my students a hundred percent so they come in each day ready and eager to learn Now that I'm attending college, the biggest thing for me is the teacher I have because they definitely help to make the somewhat tedious subjects interesting. I have had just a couple of okay teacher but for the most part I've had really good professors. When I transfer to Kean University I’m going to minor history. I've never really been interested in history but that all changed this summer when T took my two history courses. I ended up loving and really doing well in each course, My second professor gave us weekly projects that were a lot of fun and didn’t seem like such hard work once I got into them. I now look forward to any other history courses I'm going to take, When I picture the future, I get chills seeing myself as a teacher. It’s dry exciting to think about and I really hope I can bring the passions, excitement and fun in ‘education that I've experienced from my former teachers into my own classroom. I really want to make the learning experience for my students a positive one.