Becoming a teacher had always been a dream of mine.

When I was younger, however, it

always felt out of reach whether it be having doubts about the profession or having doubts about

my abilities. So, I did the cookie-cutter path and tried to be a nurse like my parents. I was going

to do it. I had the motivation and desire to be a nurse and thought to myself why couldn’t I be a

nurse? It pays well and I could help people. I’ve always wanted to help people. Then, I

experienced one of the most traumatic medical experiences of my life and I found myself unable

to step into a hospital without a post-traumatic episode. I felt lost. I failed the next spring

semester and felt nothing but unmotivated. I took that summer off and questioned what I really

wanted to do. Teaching was always a career that sat in the back of my head no matter what stage

of life I was in. I loved playing teacher when I was younger and ‘grade’ papers. I loved helping

my peers and reading to younger students. I decided to give it a go.

I am choosing to become a teacher because the feeling that it gives me is indescribable.

During my teacher observations, seeing so many kids question who I am and what I could offer

to them made my heart soar. Helping the second graders solve problems and them proudly

showing me the completed work that I taught them how to do, always brings a smile to my face.

I want to continue having that feeling. I want to be able to help people and even though it won’t

be through nursing, it’ll be so much more. The personal knowledge that I carry is the knowledge

of feelings, not only my own but understanding of others as well. I can help these kids navigate

through these big emotions that can not only help them through life problems but through find

their limits. The current complexities of the school system are the number of children that are

being enrolled in schools versus the amount of staff that are available. Another complexity is the

deficits in government funding for schools. It isn’t enough to support the number of kids that are

coming into the system. This ultimately places a strain on the teachers because their workloads
increase to impossible limits. Despite these complexities, my desire to become a teacher

supersedes these complexities.

The educational philosophy that dictates my current beliefs is progressivism. This

philosophy has similarities to the romanticism philosophy. The focus is on the child, not the

teacher. The material that is being taught is given to the child but the child has to work through

the problems and solve them through their knowledge of the material. There is no one

psychological orientation that dictates my current beliefs. I do believe that behaviorism can be

beneficial to a child and encourage good behavior, however, I don’t want to condition these kids

to believe that one specific behavior is bad and that they are bad children because they acted like

so. The historical education events that impact my thinking are the Civil Rights Movement and

Brown v. Board of Education. No matter what child I teach or what school I teach at, they will

always deserve education and who am I to deny them that right?

The strategies that I will implement while teaching is patience and communication. I will

use both of these not only with students but with parents as well. My biggest personal approach

is allowing the students to work through problems. This will apply even through disciplinary

actions and I will have the child explain to me why their actions were not okay. I will go over

common concepts that children got wrong and allow them to work through their mistakes.

The qualities I need for this career are experience and more strategies for teaching

situations. I feel confident in my abilities with the children, but for things like paperwork, I don’t

feel confident. I plan to obtain my emergency substitute license to aid my need for experience as

well as be hands-on with the teacher paperwork. From there I will continue my courses through

CSN till graduation and continue for my bachelor's at UNLV. I am currently going through with

getting my education license to then apply for a substitute position.