Child Dev Final

This course has given me more hands on, insightful, meaningful, real world experience than any class I have ever taken. I respect and appreciate this class, mainly because it has been a struggle between the work load, the tests, the work experience hours, the class meetings, observations, groups/activities, reflections, professional portfolio, getting use to a new class and school, mock interviews, and the rest of life, but I was able to complete it all! This has been the biggest learning experience of my educational history. After taking this class, I am convinced I am ready to transfer to a university and will be fully capable of succeeding in the rest of my education and future careers. This class has helped show me what getting a job outside of a lab school entails and what steps I have to take to become a successful teacher in a new environment. I believe I have grown as a teacher; I have experienced an entirely unfamiliar environment and made and permanent impact as a new teacher in a classroom. I had the opportunity to learn all about a new faith based curriculum, teach new children that were very different, yet similar to the children in my class, work together with my colleagues at Celebrations, learn their ways and become a part of the cheetah classroom.

I believe that the most significant assignment that contributed to my growth and learning was the professional portfolio. I had never sat down and put all of my teaching experience, time and effort together in one place and the portfolio did exactly that. I now have a resume, multiple letters of recommendation, evidence of classes and achievements along with personal growth conferences and seminars, curriculum, and pictures of me teaching. The professional portfolio helped me become a more organized teacher, and really gave me the ability to literally show what I have done as a teacher and student. I loved going to the resume workshop and really learned how to put my best foot forward in an interview.

I also loved the mock interview, rather, the feedback from the interview. I thought it was an amazing way to end the semester because I gained new insight on how to become a better speaker and have an overall more successful interview. I was able to give it my all during the interview and receive extremely helpful feedback from the each of the individuals in the panel that interviewed me. Being able to take time to reflect on what was said and what I could do to better was great! I thought this was a perfect way to briefly conclude all that I have learned, and prepare myself for any interviews that I may have in the near future. I believe that I grew as a professional, and was able to apply all that I had learned throughout the entire semester.

2. Going from a lab school to a faith-based school was almost culture shock at first. Going to chapel every Thursday took me a few weeks and some getting use to, but I quickly felt very welcome and comfortable at Celebrations. I had never thought of working at a faith based school before, mainly because I am not religious, but I wasn't opposed to the idea of it , more like a little surprised, nervous and shocked. I knew it would be different from anything I had ever learned before! In a way that's what I enjoyed the most about having Celebrations as my mentor site, I was in a completely new, kind of unusual environment, unlike what I was use to.

Being able to have a mentor help and guide me along the way made my transition so much easier, and taught me that my lab school and Celebrations weren't so different after all. The fact that my mentor and I got along so well played a major impact on my ability to learn. I am so thankful that I had Debby as my mentor! She's such an uplifting person to be around and our bubbly personalities hit it off right away. I applied new skills I learned from all of the feedback I received at Celebrations and brought it back to my school, and vice versa. After becoming more comfortable in the classroom, I enjoyed getting to know the children and starting group times and activities. They responded so well to a newcomer such as myself that I had no problem stepping up and taking on a teacher role in the classroom. I had a wonderful experience in the cheetah classroom, and I feel so lucky to have had such a positive experience at a mentor site.

3. The "Power of Projects" text was very detailed and informal, at times confusing, but had some helpful and useful chapters. I enjoyed reading the curriculum examples, which sparked some inspiration for my own curriculum that I came up with. The POP book supported me when I needed to refer back to the chapters with the charts and phases so that I could continue making my display board and visually present the project to the children. I think we went through this book fairly quickly even though there was a lot to read. I wish I could have had more time with this book