In my head, I always pictured myself to be a Kindergarten
teacher, but after one year of being in Ready, Set, Teach I knew that it wasn’t
a fit for me. I knew I still wanted to be a teacher, but I wasn’t quite sure
what I wanted to teach. This year, I experimented in two different level of
math classes and think that I have found my calling.
My first semester, I was in a middle school math class. There
were rough days, the students never seemed to want to listen or do their work,
but I learned strategies from my site teacher that made them want to work. Some
ways that I learned to get students interacted are to have incentives (my site
teacher had a contest with all her classes to see who get ready for class and
through their warmup most efficiently), have Saturday school if they don’t do
their work, and be in constant contact with parents. I realized that even
though I liked this math class, I wasn’t too sure about the age group. Middle
school is an awkward stage for most students. It takes a special someone to
teach that grade level, and I am not that someone.
My second semester, I worked within a high school math
class. This was more my speed. I enjoyed the level of math that was being
taught as well as working with the students. The class that I specifically
worked with this year was a freshman Algebra class. The students still
struggled with doing their work, but they were more accountable than the middle
schoolers. They also respected authority more which is easier to work with. My
site teacher at the high school gave me a lot of useful information and built
up my confidence when I taught the students. He even let me create a review and
teach all his classes when he was absent one day. His belief in me showed me
that I can actually BE a teacher.
Over this past year, I have grown a lot in teaching and
leadership skills thanks to my middle school site teacher. My largest and most important
change is in my confidence. I grew as a person thanks to my high school site
teacher. I went from a girl with no confidence to a woman who is ready to teach
and lead a class.
