Author: Jacob Sawicki

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Sophomore Block

Reflection of the Ed 279 Course: 10 takeaways from the class

Upon my completion of another course contributing to my development as a future educator, I would like to share 10 major takeaways I had from the class:

1. Developmental stages are not universal among all children:

While there are recognized stages of childhood and adolescence, each child progresses at their own pace and experiences variations in development, making a personalized approach very important. 

2. Children develop best by doing and working hands on: 

Children learn best by working hands on with the material and problems in the classroom setting, regardless of age and content. 

3. Early childhood, in my opinion, is the most critical stage: 

The first few years of life lay a strong foundation for cognitive, social, and emotional development, highlighting the importance of nurturing environments during this period. 

4. Emotional regulation is key:

Children and adolescents need to learn healthy coping mechanisms to manage their emotions, which can be difficult during periods of rapid change. 

5. Physical development impacts behavior:

Biological changes like puberty can significantly influence mood, energy levels, and social interactions during the adolescent stage.

6. Resilience is important:

Children and adolescents can bounce back from challenges with appropriate support, demonstrating the importance of fostering resilience-building strategies. 

7. Individual differences matter:

Each child has unique strengths, weaknesses, and experiences that shape their development, requiring individualized approaches to learning and support. 

8. Parenting style plays a role:

The quality of parent-child relationships, including warmth, discipline, and communication, significantly impacts children’s development and well-being. 

9. Environment matters:

The social context, including family dynamics, community, and access to resources, can influence a child’s developmental trajectory.

10. Social interactions are essential:

Relationships with peers play a vital role in developing social skills, self-esteem, and understanding social norms, especially during adolescence

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Sophomore Block

Conclusion of the Sophomore Block Experience: Reflecting on Development

Now that my experience in the 4 week sophomore block placement has concluded, I have learned a lot of different things that will help guide me in my future work as an educator, and one of these things is the idea of being developmentally appropriate, which to me means understanding where all of your students are at from a development standpoint and meeting them where they are at. I’ve also discovered that the term “development” is broad and can have a lot of different meanings. You can have development with the class material, you can have development with behavior and the ability to interact, you can have development with core values such as kindness and responsibility, so on and so forth. In short, the students are all over the place with their development across a wide variety of areas. Using this information, I learned that because students are at different stages of learning and development, you can’t do the same thing with all of the students and expect all of the results to be the same. For example, some students might not have as advanced knowledge with content when they’re posed with a task to work in their groups with, and for that reason they may need a little more help from the teacher, compared to other groups that may be able to move along just fine on their own. Or, perhaps the students have a solid knowledge of the content that they’re learning, but from a developmental standpoint, they aren’t at a stage yet where they can interact well with other people. This could mean they have a hard time staying on task, or they just stay quiet and don’t talk as much. What this would mean as a teacher is that when the students are working/conversing in their small groups, you have to get to know the kids well enough to a point where you know which ones are okay on their own and will do just fine and the groups that you have to check in with and keep an eye on a little more often. This connects back to the idea of being a developmentally appropriate educator because you’re being realistic with yourself as to where your students are at and using the proper amount of intervention strategies and applying these strategies in an appropriate manner. This is an example of being developmentally appropriate. 

All in all, I think that this idea of being a developmentally appropriate educator connects back with meeting your students where they are at, doing everything you can to meet their needs to ultimately ensure they are set up for success in the classroom. I also believe that a crucial step to this process goes back to the idea that students, no matter what age, are changing and developing in many different ways, therefore you have to be patient with them and work with them to help them improve because this is a vital role that educators have. They play a significant part in the development of students, and connecting with them on a developmental level is a big part of that process. 

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Sophomore Block

Hands On Learning: How Many Students Learn Best

One big developmental idea from this semester that I have found to be extremely valuable and that I believe will be very influential on my future work as a teacher is the idea that people learn by doing and trying, not just by observing or watching. Not that nothing can be learned or taken away from watching and observing, but when you talk about making significant strides in development and big jumps in learning, getting that hands-on experience is what will take it to the next level. In my future work as an educator, this would look like giving the students a variety of options and opportunities to learn material and work with it either by themselves or in groups. Another thing I could keep in mind too is that when I first introduce content to the students, I must be aware of how much new information I give to them- one, so that their brains aren’t too overloaded with information, and two, to kind of go along with that, part of the idea of students learning new things is trial and error, so if you just give them everything right away, not only will their brains likely be overloaded, but it won’t be as easy for them to learn anything because everything was already given to them already, So, what this means is that you have to find that fine line between giving the students the right amount of information so they aren’t completely lost but also not doing it all for them. Then, the idea of the students learning by doing comes into play, because they are actively engaging in the material and attempting to figure out how to perform the tasks at the correct level. This concept as a whole has been very interesting for me because I’ve learned and thought about how you can get the most out of students with their learning and how they can become the best versions of themselves. 

Not only have I gotten to learn more about the concept of students learning by doing in Ed 279, but I have also seen it put into action a variety of different times throughout the first three weeks of my sophomore block experience in different sections of high school Spanish. My cooperating teacher does a lot of hands-on activities with the students, where she gives them the opportunity to do interactive individual activities or other activities in a small group. She might give them some examples of how to write something properly, or what sentences should sound like when they say them. Then, she lets them work with it on their own or in their group to let them learn by doing. Also, a key part of this process as well is that even though she lets them off on their own a little bit, she doesn’t just stop there. She continues to circulate the room and see how all of the students are doing. What I mentioned before about having that balance of giving the students a good amount of information to start off but also letting them off a little bit on their own, I believe that the cooperating teacher has a nice balance of this idea. When I try to look at these situations from the perspective of the students, I can tell that many of the students engage with the material in an enthusiastic way and make a great effort to learn what is going on, ultimately leading to putting themselves in a good position academically and being where they need to be. 

All in all, I believe that letting the students learn by doing as well as letting them engage in the material a little bit on their own is a great way to keep their attention while also putting them in the best spot from an academic standpoint. Giving them the opportunity to actively engage is a great strategy that I want to use in my work as a teacher in the future. 

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Sophomore Block

Continuing to Observe Developmental Factors in the Sophomore Block experience

Being in a high school Spanish classroom where there are multiples different sections with kids at different levels, I have noticed that regardless of level, lessons that my cooperating teacher has instructed, especially those that contain multiple steps/activities, usually go really well for the class when she breaks it down and has them do it step by step, rather than giving it all to them at once. While the teacher does do this with every class, I can tell it is especially helpful for the less advanced levels of Spanish, as their skills and abilities aren’t quite as high as the other sections. It really helps these kids to slow it down and take it step by step so they don’t get lost with too many things going on. A significant component of this as well is the fact that my cooperating teacher checks in with each group to make sure they are where they need to be and that they don’t have any questions. In short, the teacher makes sure to take the lessons at an appropriate pace as to where the students are at so they don’t get lost. I can tell that from a developmental standpoint, the students are receptive to the teacher taking a nice appropriate pace because with the stage in their learning that they are at, this is what works really well for them and they can take something from the lesson in a way that works for them.

On top of the fact that the teacher takes the lessons at a nice pace so that the students don’t get lost, I have noticed that the teacher incorporates a nice mix of individual work time and small group work along with full class discussion. I have noticed that this is nice for the students because they can generate their own ideas while also bouncing off of others’ ideas to collaboratively come to a nice end result. Then, what the teacher typically does is have one person to represent each group and speak to the whole class about whatever it is that they are discussing. From a developmental standpoint, I can tell that the students are very comfortable with the lessons being formatted this way, because they can bounce ideas off of each other and collaborate with each other to ultimately come to an agreement on what to tell the class. 

All in all, with what I have observed so far with the lessons my cooperating teacher has led, the students are at a stage where with the way these lessons are set up, they feel comfortable with them and can take what they need from them in a way that suits them well. A lot of the students can use their own ideas and others’ ideas to collaborate off of each other and come to a nice end result that they can ultimately share with the entire class.

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Sophomore Block

Sophomore Block Week 1: Reflections on Development

So far, I have had the opportunity to observe 4-5 periods of High School Spanish classes, including three different levels of Spanish. That means that I am surrounded by over 100 different students grades 9-12. Throughout the first week, one big concept relating to behavior that I have observed is that some students need to be pushed by the teacher a little bit for a few different reasons. One reason is that they might not know how to move forward due to not having the comfort or confidence in the content. From this situation, I have mainly seen two different things happen; the students don’t really try to push forward on their own or ask for help, so they sit at the table and either do other work or talk about something else. This is the more common of the two options that I have seen happen. However, I have seen it a couple times where the students will raise their hand to ask the teacher how to move forward or for help with whatever they are stuck with. This behavior that I have observed shows levels of development in the sense that those students who are at a more mature and higher level of development will take the initiative to ask for help or to at least attempt to move forward on their own. It has also been interesting for me to see how a specific grade or age level is not necessarily a predictor of these behaviors or not, because some of the older students have not always shown the levels of more mature behavior in this case, and vice versa with the younger students. Another thing I’ve noticed that can get in the students’ way of being productive while working with or around a group is simply the fact that they can be distractions to one another. It is pretty easy to tell when a group of close friends are sitting around one another, because they aren’t getting as much done as they should be since they’re usually off topic talking about other things. What this means is that some students have more advanced development in the sense that some of them can work either independently or with a small group and push through challenging or difficult activities without getting off task, while other students are still trying to develop that skill yet. 

On top of the students’ willingness (or lack thereof) to either push forward through things they may not be entirely sure of and ask for help if necessary, I have noticed that there are different levels of mannerisms both towards me and the teacher. What I mean by this is that some kids are using words and phrases that are a little bit more proper or polite than others. For example, I’ve helped the teacher hand out materials at various times so far throughout the first week. When I give the students what they need, some students (typically the boys if this is the case) will go as far as to say “Thank you sir”. While I do not necessarily expect this high of a level of respect, it certainly shows great manners from the students. However, some students will not say anything and have this glum look on their face. A very similar thing can be said for the students’ attitudes towards the teacher. Some will smile at her and say thank you, while others won’t say anything and will just stare blankly. And, while it can be understood that maybe a one time or one day sample of something like this isn’t an accurate representation, maybe depending on what was going on in their lives at that given time, I have observed a relatively consistent trend with the students’ manners over my first week thus far. What this means in terms of development is that some students haven’t fully developed their ability to use proper mannerisms all the time whereas others are at a stage where they can use them consistently no matter what the situation is. Once again, I wouldn’t necessarily say that age is a factor in determining where the students are at developmentally with these skills and abilities. It is different across the board amongst all ages. 

In short, these are two concepts of development that have really stood out to me so far among the students I have been working with. They are basic fundamental concepts in representing how well the students have developed both in their independent abilities as well as their abilities to converse and interact with others. It has been interesting to see how it differs from student to student and perhaps most interesting of all is that so far I haven’t really seen a certain trend with their developmental levels correlating to their age and grade level. 

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education 102

Top 10 Takeaways from the Village Project Experience and How I Will Use Them in My Future Work as a Teacher

  1. To start off, one of the major things I took away from the village project experience was how as an educator, you have the opportunity to have a positive impact on the youth, regardless of what ages you decide to work with. Sometimes you may not realize the impact you’re having, but it is certainly there and the students appreciate you, even when you might think this not to be the case. With my village project experience, I realized this when I started to tell the kids that I would see everyday that my last day was near and soon I wouldn’t be seeing them every Monday and Wednesday afternoon, and I could see the looks on their faces of disappointment that they wouldn’t be seeing me anymore. Gladness sensed that it happened but sadness that it had to end in what felt like such a quick period. This will help me as an educator when I start to feel like maybe I’m not making a difference in the lives of the students or that they don’t appreciate me, just because it’s not visible and apparent in everyday life. It will be important to know that the impact is there, you just might not know it at the time. 
  2. Similar to past in-school volunteering experiences I had, whenever I left my village project site, I felt a sense of humility and accomplishment. It was almost like I was saying to myself, “Wow, I did something good today. I made a difference.” It doesn’t matter how my day has been going up to that point. Maybe I had been having a very busy day, and I felt at first that going to the village project was just another thing I “had” to do with my already busy schedule. Maybe I was just flat-out having a bad day because something went wrong with a class or I received a bad grade on a test. Or, perhaps I was having just a normal, good day. Needless to say, regardless of how I was feeling on each particular day, I walked away feeling better about myself and having that sense of humility and accomplishment. I think that this is something that I will resort back to once I am a full-time teacher. Regardless of what else is going on in my life outside of teaching, this is something that I will find rewarding and will boost me up if I am feeling down about other parts of my life. 
  3. To kind of go along with #2 on the list, and the idea of it no matter how I feel when I go into a school, I always feel better afterward. My village project experience has also taught me that regardless of how I feel or what my mood is at that given time, these kids are relying on me and they need me. There were times during my village project experience when I maybe wasn’t in the best mood to be working with the kids because of other stressors going on in my life. But, there were the kids who were excited to see me because they wanted to tell me about their weekend or push them on the swing because they knew I would be intentional about listening to them, caring about them, and making them feel loved and cared for. I had to work on putting aside my feelings from other parts of my life outside the village project and focus on the present moment of the students and making sure I was giving them the attention they both needed and deserved. Because at the end of the day, if there are lots of other things happening outside of my life and it starts to impact my work with kids, this isn’t the kids’ fault. When it’s all said and done, they are counting on me, and I need to show up and deliver especially when they need me the most. This is another crucial concept that I took away from the village project experience. 
  4. Shifting my focus in a slightly different direction, I interpreted some different behaviors during my village project experience. Some kids were sad and almost seemed depressed, and others were borderline wild and filled with energy. And also, oftentimes kids behaved differently depending on the day. Perhaps this had to do with what was going on at home, or with a teacher or student throughout the school day. Needless to say, it was noticeable from my perspective. Sometimes, I feel like when I see a kid that is quieter or seems down, I want to say to myself, “Maybe they just need some time alone.” Or, if a kid has a lot of energy, and perhaps too much, I’m half afraid to say something to them in fear of what they might say or how they might react. Another thing I’ve learned from the village project is that regardless of whether or not it is either one of these scenarios or something else- talk to the student. If they seem down, try to cheer them up, and if that doesn’t work, point them in the right direction that will make them feel better. If they are maybe a little wild and need to calm down a little bit, even if it may not seem too obvious- tell them to calm down appropriately. I think the moral of the story is- when in doubt, say something. Whether it is to the student or a staff member, say something, it will never hurt. 
  5. Going along with this idea of behavior in the students, something significant that I realized during my village project experience was that if these kids misbehave or do something wrong- it isn’t their fault, or at least not completely. Not that it has to be anyone’s “fault” so to speak, but don’t blame it on the kids when they misbehave. They are at a stage of their life where growth and development are constant in different ways and they will hopefully learn from their mistakes. As a teacher, I cannot control what their level of behavior is when they come into my classroom, including how other teachers impact it or how their parents impact it at home. I can only control how I influence it, and of course, the goal would be to impact it positively by teaching them the proper mannerisms, through my actions and other specific examples. The goal will never be for them to have perfect behavior- that is impossible to happen from anyone regardless of how old they are. You can only influence it as much as possible and the best you can. I think the moral of the story is this- you can’t judge or blame kids for the behaviors they have, all you can do is control your energy on how you can impact their behavior for the better. 
  6. I would say one aspect that was nice about my village project experience was that I had the opportunity to work with kids and have an impact on them, but I didn’t necessarily have the pressure of being completely responsible for them, as the staff members were always there if need be. I feel as though this allowed me, at least in the beginning, to get a visual representation of how to handle certain situations without having to handle them myself. All around, I feel as though the YMCA staff members handled situations fairly with students, using a proper amount of sternness when necessary and taking a more tender, softer approach when necessary as well. This is a key aspect that I learned and will apply to the time when I become a teacher, is that sometimes being a little bit more harsh and strict is the right way to get the point across and to get the students to learn something if they need to, otherwise, there are also circumstances when being a little bit less harsh and taking it more softly is more appropriate. In short, the matter of this lesson is that I learned that different situations will call for different ways to interact with the students, and it will be my job as a teacher to be able to properly identify what kinds of tones and actions are needed in these situations and apply them. 
  7. One thing that I picked up on during my village project experience was that the kids, regardless of how old they are, pick up on the little things that they say and do, even when you wouldn’t expect them to. This is a very important thing to keep in mind, both for the better and for the worse. What I mean by this is that if you have good habits, such as proper manners, appropriate behavior, and appropriate language, they will notice that and likely start to act more that way themselves. Just the opposite, if you don’t do these things properly, they will notice that and won’t be afraid to call you out on it. I experienced examples both ways, where the students I was with would replicate the good behaviors I modeled to them, but if maybe I wasn’t doing something as good as I should have been, they would call me out on it and say something like, “How come you’re doing this?” (Or not doing it). The moral of the story with this lesson is that the students pick up on a lot of their little actions and decisions, whether they are positive or negative. They are watching many of your moves, and will likely model part of or all of their behaviors after yours. 
  8. When you zone in on one region, say northeastern Wisconsin for example. There can be a lot of variance in the population of kids that you are working with in a lot of ways, from demographics to behaviors, to academic abilities, and so on. In high school, I volunteered at various elementary schools in the Kimberly Area School District, which is only about 30 miles or so south of Howe Elementary in the Green Bay Area School District, where I did my work with the village project. The populations of the kids I worked with at each of the two schools were quite different. Howe was culturally and ethnically diverse, whereas Kimberly was predominantly caucasian. I could tell that the kids at Howe maybe struggled a little bit more with behaviors and academics, whereas those issues weren’t as prevalent in Kimberly. They happened, but not as much or in as significant of a sense. I feel like I knew during high school that deep down, what happens at schools like Howe is the true reality of what happens at schools in America, but I just didn’t see it in high school as much because Kimberly was such a high-achieving district. I think another major thing I took away from this experience was that just because students in one place act a certain way, or have a certain level of intelligence at that time, doesn’t mean it can’t be a world of difference just a little ways down the road. Because in the grand scheme of things, Kimberly and Green Bay are pretty close to one another, and I saw two different situations during my time volunteering. In short, I think this will help me when I become a teacher in the sense that I will know that the kids I am working with aren’t like kids everywhere, regardless of who they are or what their skills and abilities are. It can vary a lot even between close areas, and all I can do is to try and help the kids I have the best I can to make them better people than they were when I first started with them. 
  9. Another major takeaway from my experience in the village project is that inside of every kid, they are very smart, and know a lot of things academically. Inside them, they also know how to behave properly, treat others right, and demonstrate traits such as respect, kindness, honesty, and responsibility. It’s just that with some kids, it’s a lot deeper down in them than others, and you have to try harder to get it out of them or they have to work harder to get it out of themselves. With the students it is a little harder to get the proper behaviors and skills out of them, it doesn’t make them bad or worse than anyone else. When it comes to my future work as a teacher, I think this is when the idea of meeting the students where they are at comes into effect. This is where the kid is at in terms of learning and behaviors, so I must meet him or her at that point to get them to where we eventually want them to be. Not every student is at the same level developmentally, so I must meet them at whatever level they are to help them get to where they need to be. 
  10. Last but not least, another thing that maybe goes without saying, but is certainly a very important thing I learned about myself throughout the village project is that even though this was a completely different group of kids that I was working with as opposed to previous experiences as I stated in my takeaway #8, I still realized that education is what I want to do with my life and even though I was opened up to a whole different side of reality with how children are, and some of the challenges they may face. It didn’t scare me away or make me want to take a different route with my choice of profession, I think if anything it did me a favor in the sense that it taught me some of the realities of what happens in public schools across the country. Of course, being that I could get into the classroom right away during Freshman year allows me to help ask myself the question of whether or not education is truly what I want to do with my life, and I can confidently say that this experience assured my prior thoughts that this is indeed something that I believe is suited for me. 
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education 102

My Revised Teaching Philosophy

As a future educator, I have a certain philosophy with a set of concepts about teaching and learning. I wish the best for my students and want to do as much as I can to better their lives currently as well as set them up for a successful future. For these things to happen, I have this philosophy set in stone so I can dedicate myself to giving my students the best while keeping these important concepts in mind. These concepts make up my philosophy before taking Education 102.

One of these important concepts of mine is that you never stop learning. I have had very experienced teachers tell me that they were not even close to the same level of teaching as they were when they first started. This is because they constantly learn and look for ways that they can be better. People who are the best at what they do always strive to become more knowledgeable in whatever their field or passion is. Similarly, teaching is always evolving. You cannot expect to keep doing the same thing all the time, year in and year out, and get good and/or better results. In addition to that, it is almost certain that your teaching ways and habits will not be the best right away, or ever, so you must continue to grow your abilities in the classroom. This includes keeping an open mind to discover new things since this will enhance your ability to learn. This could also include admitting to being wrong and not being afraid to be wrong since mistakes are learning opportunities, which is a positive concept to model for your students in the classroom. 

Another very important aspect of my philosophy is that teaching and learning go hand in hand- you must be willing to learn to teach and to learn it will certainly benefit you to teach and lead others. This concept is also very important because you cannot teach without learning, as I previously stated. To have the ability to teach well, you must be willing to learn about different classroom skills and abilities and everything that being a strong educator entails. Going along with that, the best teachers are constantly learning ways in which they can be better role models for their students to help them succeed. The same goes when talking about learning; to learn about content of any kind, teaching it to others could potentially be instrumental in your success in learning. It helps to stimulate the brain and think about perspectives and situations in a variety of ways. Also, while you teach things to other people, they will be learning things, and you will be learning things, too. 

Another important concept in my philosophy of teaching is that both learning and teaching can be done enthusiastically. By teaching my students in a manner of enthusiasm, this will, by nature, help make them more enthusiastic about their learning. This could include doing fun activities either by themselves or in groups, scavenger hunts, word searches, small projects, games, and many other options to give students exciting ways to learn. It could also be helpful to give students little rhymes or catchphrases to help them remember the content in a fun way. My enthusiasm for teaching them will be felt by my students and this will make them more excited to learn. If I don’t present the content to them in an exciting way, or a way that is captivating to them, they won’t get as much out of their learning because it doesn’t interest them as much. This would be a major issue because the entire reason for students to be in school is to get their education, so if the content isn’t presented and taught to them in a captivating manner that will be suited well for them, it will make their educational experience more fun while still getting them to know what they need to know. 

Another important aspect of my philosophy is that learning and teaching take a lot of thinking and planning. From a teaching perspective, to get it done properly, it’s not something that can be done on the fly or with none or little thought. It takes a lot of time to plan and think out your content, your lessons, activities, etc. If you are deeply motivated to be the best educator you can be, you want to give the students your very best in many aspects. Another one of these aspects is planning out the content to be presented to them, the delivery of this content, keeping in mind time factors, as well as student needs and interests. To meet all of these criteria, it is important to take time and careful consideration to thoroughly plan these things out. Learning is a very similar concept. It takes time and critical, deep thinking on my end as an educator. Learning as an educator can be a wide variety of things, from different tactics to use to deliver content to the students, to learning how to build relationships with students and other faculty members, to changing up your lesson plans; it could go on. There is a lot of learning to be done as an educator, as there is a wide variety of concepts to learn about and a lot to learn about each one. To do this, it takes deep thinking. I will not be the best version of myself as an educator if I don’t push myself to think deeply when learning. 

One more concept that is quite significant to my teaching philosophy is that if I’m not doing (or, at the very least, trying to do) my very best work, day in and day out, regardless of what’s going on outside of the classroom (other than rare occurrences) I am not properly fulfilling my role as an educator. I place high importance on this as a future educator; if I’m not doing my very best to learn about teaching my students and giving them what they need, I am doing them a disservice. Anything other than my best is not going to be sufficient enough. My students would be getting cheated out of their education and it wouldn’t even be their fault. By putting forth my very best effort, both inside and outside of the classroom, and making no excuses to do anything other than my very best, my students will get the best out of their experiences in education. 

All in all, this set of concepts is what makes up my teaching philosophy. These are the values and principles that I want to stand close by when I officially become a teacher. Through personal experience and talking with experienced teachers, this is a set of concepts that will give me a strong foundation for a teaching philosophy to follow. Not that I won’t follow other positive ideas as a teacher, but these are values about teaching and learning that I plan to closely follow. 

Now, these 3 concepts are parts of my philosophy that I would add upon completion of the Education 102 class. They are as follows:

  • Using things such as the games and simulations and the flipped lesson projects like we did in class to facilitate their learning and get them engaged in what they’re doing. I would be doing so in a sense where the students are learning but also engaged at the same time.
  • I would remind the students, like the book “Why don’t children like school?” talks about, it isn’t about mastery but just trying to get better every day and also focusing on the process of learning and not just getting the right answers themselves.
  • Finally, I want students to have the ability to move information from the working memory to the long term memory so they don’t learn something and then forget it right away. Using constant but different forms of practice will help students put learned information into their long term memory to prevent forgetting it. That way, their learning will be retained.
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Education101

Village Project Top 10 Takeaways

Since early October, I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with the kids in the YMCA afterschool program at Howe Elementary School in Green Bay two times per week. It has been a very impactful and informational experience and has had many takeaways throughout it. Listed below are my top 10 takeaways from this experience:

  1. My biggest and most important takeaway from village project so far is that even though kids can be challenging to work with sometimes, it is still my passion to work with them and help them become better students and better people 
  2. Just because a child can’t entirely or perfectly complete a task, it doesn’t mean they haven’t shown or won’t show growth 
  3. Children from different parts of the state, even if they’re not that far apart, can show very different behaviors, both for the better and the worse 
  4. Little things such as going out of your way to talk to them can go a long way
  5. Children are very observant of your actions
  6. Children know of a lot of adult-like (oftentimes inappropriate) things, so it’s important to be aware of it and stress to them that it doesn’t belong in the classroom 
  7. It can be very difficult to get some kids to listen, so it is important to continue trying to get your point across to them and use different tactics to grab their attention 
  8. This experience has put into perspective how some kids are grateful for the smallest things that I sometimes took for granted as a kid 
  9. All children are good deep down, it just takes longer to see it in certain kids than others sometimes 
  10. I have also taken away that kids do a lot of things that they aren’t even aware of themselves, so it’s important to point it out to them to make sure they become aware of it, especially if it’s a negative behavior  
Categories
Education101

What I Can Do For The Common Good As An Educator

As an educator, I aspire to do a variety of different things for the common good. I believe a crucial step of this process is inspiring a shared vision amongst my students. This process involves a couple of steps. First and foremost, if I want to inspire a vision in my students that I want them to see, I, of course, have to implement an appropriate vision. I have to try and inspire them into things that will be highly beneficial for them in their futures, such as respect, responsibility, honesty, kindness, accountability, and many others. So, the first step of this process is laying out what these concepts are in the vision that I have. The next step of this process is modeling these concepts to my students. My students won’t be and shouldn’t be expected to learn things from me if I don’t demonstrate them myself. Living out these common good characteristics daily will expedite the process of learning these concepts. And lastly, once my students are aware of these concepts, I have been modeling them and they are starting to act upon them, they must continue to be reminded of what the visions are and why they are important. This is significant because if they don’t understand the importance of the vision, or they start to lose sight of the importance of the vision, you will lose the focus and attention of the students. It would be important for me to remind them and hold them accountable to help them continue to promote their growth. 

Another important thing that I can do for the common good as an educator is to put the needs of my students before my needs. The best leaders in the world, regardless of what they do, put others before themselves. Regardless of what is going on in my life outside of teaching (unless it’s something extreme, of course), I need to find a way to push through the days when I don’t feel like giving my students my very best effort and attention because of outside stressors and situations. If I were to not give the students my best effort and attention, they would not be getting the most out of their time in the classroom, and it would be because of a factor outside of their control. It is important to understand that, without putting your well-being to the side, the students are the top priority. You have to put them first because they are counting on you to lead them, to teach them, to guide them. They are trusting you and counting on you, so you must fight hard and dig deep every single day to give them your very best. 

Another thing that I can do for the common good as a teacher is the important concept of meeting the students where they are. A significant aspect of the common good is making sure what you’re doing is beneficial to everyone in the group, or in this case, the classroom. This is a challenge, mainly because there is a different path for all of the students in your classroom to accomplish this. To do this, I will challenge myself to get to know each kid personally and on a deep level to know who they are and how they prefer to operate; what learning tactics and strategies work best for them to learn and have fun while doing it. Knowing this information will be essential to meeting them and their learning where they’re at. Being intentional about building relationships with them and getting to know them better is the central part of meeting them where they are. You can’t meet them where they are if you don’t know where they are to begin with. 

All in all, doing things for the common good as an educator takes time, hard work, and getting well out of your comfort zone. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the students and making sure that they are getting the most out of their educational experience. It is important to communicate well with your students to get all of them on a shared inspired vision and to make sure that you meet all of them where they’re at so they get what’s best for them. These students are counting on you to lead them and educate them each and every day. 

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Education101

What I’m Both Excited For and Worried About With Becoming A Teacher

I certainly have both feelings about becoming a teacher, although more of it is definitely more excitement. What excites me and motivates me the most about becoming a teacher is the idea that I will have the ability to have such a great impact on the future of the world. I can not only give them the education by teaching them subjects that will be essential for their future, but also by being a role model for them by displaying proper community values such as respect, honesty, responsibility and kindness. The idea of being able to do this and model this for hundreds and hundreds of kids knowing that I could be an impactful figure in their lives is so exciting to me. I get to, for a short period in the lives of many kids, give them everything I can, both academically and with life skills as well, to help make their lives better. Some students out there might not have other figures in their lives who are able to give them the knowledge in order to have these skills to set them up to be successful in the future. If I can make the most of this opportunity to get a grasp of these kids, especially the ones that maybe don’t get as much love or attention at home from parents or guardians. If I can be a significant difference maker in the lives of all kids, and the kids with lives like those especially, I will make such a great impact on them and I just might be the person that, if they lack that impactful figure or those figures, can be that person in their life and maybe even change their lives around if the path they’re headed down isn’t the greatest. The thought of getting the opportunity to do this is very exciting for me; knowing that I will be able to make a difference in the lives of human beings that are quickly changing and in a crucial stage of their human development. Knowing that I will have the potential to make a positive difference in the lives of others is what excites me the most about getting into this profession. 

Although I am very excited to jump into the teaching world, there are a few particular things that slightly concern me, and one is the ability to maintain control of a classroom full of kids. Obviously, I will be only one adult trying to handle a classroom of probably 25 or 30 students; I will be significantly outnumbered. I feel as though I will have such a deep care for my students, but once I struggle to maintain the control of all their emotions and behaviors at once, I feel like I will become frustrated with myself, so this is something that I will have to learn to handle the proper way. I feel as though I am also slightly worried in the sense that I will struggle with being able to connect with my students in the ways appropriate for each one of them to get the most out of their learning. I feel like I will be able to connect with some of the students and they will learn well, but there will also be some that I won’t be able to connect with. Of course, this will be an issue, because the main objective of being a teacher and a leader for your students is making sure that you meet every single one of their needs so they learn and consume what information they need to consume. I’m just slightly worried if I will be able to handle so many needs at once considering there is only one of me and a lot more than one student. It is a lot for one person to handle but certainly a challenge that must be accepted if you want to succeed in this profession. I know that it is a challenge that I am willing to accept because I have such a deep passion for having a positive impact on the future of society.

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