Why I Want to Teach

When I was younger, I always pictured myself being a pediatric nurse because I love children and I also love helping people in need. Then I got older and decided that I couldn't handle the blood and all the sad things that can come along with being a nurse. Then when I was 14, I got a job at the preschool that I went to myself when I was a preschooler. I was a camp counselor for an arts & crafts camp, and I immediately fell in love with working with children. I loved teaching them new things and generally just spending time with them. Children just have a positive aura about them that is always fun to be around. They are so positive and happy 24/7. This love that was started from working with children at this summer camp was nothing compared to the love I have for the students at my current job.

Back in my hometown of Waitsfield, Vermont, I work at a ski resort in the Day School. At the Day School, there are children from ages six weeks to six years old, but I primarily work in the preschool room and the children in that room are from two and a half years old to five years old. I am very lucky for the bonds that I formed with the children there. I work five days a week there, so I've gotten very close with all my students there. When I go back and visit while I'm at school, I immediately get football tackled by twenty three year olds and it makes me feel like I've made a big impression on their little minds. While at school, I get constant mail and packages from my students and from their families. From my first day of working there in 2012, I immediately fell in love with the profession of teaching. Even though I'm sure working in a preschool is completely different from being a classroom teacher. I love how intrigued children get when they hear about something they don't know about. They are so curious and eager to learn and be taught. Thats why I want to teach a young grade because they are young and so eager to learn more and more.

Another reason I want to be an elementary school teacher is because of the current education system today. When I was in the early elementary grades, I loved being in school. I would get excited to go to my classroom everyday and learn something new. Once I reached the higher grades such as fifth and sixth grade, I lost my love for school and learning which is incredibly unfortunate. I want to make sure as an early elementary grade teacher, that I establish a love for school and learning in my students that will last them all through their school experience.

My Future Classroom

This past week in EDU 270, my class was assigned to write a paper on what we would want our future learning environment to look like. I have been thinking about what I would want my classroom to physically look like ever since I was in elementary school myself. I am a perfectionist, I like everything perfectly organized and aesthetically pleasing at all times. Above everything else, I envision my classroom to be warm and welcoming for my students. I want my classroom to have tons of bright colors, but not distracting enough that my kindergardeners can't focus properly.

I get all my ideas for my classroom layout, bulletin boards, and other things in the classroom from Pinterest, which I'm sure all of my peers use too to get their ideas. Scrolling though Pinterest, I always see various bulletin board set ups involving students pictures and names. For example, this birthday calendar. I think birthday calendars make students feel like a valued part of the learning community which is really important. Also, this picture outside the door listing all students names I think is a great idea because once again, it makes the students feel apart of the classroom. Also, it creates an opportunity for arts & crafts which all kindergardeners love!

I plan to have my classroom extremely structured and organized. I'm going to have everything color coordinated and labeled properly so that my students will know that there is a place for everything and everything has a place. I have seen a lot of elementary school classrooms where teachers just have too much going on in the room. I think there is a fine line between fun and colorful, and messy and unorganized. I think one of the most important aspects of the classroom that needs a lot of focus on organization and formation are the tables and chairs. I know from working in a preschool that five year olds have an incredibly hard time trying to stay still and focus on one thing at a time. Because of this, table and chair arrangements in the classroom are really important to me. A lot of people don't believe in having assigned seats, but I will have assigned seats in my class that change every month or so. I want to have round tables in my class to promote collaboration between my students, and learning from one and other. Instead of having regular plastic and metal classroom chairs, I plan to have yoga balls or some other form of seating so children can move around while they work. I understand that kindergardeners are very physical and need constant movement, so having yoga balls to sit on will keep them moving around but also focused on their work.

Technology Experiences in My Education

I grew up in a pretty wealthy school district and town, so I was privileged to have a very good experience with technology all through my K-12 experience as far as the quality of technology I was presented with. The activities and incorporation with the technology in lessons or from the teachers was not so great. 

Beginning in elementary school, I always looked forward to my computer class. Computer class at my elementary school started in Kindergarden, where we would each be assigned a huge Mac desktop computer in the computer lab. We would draw pictures and create various art on Kid Pix, or learn how to type properly on a computer with fun little games. Later in elementary school, around fifth grade, we were each given our very own MacBook, and that was extremely exciting. I was in fifth grade around 2005; which was right around the time when the first MacBooks even came out for the first time, so our school was very lucky to get however many MacBooks we did. However, we didn't do anything exciting with our brand new exciting MacBooks. In fifth and sixth grade we used our MacBooks for research projects, essays, and various papers. Presently at my old elementary school, each child K-6 is given there very own iPad that they can take home with them.

For middle school, it was the same kind of deal like at my elementary school. We were each assigned a MacBook that we could use throughout our middle and high school experience. We would use the MacBooks mainly in science, history, or english, where we would use them for various research projects and not much else. We never really had an opportunity to do anything really groundbreaking or different with the technology given to us, so that was kind of disappointing as a preteen. Although, I do remember one semi-cool project that we did in seventh grade history with the "rival" middle school across town. Each seventh grader was paired with a 'pen pal' from the other school. It was like regular pen pals except instead of sending letters, it was sending emails to get to know each other. We had these pen pals all year and we were given a significant person in history to research on our own, and then share with our pen pals what we found. A little later in the year, the other middle school came to our school and we got together with our pen pals and created posters for our topic and then presented them to other groups. I thought it was pretty cool at the time to collaborate with kids across town at the other middle school and then come together and share what we had learned all year, all because of the internet. 

In high school it was the same deal. We had the same MacBooks since middle school that we could use, but most students had their own laptops that they would bring and use in class. If we were to use our laptops in class, it would always be for research or working on papers, essays, and projects. It was never for anything else. By my junior year, we were also all assigned a iPad, which were literally never used. I can't even remember one time in my high school career that I used an iPad, so that was kind of a waste. In my senior year of high school, I took a class called 'Stories of Hope: A Journey to Rwanda'. This class was offered at my school because my high school sponsored a school in Rwanda that a group of students would go visit every spring break to volunteer at. In this class, we got the opportunity to Skype ever so often with students or teachers from this school in Rwanda. We also Skyped with a lot of other people all over the world in that class, and we got to ask them questions so it was like they were really there in real life. Another cool thing with Skype that I experienced was in my French 6 Honors class. Myself and the other four students in my french class got the opportunity to listen to elementary school children in France present projects in English via Skype. It was so cool to be able to collaborate with children in France. Other than those two experiences, computers were only used for research and writing papers. 

In the future for my Kindergarden students, I plan to incorporate technology in our every day activities. In my experience with working with 5 year olds, I've noticed that they are all very curious and interested in technology. I want to encourage this curiosity by incorporating various forms of media and technology outlets in my classroom lessons. I don't know how difficult incorporating technology into my lessons will be with a group of 5 year olds, but I'm willing to try my best to make it work out. I want to take my experience with working with computers at the age of five in Kindergarden, and bring that into my classroom to instill that my students are tech-savvy. I hope that I work in a school district where they can afford to provide our students with smart boards, laptops, and other forms of technology, and if not, then I plan to create some form of accommodation so that my students can have access to what its like to learn with technology.

Hi everyone! My name is Kellie Mead and I'm a Sophomore here at Southern New Hampshire University. I live in a small town in the beautiful state of Vermont. I am an Elementary Education major, with a minor in Psychology. Once completing my four years here, I plan to become a kindergarden or first grade teacher. I first was interested in becoming a teacher when I was a summer camp counselor during my Freshman year of high school. From there, I had the opportunity to be a room leader in a preschool at a local ski resort for two years and I loved every minute of it! I love working with children simply because it is downright fun. I love seeing them smile by discovering and learning new things, and being the cause of children learning new things feels pretty good!
I first became interested in SNHU through hearing about the school through many people who graduated from my high school in Vermont. All the people I talked to that went or were currently enrolled in SNHU always had positive things to say about the university itself, the area it's located in, and the teachers. All of this lead me to visit the university in March of my Senior year in high school. I really enjoyed the size of the school and the semi-rural area. Since I was born and raised in a small town, SNHU seemed like it would be an environment where I would be most comfortable because of the size and location. I have so far really enjoyed all the classes and professors that I have had the privilege to experience. I took six classes throughout both semesters of my first year and I really enjoyed the challenge. This year, I am excited to give myself a little break and start the semester with only 5 classes. I'm more than excited to venture in to my second year here at SNHU, and make it even better than my first year!
I am also very excited to complete my last 200 level education class which is EDU 235! I love technology and consider myself to be pretty tech-savy. I've always loved solving problems with my computer or my smart phone, and also just discovering new things that pop up with the evolution of technology. I'm excited to see what this class has to offer me as far as figuring out new things to do in a classroom to keep lesson plans, and activities, current. Students in this day and age love technology and thrive by using it in the classroom, and I am excited to figure out ways to incorporate technology into my future classroom of kindergardeners!