FIRST assignment of the Summer...

Assignment #1-- Write and Submit Personal Statement : describe academic interest areas, experiences with children, hometown, where you want to teach, expertise (academic work or personal experiences) that are relevant to social studies and/or teaching project, goals for certification program. Post on webct Discussion by 6 a.m. Monday, June 2.

My name is Heather Walker; I’m 23 years old and READY to graduate!! I’m from Kingwood, TX, which is a suburb of northeast Houston. My dream for the start of my teaching career is to work in Colorado. I have always wanted to live there. My heart yearns to be in that state! So, hopefully, I will get to experience that sometime very soon!
Working with kids is my passion in life, and I was blessed to have discovered this at a very early age. I was barely 12 when I took my first babysitting job and even though a 3 month old screaming baby scared me to death, I was hooked! I loved playing “house” so-to-speak with her and her 4 year old brother. I loved knowing that I could protect them and keep them safe. I also loved playing with them and gaining their respect. That 3 month old baby is now a beautiful 12 year old young woman whom I still have the pleasure of knowing. It’s only right that the first child I ever babysat I am still attached to in a way!
I guess for the last six years preschoolers have been my specialty. When I was 17 I started working for Kumon Learning Center in the preschool room. The youngest child I “tutored” was three, and he was a genius! At least I thought so. He could read and write already. It was awesome. During the first couple of summers of college I taught swim lessons to 3-5 year olds and even some “mommy and me” classes at the YMCA in my hometown. I had the time of my life those summers! Not only did I learn immensely about little ones, I enjoyed being surrounded by amazing kids and parents. Right before I turned 21 I started working for a company called Bodyworks here in Lubbock in the Kid’s Club, which is sort of like a babysitting service. Parents dropped off their kids while they worked out for a couple of hours and I entertained them. Mostly I just supervised. It was fun though because I joined in the kids’ activities and they looked up to me as the “cool adult”. I also learned to know when to put my foot down and BE the adult and still keep the kids’ respect. Overall, it was a great learning experience and I have no doubts those experiences will help me become the amazing teacher I dream of being.
Last but not least, for the last 8 months I have been working at TEGA here in Lubbock as a preschool teacher. I cannot even begin to explain how this experience has shaped me; you just have to see me in action in order to completely fathom how this place transformed me. To sum up though, I feel very comfortable in dealing with parents and family members and adjusting to their wants and needs, I know now that this age group is not an area I want to pursue for the rest of my life (hahaha, but I will miss these kidos terribly), I know that kids need structure and stability EVERY day and this includes who their teachers are (I totally understand why kids go crazy when they have subs—it throws them out of their comfort zone and they don’t know what to do!), I learned that angered or frustrated responses get me and the class nowhere, I know that kids need love and compassion around the clock (which is my favorite to give), and I know that all activities I do with my students need to relate to them and be a fun thing to do for everyone. Teaching is definitely, the MOST challenging job I have ever had. That’s what I love about it though, it keeps my on my toes. Plus I get to receive hugs everyday for no reason. What other job can beat than?!
My academic interests growing up were math and reading and sometimes science. When I was in 9th grade I loved geography because we colored maps of the world. Wow, that sounds lame now but it was true back then! I actually have hardly any skills let alone expertise in the subject of social studies, but realizing this now will help me pay twice as much attention during class! Honestly, I have never enjoyed social studies but I feel like it is not entirely my fault. I always had teachers in the subject who talked in monotone and made us copy the words and definitions over and over again from the back of the book.
My goal for the certification program is to be able to apply what I have learned in my classes to my experiences I have had already with children to better shape myself into the teacher I want to become. I want my students to be as passionate about school as I was in my elementary years. I hope I can be that person they wake up in the mornings looking forward to see.