As part of a project for one of my classes, we were tasked with reaching out the people (teachers, mentors, friends, etc) who inspired us to become educators. I feel like this is something that is not done enough, and I feel very lucky to be put in a situation where I'm not only required to reach out to thank the people in my life for the influence they have had on me, but where I am also required to ask them for advice. As someone going into the field of education, I do not want to be anything but the best for my students, therefore I feel this was the perfect opportunity to improve upon my practices, as well as my pedagogy.
The project, otherwise known as the Three Wise Teachers Project, required us to do two things:
1.) Think of at least three people who have impacted you on your journey to becoming an educator, reach out to them and thank them for the impact they made on you.
2.) Ask the person if they have any resources that they would be willing to share that would help us develop as educators.
I reached out three people:
My high school French teacher, Mrs. Duquette, the assistant director of the University of Maine at Farmington TRIO Upward Bound Program, and my role model, Elyse Pratt-Ronco, and lastly my professor for my EDU 102/103 class that I took during my first semester of college.
I contacted everyone through various means; I reached out through Facebook, through email, as well as in person. Though I reached out in different ways, all of these women seemed touched by my words of thanks. Immediately, they all thanked me for my kind words, and all were exceptionally excited to provide me resources to help me on my journey to becoming an educator.
While I am still waiting to hear back from Heather about tangible resources, I believe she gave me the most important resource I could ever have as an educator. My senior year in high school, I had the opportunity to act as a student teacher for one of Heather's mid-level French classes. In this role, she gave me my first real taste of lesson planning, which I had no idea would be so helpful at the time. My had to plan, design, execute and assess a unit based on French food and it's culture. Though I think I did not take it as seriously as I should have, being able to act as a student teacher for her confirmed and solidified my desire to pursue education as a career, and I feel so blessed to have been in her class.
Elyse introduced me to many resources specific to educating students from low-income backgrounds. Working specifically with kids who are low-income first-generation college students, Elyse has been overwhelmingly supportive in my desire to learn and to support students from this background (fun fact, I'm a low-income first-generation college student!) Specifically, she introduced me to "Savage Inequalities" by Johnathan Kozol, and "Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty: Strategies for Erasing the Opportunity Gap" by Paul Gorski. I feel that, as a student who attended a school where sixty percent of student qualified for free and reduced lunch, I had the support systems needed in order for me to be able to succeed, both in my post-secondary goals, as well as emotionally as I overcame my struggles. Had I not had programs like TRIO Upward Bound, I don't know if I would be in college, let alone studying to become an educator. Thus, I feel that being able to recognize and provide support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds is the most important thing an educator can do.
Clarissa Thompson was one of my first professor I had at UMF, and she introduced me to so many great resources. Ranging from comic book versions of mathematics textbooks to websites like the Cult of Pedagogy (specifically https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/teacher-fellowship/) and Bedtime Math, I've learned so much about what it means to be an educator from her, as well as through the resources she's provided me. As I have a mathematics concentration, at times I feel that at times it can be hard to have a growth mindset about venturing away from the lecture-style teacher-centric classroom associated with math. Therefore, I feel that as she not only provides resources to aid all teachers, as well as acting as a resource for her students, Clarissa has shown me that math can be so much more than a boring lecture. Math can be an exciting, enthralling experience in which student learn more than the properties of numbers and equations, it can be an experience that shapes their entire outlook on mathematics as a subject.
Honestly, I cannot express how much I admire and appreciate all that these women have done for me, and I hope to one day as great of an educator, and as great of a person as they are.
I contacted everyone through various means; I reached out through Facebook, through email, as well as in person. Though I reached out in different ways, all of these women seemed touched by my words of thanks. Immediately, they all thanked me for my kind words, and all were exceptionally excited to provide me resources to help me on my journey to becoming an educator.
While I am still waiting to hear back from Heather about tangible resources, I believe she gave me the most important resource I could ever have as an educator. My senior year in high school, I had the opportunity to act as a student teacher for one of Heather's mid-level French classes. In this role, she gave me my first real taste of lesson planning, which I had no idea would be so helpful at the time. My had to plan, design, execute and assess a unit based on French food and it's culture. Though I think I did not take it as seriously as I should have, being able to act as a student teacher for her confirmed and solidified my desire to pursue education as a career, and I feel so blessed to have been in her class.
Elyse introduced me to many resources specific to educating students from low-income backgrounds. Working specifically with kids who are low-income first-generation college students, Elyse has been overwhelmingly supportive in my desire to learn and to support students from this background (fun fact, I'm a low-income first-generation college student!) Specifically, she introduced me to "Savage Inequalities" by Johnathan Kozol, and "Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty: Strategies for Erasing the Opportunity Gap" by Paul Gorski. I feel that, as a student who attended a school where sixty percent of student qualified for free and reduced lunch, I had the support systems needed in order for me to be able to succeed, both in my post-secondary goals, as well as emotionally as I overcame my struggles. Had I not had programs like TRIO Upward Bound, I don't know if I would be in college, let alone studying to become an educator. Thus, I feel that being able to recognize and provide support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds is the most important thing an educator can do.
Clarissa Thompson was one of my first professor I had at UMF, and she introduced me to so many great resources. Ranging from comic book versions of mathematics textbooks to websites like the Cult of Pedagogy (specifically https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/teacher-fellowship/) and Bedtime Math, I've learned so much about what it means to be an educator from her, as well as through the resources she's provided me. As I have a mathematics concentration, at times I feel that at times it can be hard to have a growth mindset about venturing away from the lecture-style teacher-centric classroom associated with math. Therefore, I feel that as she not only provides resources to aid all teachers, as well as acting as a resource for her students, Clarissa has shown me that math can be so much more than a boring lecture. Math can be an exciting, enthralling experience in which student learn more than the properties of numbers and equations, it can be an experience that shapes their entire outlook on mathematics as a subject.
Honestly, I cannot express how much I admire and appreciate all that these women have done for me, and I hope to one day as great of an educator, and as great of a person as they are.
Wow. These three folks really influenced you. Your descriptions of their inspiration to you inspires me!
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