Sandra Gil
Prof. Ellis
Eng101
07.November.2015

My name is Sandra and I attend New York City College of Technology as well as wanting to pursue a career in teaching grades k-6. I am in the School of Professional Studies trying to receive my bachelor of science. My major is the career & technology of education, but I am planning to transfer schools in order to focus on teaching elementary school.This career will suit me because I always had a passion for teaching ever since I was young and I admire the curiosity, imagination as well as creativeness of children. In high school I was in a program dedicated for students who wanted to become teachers. Since I was in this program, I was able to get experience from teaching an elementary school for a whole day and encounter how kids behaved. I really enjoyed helping others as well as appreciate seeing kids learn something new. I feel that getting a degree can also help me get a step further in order to pursue my profession.

I chose to attend City Tech because they provide a teaching program, but when I attended a class for that major, I was taught mainly technology which wasn’t what I wanted to aim for. My major only helps us become technology teachers, but my ideal of what I wanted to focus on wasn’t technology, but rather early childhood education. According to the City Tech College Catalog 2015-2016 my course work will prepare me for “a comprehensive hands-on program to enable students in kindergarten through 12th grade to develop technological literacy” ( College Catalog 131). Since the major I am in now won’t really help with my career path, I could use the information I am learning to help me with my occupation by learning how to communicate with kids the proper way. Becoming a teacher in New York State requires a bachelor’s degree.

To become a public school teacher, I would need to be certified or licensed in order to teach. In the Occupation Outlook Handbook, “In order to receive certification, teachers need to undergo a period of fieldwork, commonly referred to as student teaching. During student teaching, they work with a mentor teacher and get experience teaching students in a classroom setting.” ( United States Par.3) I would need to take a course that could be referred in the City Tech College Catalog to take EDU 2601 ‘Internship in Classroom Teaching’ and EDU 3601 ‘Internship in Classroom Teaching.’ Both internships are “designed to expose the pre-service teacher to the classroom environment and to the daily routines of classroom teaching.” (College Catalog 134) Meaning that I will be able to observe how a teacher from any middle school functions and I would try to gain experience for “6 hours of classroom experience spread over two days per week.”(College Catalog 134) I would need to arrive at the middle school only two days of the week and write reports, reflective essays and I would need to be able to schedule meetings to discuss what I have learned during my time there.

In my program back in highschool, I was taught a variety of useful tips to help me when it comes to my occupation. We learned how to create objectives, mini lessons, class activities as well as questions to give to the class and used laptops to create powerpoints. After we created a whole lesson plan, each one of us would be scheduled to present for a whole class period. Being able to teach my classmates in a professional manner will help me get acquainted in front of a classroom. If I want to pursue a career in teaching, Public Speaking is a major quality I would need to be able to do. Referring back to the City Tech College Catalog 2015-2016, I would need to take “COM 1330 Public Speaking” ( College Catalog 132)  in order to reach my requirement for certification.

Qualities that I would need to be able to have in order to successfully become a teacher would be communication skills, Creativity, patience and resourcefulness. Communication plays a huge role as in “Teachers must collaborate with teacher assistants and special education teachers. In addition, they need to discuss students’ needs with parents and administrators.” (United States Par.4)  This implies that as people who deliver education to students, we would need to talk amongst each other as well as the student’s parents in order to help a child’s needs.Creativity is when “teachers must plan lessons that engage young students, adapting the lessons to different learning styles” (United States Par.4)  which brings me back to when I was learning how to create lesson plans for my previous class and how to come up with creative ideas to keep the students engaged. If I am going to be teaching an elementary school when I am finished with school, Patience is a must. “Teachers must respond with patience when students struggle with material.” (United States Par.4)  Many kids will feel as if they are pressured to rush into getting an answer instead of taking the time to understand the problem themselves. Lastly, Resourcefulness is a “need to be able to explain difficult concepts in terms that young students can understand.” (United States Par.4)  When I was teaching my old classmates, I had to teach them in the same level I was in, but with children, I would need resourcefulness and try to clarify any response in a child’s level.

I really don’t know how I got into teaching, but it naturally happened when my sisters were able to start talking. I was around the age of 6 when I started getting into teaching. When I went to school, I was aware that I would mimic some techniques from my teachers in order to get an idea of how I should corporate towards my sisters when I do teach them. I realize that since my sisters and I are family, maybe I treated them differently than what I actually thought a teacher should have which can relate to an article on Professionalism of Early Childhood Teaching( PECT).

In the article Teachers’ versus parents’ perceptions of professionalism of early childhood teachers, Teachers convey their students differently than how their parents would regarding their child. Due to this concept, many children pick and choose who to treat better depending on how the other adult corresponds. “The purpose of this study is therefore to understand and identify the differences between teachers’ and parents’ perceptions of the various characteristics of PECT.” (Tzuo 118) Meaning that a kid’s behavior and personality could be the result of either teacher or parent. When becoming an educator, I would need to understand each child’s preference and try to work with it since they are learning to grow up. Usually in elementary school, students are being raised by their parents and “the study also indicated that parents perceived as less important than teachers the factors of ‘understanding a child’s needs’, ‘skills of interacting with children’, ‘professional development’ and ‘valuing of ethics’.” (Tzuo 125) The significance of this shows that parents rely on teachers to educate their children and help them learn new ideas. Parents aren’t trained to do what teachers were taught; Teachers were taught courses like “ EDU Child and Adolescent Development and EDU 2455 Methods and Materials for Special Needs Students.” (College Catalog 135)

My plans to excel in my major is to earn enough credits to make a transfer first. Once I finish, I could then focus on general courses because I could never know if I would want to switch careers. After I finish that, I would probably make a decision and try to go for an early childhood education major. I would try to find a job within internships and see if I do enjoy my career path. I will try to balance my schedule since I sometimes can’t seem to manage time well.

           Work Cited

New York City College of Technology- College Catalog 2015-2016 (City Tech)
New York: New York City of College of Technology, 2015. PDF

United States. Department of Labor.Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Early Childhood Education Teaching.” Occupation Outlook Handbook. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012. Web. 26. Oct. 2015.

Pei-Wen, Tzuo, et al. “Teachers’ Versus Parents’ Perceptions Of Professionalism Of Early Childhood Teachers: A Mixed-Methods Study.” Australasian Journal Of Early Childhood 40.2 (2015): 117-126. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.