Galesburg High School, Galesburg, IL. Fall-Spring 1994-1995. Two semester vocational course. First semester was spent at the high school monitoring a daily preschool with nineteen other classmates and twenty children within the ages of 3 ½ to 5. During the semester, we rotated in groups to do different tasks. One day was spent observing the children, recording how they did and what they did on that day. Each of us had a few children that we were to watch more closely than the others. The next day, we spent preparing to instruct the children and prepare the materials for them for the following day. We were taught how to write lesson plans and teach using those plans. The third day, our group taught the students, using our lesson plans.
The second semester, I went to a fourth grade classroom at Steele Elementary School, in the same town. I was there four days a week, two hours a day. During that time, I observed and recorded in a journal everything my cooperating teacher did, and she responded by reading my journal and writing her own thoughts down. I also prepared several lessons to teach during the semester in the subject of reading and history. I also instructed their spelling lessons while I was there. During this semester, I also worked one on one and in small groups with students that needed extra help.
J.L. Buford Elementary School, Mt. Vernon, IL. Fall 1997. I spent the semester with the fourth and fifth grade reading teacher. During the two days a week I was there, I observed and instructed the fifth grade reading classes. Most of my time, though, was spent observing the students and the way the teacher instructed. I recorded my observations in a journal for my center coordinators, and received oral and written feedback from them.
Anna Junior High School, Anna, IL. Spring 1998. I spent one morning a week in the seventh grade class with the language arts teacher. While I was there, I mostly observed, interested, this time, in the discipline attained during the day. I also was given the duty to read the spelling tests to the students. I wrote in a journal about what I experienced. I also was able to sit in while the seventh and eighth grade teachers had their team meetings each morning and saw them handling discipline problems with the parents.
University Housing, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL. Fall 1995 to Fall 1999. University Housing provided housing for incoming and returning college students. As a student worker there, I learned a lot about working with people. I learned how parents reacted to new and different situations involving their children, and I learned a lot about the students. Since I was supervisor over the other student workers, one of my duties was obviously to keep those under me on task. I learned a lot of methods to keep them working, and learned what to say to make people listen to you, and how to go about saying it. I learned to organize my own time when a work-schedule was involved, and I learned to organize my own materials better as a ordered and inventoried supplies for the office. I also learned a lot about working with others. A lot of the work we did depended on everyone there. Team work and cooperation was essential to making everything a success for everyone there. I have been able to transfer all of this to my own in-class experiences with students.