Tutoring

Action #1

My mother always told me I was blessed with the gift of teaching, and more specifically, simplifying rather abstract concepts and presenting them in a more understandable way to others. While I know one's parent tends to think quite highly of their children, I do find joy in facilitating others' learning and over the years, I have tried to find ways to use this gift through helping others.

When I was in 9th grade, the sixth grade teacher mentioned that she was looking for a tutor for one of her struggling students. I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to help the teacher out and also build a relationship with this little girl. So, I found myself staying after school one to two times a week and helping "Minina" with her homework. Though she primarily struggled with math, I also helped with science, social studies and language arts. Since she was Bolivian, English was not her first language, but she had a fairly good grasp on the grammar and vocabulary. This was a good experience for me, since I had to recall previous knowledge and try different strategies to make the concepts understandable to a 6th grade level student. I also was able to meet her mother and talk to her about her daughter's academic progress. Though I only tutored Minina for a year, I continued to informally help my fellow classmates through the rest of high school, often staying after school to study with a friend who needed help in a particular subject.

Once in college, I found that this sort of informal tutoring would continue. I actually meet with one of my classmates on a fairly regular basis to help her with her Spanish homework. I've found that I can put my knowledge of both Spanish and English to good use here in this American setting. More formally, I am currently working as a writing mentor. My assigned mentee is an international student and I have been challenged to make complex and at times seemingly meaningless English grammar rules understandable and relevant. Naturally, since we are at college, meeting the families of these students is pretty much out of the question, but I continue to gain valuable experience with different types of learners.

Of course, I too have been helped by many of my fellow classmates throughout the years. I am glad that this learning and growing experience is a reciprocal process, and hope to develop many more rewarding relationships as I continue on my journey towards becoming a teacher of excellence.

Joining a Professional Organization

Action #2

I recently joined around 26,000 educators from around the nation and became an official member of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). In their own words, the NCSS is a professional organization that exists to "strengthen the social studies profession and social studies programs in the schools." During my Foundations of Education class last May Term, we were encouraged to join a professional organization such as this one to broaden our knowledge of what was happening nationwide in our area of study and also to learn teaching strategies from other experienced teachers. Joining an organization like this would even give me a place to voice my opinions on matters relevant to the field should the need arise. While it took me awhile to finally take the plunge and join a professional organization, I am now quite pleased that I did!

I received my first packet from the NCSS yesterday. In it, I found a welcoming letter, informing me what I would receive as a member, and a sticker for my non-existent car. I also found lots of information regarding their upcoming annual NCSS conference in Atlanta, which I will not be attending. The sessions looked very interesting, however. The NCSS newsletter, The Social Studies Professional, published 6 times a year, was also included in this packet. Perhaps the most interesting and certainly most helpful publication included in the packet was the newest issue of Social Education, the NCSS' official journal. In in,I found lots of fascinating articles published by experienced social studies teachers hailing from all over the country and from a variety of different concentrations. Though it did cover a range of topics in the social sciences, history was the most mentioned. Since my primary concentration is in history, I was pleased to see this!

I think being a member of the NCSS will be very helpful to me. Already, the journal has made me rethink some of my previously held ideas on how to best approach teaching. For instance, there was an article extolling the benefits of the lecture, when many of my education books had hinted that one should avoid lecture as often as possible and instead focus on interactive, innovative learning activities. While I believe an excellent teacher should use a combination of the two when teaching, the article presented a valued point and helped fully restore the lecture in my mind. Also, there were two articles dealing with teaching about genocide, one focusing on Rwanda and one more specifically on the Holocaust. Since the class I observe at Goshen Middle School is currently studying the genocide in Rwanda, it was fascinating to read what other professionals had written and apply this to my own observational experience. Throughout the rest of my college career, I hope to keep learning and applying what I read from these publications into my lesson plans so that I, too, may be well on my way towards becoming an knowledgeable teaching professional.

Joining a Professional Organization

Action #2

I recently joined around 26,000 educators from around the nation and became an official member of the National Council for Social Studies.