Children

I have always admired becoming an accomplished instructor in Early Childhood Education. It has always been my passion to work with children with or without pay. My dream has always been to get even a volunteering opportunity to satisfy my dream as an instructor. On September 18th, I was elated because my dream to work as a volunteer had come true. I worked as a volunteer at Green Acres Baptist Church Preschool. On that day, I woke up earlier than all my roommate’s wake and prepared myself for my most admired experience as a volunteer instructor. It was a long journey from my dwelling to the school. Even though I had to wait for the bus for a long, I was so thrilled to be there. It was the first time for me to see a real preschool in the U.S. Even though it was not a public school, it was still splendid to me. I discerned I would learn a lot from this experience. I do not care about remuneration or anything else. All I care about is the experience I would obtain.

September 20th: Emily wanted to have fun with toys, so she draws thoughtlessly instead of working on her assignment. The assistant teacher Miss Allen castigated her, and she cried vociferously. I went to Emily and asked her, “What’s your favorite color?” She just continued crying and said nothing. So I went to ask Maggie, who was sitting next to her. “Maggie, what is your darling color?” She said, “Orange.” Then, I asked Emily again. “Emily, orange is Maggie’s favorite color. How about you?” This time, she answered promptly, “Pink.” “How about we color frogs pink?” Then, I took three crayons from the box. “Which one is pink?” I asked. Finally, she smiled, picked a pink crayon, and began her work. “Why are you helping out at Green Acres Baptist Church Preschool if it is not a class assignment?” The tutor, Mr. Smith, queried me after reading my journals, which documented what had transpired in the Green Acres Baptist Church Preschool class. I answered him by quoting my journal: “Gain experience. I do not care about the pay. I do not care that I have to get up very early every morning. All I care about is the experience.” For two months, I worked as a volunteer, I became more self-assured, and I learned how to deal with all kinds of classroom challenges. In addition, I feel that I now have a greater amount of empathy for the students. This may seem strange but a boy in the preschool whose first language was Hindi helped me. Sometimes he was terrified to speak, and he often played by himself. When I saw that he was alone, I often talked with him or encouraged him to engage more enthusiastically in small group activities with other children.

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When I was an undergraduate in China, during my senior year, I interned at a company named Rise Immersion Subject English (RISE). That was the first time for me to be an instructor. Even though I did my internship almost one year ago, I still memorize all the details about the ultimate day I was at RISE. My “babies” were so magnificent on that day. They did not perform very well on their dictation. Notably, even the peak student in my class performed scantily. After school, the father of a girl named Linda came and spoke to me. He was disturbed about his daughter’s dictation score. I elucidated that the assistant teacher had given the dictation that day and that she had no idea what the students had learned the day before because of her absence. Even though this situation transpired, Linda had still done a superb job. After I spoke with Linda’s father, I cleaned up my personal stuff and walked out of the building. Linda, who was sitting on the back of her father’s motorbike, said goodbye to me in her loudest voice. At that moment, my tears were flowing. Her family was not very affluent, and it probably took a substantial part of her parents’ income to pay the tuition fee. As a teacher at RISE, I had my first prospect to ponder about whether I could consider teaching as a lifelong career. The tuition at RISE was so expensive that not every family could afford it. This institution introduced teaching materials from the U.S., mostly from the Houghton Mifflin Company, and introduced new educational concepts as well as new technological tools into China. Working with avid peers, teaching highly creative children, and learning cutting-edge educational concepts solidified my fortitude to study abroad. I carried out all the responsibilities of a teacher, including teaching children English, Math, and Science, communicating with parents, holding a Theme Party every month, and phone-call teaching. I feel this experience built up my organizational and communication skills as well as my teaching skills and my ability to be conscientious. Working there meant that a teacher needed to not only cooperate with peers and teach students but also to have dazzling communication skills to negotiate with parents and to describe their children’s behavior. This experience formed my ability to work autonomously and to use my initiative when required.

It was such an honor for me to apply successfully to the Early Childhood Education (M.Ed.) program at UGA. I believe that I will be able to transfer similar passionate working to the MAT program as I have been doing before. The UGA program offered me a number of chances to enter the real classroom and observe how teachers work. Taking LLED7320 has given me the opportunity to have a ten hours’ job as a Writing Workshop tutor at Chase Street Elementary School. I planned one unit for fourth Grad students on writing informational texts about space. It is different from what I had learned from my various textbooks. In many textbooks, it was called “the Writing Workshop”; however, in Mrs. Barrett’s class, it was called “the Writer’s Workshop.” Even though the difference between a writing workshop and a writers’ workshop is subtle, it is significant. In fact, it is about the writers. My teaching plan was about space. I structured my lesson cautiously, but something happened that I did not anticipate. I was well prepared for the last lesson of the unit, which was about how to add charts or illustrations to make the students’ informational texts more comprehensible and fascinating. I designed an activity, which required students to sticky-tag one planet and asked them to write a caption under it using the smart board. Nevertheless, something was incorrect with the smart board. Students could not write anything on it. Mrs. Barrett helped me to use a computer. When I asked students what the name of a particular planet was, Mrs. Barrett helped me write the name down using the computer instead of the faulty smart board. Even though it was not what I originally premeditated, I managed to unravel the problem. It might not have been perfect, but it was still a great experience. I learned to think effectively in cases of trouble instead of panicking. This was a valuable insight that has stayed with me and would benefit me in my future teaching profession.

I believe I have the best qualities that have always assisted me in challenging situations in my career of teaching children. First, patience is one of my key qualities. It is the key to handling and guiding children effectively. Moreover, it helps me communicate with my parents effectively. It is worth noting that children need to be given adequate time to work in line with the expectations of the instructor. With patience, I can offer effective guidance in all instances and ensure children comply to the requirements effectively. Second, my love for children also constitutes my qualities. Children are innocent angels who need to be given the opportunity to develop gradually. I love children and I love working with children. This quality would guide me in this job as required. Third, I am excessively accommodative and helpful to children and their parents. Accommodation would help me handle children and address their parents comfortably. I do not always put into consideration the negative actions committed by children, but I am always focused on helping them in any situation and ensuring they realize their potential. The maternal quality is also characteristic for me. In line with the maternal quality, I take all children as my own children and therefore, serve them fairly and as required. This increases my capability of treating children with the required love instead of harassing them each time they go astray. These qualities would intensify my professional attitude to children and their families.

Resulting from my experience, I have aspired not only to obtain a master’s degree but also to work as an elementary school teacher. To be honest, at first, I did not have such great feelings and a strong desire about being a teacher. After spending some time with children, I began to think about this question critically. Would I want to be an educator for my entire life? I answered myself “Yes”. I really have the passion to teach; it is part of me. I wish that my application to transfer to the MAT degree would be considered, as this would satisfy all my dreams of becoming an accomplished instructor. Teaching is my life and I would be excessively happy to be applied for the position.