Elevator Speech

Hello, my name is Reece Rada. I am a junior at Flowery Branch High school. Throughout the year, I spent two hours of my school days mentoring at Spout Springs Elementary, inside Mrs. Smallwood's first grade classroom. The mentorship was a wonderful experience, as I learned many new things and grew in my love for children. In the eighth grade, I decided I wanted to be an early childhood teacher. I took classes in high school based on teaching and early education, and I also currently work in the nursery at my church weekly. The biggest topic that came across my mind that I wanted to learn more about while in my internship was how to positively impact a student. Since this topic is very dear to my heart, I decided that I was going to do my final project for Honors Mentorship on this subject. My essential question was to distinguish how an early childhood teacher can positively impact a students life. To answer this question, I studied on what an effective teacher is, what their qualities are, and what the difference is between being effective and qualified. Overall, my mentorship experience was very beneficial to me, and provided me with many lessons that I will carry on as I continue to aim to be the best and most effective teacher I can be in my near future.

Week of 5/5

1. What impact did this experience have on my personal growth?\
My mentorship experienced helped me grow in my patience, responsibility, and love for children.

2.What was my greatest accomplishment?
My greatest accomplishment was working throughout the year with two individual students, watching them grow both in academics and in their social life.

3.What did you find most challenging about the mentorship?
What I found most challenging was dealing with students with troubling behavior. It required a lot of patience.

4.What did you discover about yourself?
At my mentorship, I discovered that I'm very patient and have a heart for children.

5.What influence will this experience have on your future academic and career choices?
This experience has greatly influenced my academic and career choices. While I thought I knew I wanted to go into teaching before my internship, I now am certain. I'm looking into colleges who specialize in education all throughout the south east.

6.What did you learn from people you admire in this organization?
The person I admired the most was my mentor, Mrs. Smallwood. By working with her daily, I learned the importance in the balance of sternness and positivity, and making sure the students strive to their very best.

3/31

1. What successes have you experienced at your mentor ship? What did they mean to you?

Some successes I have experienced would be helping certain students I work individually with to grow in their academic levels. It meant a lot to me, knowing I am making a difference.

2. What setbacks have you experienced? What did you learn from those setbacks?

An example of a setback in my mentor ship would be not knowing how to handle improper conduct from the students early in the year.  I have learned ways to handle such issues now, with experience throughout the year, and with the help of my mentor.

3/24

1. If you wanted to follow in the career path of someone at your internship site, what would you need to do to make this happen?
To follow in the career path of my mentor, I would need to go into an early childhood education major in college. Taking this internship is a great step to prepare to be a teacher as well. I would need to also do internships in college and student-teach.
2.How does the organization distribute the level of work among the staff? How equitable do you believe the distribution is?
Teaching at an elementary school is very different from most other careers. While you do have teamwork among the teachers in preparing lessons for the standards needed to be taught, it's all very independent. It is very equitable, because you are doing the work that applies to you, while other teachers are doing their work that belongs to them.
3. What types of tasks are you discovering that you enjoy or excel at completing? Which ones are less attractive or fulfilling?
I enjoy working with students one-on-one, either in small groups or just helping in group activities. Some activities that are less attractive are speaking in front of the class as a whole, mainly because of my shy personality. 

Interpersonal Skills

1.  How would you describe the culture within your organization (ways in which co-workers interact or don’t interact) and how does this fit with your “ideal” employer?
in my mentorship, the culture is very friendly and professional. A lot of teamwork is involved, mainly between all the teachers. The co-workers  are very close and are always open to helping each other out.
2.  Describe the way in which the organization collaborates with other groups in the area.
At the elementary school, all groups interact with each other in one way or another. Between taking kids to specials, assemblies, and clusters, teachers from all over the school are always interacting with each other.
3. In what ways have you experienced or witnessed either informal or formal mentoring taking place within the organization, other than the mentoring you are experiencing?
In the first grade classroom, I have come across difficult experiences, to where I did not know how to properly handle it. One example would be the constant misbehavior of a child, and not knowing how to to give the proper consequence. My mentor then would come in and handled the situation formally and in the right way, which taught me another new skill. 

Interview

For my interview, I chose to ask my wonderful mentor, Mrs. Smallwood, about questions relating to both the academic and nurturing sides of being  a teacher.

1. What qualities do you believe you need to be an effective teacher?
- "Patience, flexibility, and a showing of professionalism and humility. Also, being a team player."

2. Does nurturing or academics impact the students more?
- "Nurturing impacts the younger students more. You need nurturing to under-lye the academics in all ages, because without it, it has the potential to be ineffective."

2. Have you had any students come back to tell you how you impacted them? What did they say?
- "Yes, as a matter of fact I have one student who comes to visit me every year on open house. The students mainly say it was because I showed interest in their life, rather than just teaching the material and treating them as just any ordinary student."

4. At what point do you decide to report a situation regarding educational issues (such as speech therapy or diagnosing ADD) or home issues?
- "There is a big difference between the two. With educational situations, we have to  run tests and document data, in a long process. If I ever saw a possibility of a home problem, I would report it right as I suspected it."

5. What is the difference in a qualified teacher vs. an effective teacher?
- "An effective teacher is more nurturing, and gets to really know his/her students. Having a high degree in teaching doesn't always make you a good teacher. You need a mix of both."

6. Do you believe that a teacher can affect a child's behavior? Why?
- "Yes. To do so effectively, you need to find out the underlying cause of the bad behavior. There's normally a reason for any bad behavior. For example, a student constantly blurting out may do so to seek attention they may not receive at home. Without finding the cause, it's just a cycle and it won't change. It's all about how you approach the situation."

7. 20 years from now, do you think your students will remember experiences from your class? What do you hope they remember?
- "I hope so. I hope they know I loved them and believed in them."

8. Switching things up, how have the students impacted you?
- "They have impacted me by me growing in my patience and flexibility. I've also learned to look at each child individually instead of just a group of 22."

9. Are there certain students that stand out to you? Why?
- "Yes, because of the impact they made on me. There have been many with high academic strengths, and especially weaknesses who have made it to be so successful.

10. What advice would you give me walking into the career of teaching to be a future mpactful teacher?
- "Keep your eyes wide open. Have high expectations, but don't be dissapointed if things don't work out; rather, learn from it. Get to know your kids, have a good grasp with the curriculum, and always be open to learning more. Another big thing is to always bring out the positive qualities in the students, and to make sure they know you believe in them."




All of Mrs. Smallwood's answers gave me a great insight into the mind of a great teacher. She really proved my point in saying that nurturing can have much more of an effect on a student later in life. I agree with every bit of what she said, and I really hope I can be half as wonderful of a teacher as she is one day

Week of 1/21

1. My most memorable moment last semester at my mentorship was the classroom Christmas party. I met all of the parents of the students, when many of them told me on the effect I've had on their children and how they look up to me. I love all the students so much, so hearing that warmed my heart. Before I left, one of the mothers stopped me and gave me a big plate with a Christmas tree on it. On the tree, all of the students put fingerprints on the tree to look like ornaments. It was the sweetest moment and I was so honored.

2. My biggest lesson learned is to gain patience and to approach problems in a calm and patient way.

3.This  mentorship experience will provide me with a lot of knowledge and skills for when I pursue my actual teaching career. Taking this class will also increase my chances for college acceptance, for it provides me with a lot of experience before-hand.

4. The experience at Spout Springs has made me fall in love with the idea of teaching. I am more excited now then before to pursue this career.