Running Head: SECTION TWO

Section Two: Teacher Candidate Background Experiences

Introduction

In this section of my portfolio, I have included pertinent information that outlines my

experiences in becoming an educator. Throughout section two, you will explore my Teacher

Candidate educational background and work experience that has served as steppingstones to get

me to this point in my educational career. Also included in section two, is my classroom

application experiences and working in other learning institutions, like Buffalo Saturday

Academies. Throughout this section you will examine my philosophy of education that drives

my motivation and inspiration for educating children and overall pushed me to this point of

educational certification. Lastly, you will review my employment resume that states my

extensive involvement when working with children and families. It is my greatest hope that this

section is evidence of the time and efforts I have put in to be the best educator I can be for my

students.

Teacher Candidate Educational Background

When I was applying for post-secondary institutions and looking at programs, I knew one

thing: I wanted to work with children. This evolved into me taking a two-year Early Childhood

Education diploma, from there I was immersed into childcare centers, early learning programs

and had gained significant knowledge in child development. Passionate about early childhood

education, I still currently withhold noble standing with the College of Early Childhood

Educators. With a passion for early years and learning, I sought further education and returned

back to school for full time academics in an Honor’s Bachelor Early Childhood Leadership

program. Throughout this time, I was studying full time and maintained multiple means of
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employment to support my well-being. This determination, flexibility and drive to succeed came

with the initiating of spark to become a full-time registered teacher. Thus, returning to school for

the final time to accomplish a master’s degree in education to provide myself with as many

opportunities in education that I meant to have.

Work Experiences

I have been working with children from a very young age. I grew up on a farm and would

often be looking after my many cousins in the summertime. Little did I know, these small

distinctive moments in my upbringing would lead me to my path of happiness as an adult. I have

worked extremely hard over the past seven years to build my work experience, networking

connections and forging the personal steps to explore what I am truly passionate about when it

comes to teaching children. I have had many diverse employment experiences with children. I

have worked as a Registered Early Childhood Educator in Full- Day Learning kindergarten

classrooms in public school systems and in childcare settings and day camp settings. I have

worked as a before and after schoolteacher for a Kindergarten cohort for a fiscal school year

while finishing up my diploma studies. I have worked as a Respite Support Worker for a young

child who has severe intellectual and physical disabilities, I am trained and experienced with

personal care, therapies, certain medical treatments, catheters and tracheostomy tubes. I want my

extensive additional training to be evident to my children and families that I am here to support

your child to the best of their ability and want them to succeed. I had a 750-hour internship at the

local renowned children’s hospital for my bachelor’s degree certification. I shadowed a Child

Life specialist who job is to introduce coping strategies to children to reduce anxiety and pain

that comes with medical settings. I prepared children educationally for medical procedures and

treatments using developmentally appropriate language and materials. I promoted family

centered care by providing information, advocacy and support to families of pediatric patients.

As a student, I spearheaded educational experiences like implementing virtual reality headsets on

patients during cancer treatments to decrease pain management and feelings of anxiety. These

diverse experiences gave me an inside look at how these different institutions house and support

children in their care. I learned once in a lifetime experiences like how to support children who

parents have recently deceased in a car accident and are now mourning the loss of their parents. I

have the skill set now to navigate these conversations with children, so they feel heard and

supported. These life skills of how to communicate with children when it comes to grief and loss

are essential when teaching, as these are life experiences students will have questions about.

I also currently work in the public catholic school system as a substitute teacher where I

have experience substitute teaching from Kindergarten to grade twelve. I maintained, planned

and delivered inclusive learning content to support the homeroom teacher and development of

students. I was recently hired as a teacher for a homeschool academy where I created 2E

curriculum for children who have exceptionalities and learning challenges. I had an incredible

mentor, who showered me in knowledge about support for children who are not neuro typical

thinkers or learners. I am now able to effectively create curriculum on site and virtually to

children of all learning abilities to meet their learning goals. I have experience teaching children

who have high complex behavioral disorders and can often become uncooperative, defiant and

hostile towards peers and teachers. I have taken the initiative as a growing educator to gain

additional knowledge and research on these avenues, like professional development

opportunities and networking with experts in the field. I take pride in my ability to communicate

effectively with children and families, I believe my open-door communication policy and
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outgoing nature provides children with a safe and secure place to share feelings, talk about

concerns and engage in positive conversation.

School Observations and Classroom Application

During my experience as an educator, I have made many observations and reflected on

them so I can apply them to my professional teaching toolkit. Attached are observation sheets

that were conducted on me during three different educational placement opportunities for my

Early Childhood Education Diploma. They are evidence of classroom teaching and learning as a

growing educator, I was assessed on different areas of instruction and I am proud to implement

them into my portfolio as observation tools. The following sheets are observation sheets assessed

by my educational mentors examining my experience working with students. The first page is

my experiences caring for infants, the second is my experience with teaching and caring for

preschool age children, Lastly, is my experience working with kindergarten school age children

in the public district.

These observation sheets are evidence that contributed towards wanting to go back to

pursue further schooling after I had become extremely passionate about children and educating

children for the future. More recently, for the requisite of this Master program, we needed to do a

certain amount of field placement hours and we conducted ours at Buffalo Saturday Academies.

We explored different educational institutions throughout Buffalo, where we interacted and

engaged with children and their families. We also implemented educational activities that

revolved around a weekly ‘theme’. Ex. Dr. Seuss Day. We participated in diverse educational

opportunities where we explored Black History Month and created lesson plans for children of

all ages to explore their culture and community. Throughout my time at placements, field work

and internships I have learned there is no price tag on experience. As teachers, we can learn

through theory and research endlessly, but when we ignite the learning that takes place

organically and through actual hands-on real-life experience- there’s no relation.

Below, you will also find my completed placement hours for Medaille. These hours were

at the already stated Buffalo Academies, completed on Bi-weekly Saturday visits. This

experience immersed me into New York State Common Core Standards and learning standards.

Having to create lesson plans that correlate with NYS standards and CCS was an excellent skill

to add to my professional toolkit, it outlines my ability to connect state standards with learning

experiences which is a crucial aspect to daily teaching tasks. It is my wish that you see

throughout this section, my fundamental foundation of knowledge and skills that are an asset to

be able to flourish in a classroom application setting.

Medaille Field Placement #1 completed hours.

Medaille Field Placement #2 completed hours.

Philosophy of Education

My philosophy of education has been a work in progress throughout the years. I am

constantly trying to broaden my knowledge through reading, workshops and professional

development opportunities. Here is my personal educational philosophy in regard to: the school,

the curriculum, the learning taking place, the learner, assessments, classroom management and

the teacher. These are all crucial components to a successful educational experience.

The School

I believe a school needs to serve as a place where the unique perspectives and differences

among all individuals are fully embraced, valued and celebrated. Stereotypes are eliminated and

people are free to show up as their most authentic selves. A school serves as a home for children

to explore, grow and develop emotionally and academically to set them up for future success.

Schools need to be aware of culturally responsive teaching practices and incorporate additional

supports when needed for not just students but students’ families as well.
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The Curriculum

The curriculum philosophy I resonate with the most is, teacher framed, child lead

learning experiences. I believe childhood is not meant to be merely preparation for adulthood,

it’s a time to be cherished, protected and preserved. Our students only get one childhood, it’s our

job in assisting to make it magical. When planning for the children in programs, I work to build

quality curriculum that meets the needs of the learners. These are the key indicators of quality

curriculum. I believe because quality curriculum uses a conceptual approach to organize the unit,

we must recognize that this is NOT how all resources are structured. Often, an emphasis is

placed on fact-based knowledge, which does not lend itself to approaching big questions,

understanding concepts and principles/understandings. A fact-based approach allows children to

learn facts and facts are not easily connected across disciplines (unlike concepts), they are not

easily transferred, and are easily forgotten out of context. As a growing educator I am always

looking for a richer, meaningful, and more satisfying learning experience for the students in my

care. My goals when designing curriculum are specific and authentic to the child’s

developmental level, interests and learning goals. I am an advocate for differentiated instruction

and believe that children learn differently and think in different ways, thus it’s our job as

educators to identify these learning paths and support them to the best of our ability.

When planning high quality learning experiences for students, I follow a certain

framework to support my thought and vison processes. Below is the framework and questions I

ask myself when creating high standard learning experiences for students.
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The Learning

“Our children need our time, not our intelligence. They bloom with love, not perfect

language skills. They need mercy, not intellectual mastery. And they will learn—indeed, truly

learn- when they are given the time to explore ideas without constant fact-checking and

examination (Arment, 2019 pg. 6). This quote guides me when thinking about learning

processes. Children learn at their own pace and time. It cannot be forced, or it will not be

sustainable. I am always remembering this when observing and scaffolding certain experiences

or setting up challenging learning experiences for children. Is it within their zone of proximal

development? Will this child be engaged in their learning? Are they acquiring any new

knowledge throughout this experience? These are all questions that go through my teacher brain

when creating content for the learners in my care. I am trained and informed in Google Suites,

Class Dojo and Smart Board technologies. These platforms are extremely relevant and helpful to

certain students because they perform better through instruction and assessment via tech tools.
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These can be used in assistance to your curriculum to scaffold the learning taking place and help

support student outcomes. It is an asset to know how to operate and navigate these devices as

they will help certain students in your learning environments to succeed and it’s our job to label

and provide that learning tool for support.

The Learner

Overall, it is extremely essential as a teacher to be aware of the way diverse learners in

your classroom think and learn and process information. If we cannot get across to a student in a

way they understand, think and process information, then we have not been successful in our

jobs as teachers. I would be grateful to teach any grade; I am qualified to teach (K-6). I do prefer

to work with younger children, thus why I decided a master’s degree in Elementary learning. I

emphasize that the first five years of life, has a lot to do with how the next eighty turn out.

Therefore, I believe the early years are crucial imprinting years in person’s life and I feel so

grateful that I get to spend so much time with children in that specific season of their lifetime.

Assessment

The assessments I use are with the deliberate goal of understanding the child, and their

learning profile, as well as strengths and needs in different areas. I have used assessments for

learning in the form of pre-assessments in order to plan learning opportunities and ensure that

everyone has the opportunity to learn within their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). I want

each child to have the chance to learn something new when I teach and so planning with an

understanding of what they already know/ don’t know/ are interested in – is essential for their

success. I believe effective assessments for learning also take the form of frequent and

meaningful oral feedback during learning blocks as well as on work- in- progress projects so that

children can understand how they can make their work the best it can be and so that they have
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the choice and opportunity to improve the quality of their work if they so choose. I prefer to

monitor progress through observation and note-taking, sometimes in the form of checklists or

point form notes from the day. I prefer to work collaboratively with the children to develop

criteria for their work and then they spend time developing it. From what I have observed,

children are typically the judge of the level of satisfaction they have for their own work and

whether they wish to continue to work toward mastery in a particular area or if they prefer to to

move on to a parallel skill something or similar difficulty that gives them a break from what they

have been working on.

Classroom Management

In the learning environments that I lead, I use a democratic agreement system for ‘rules. I

believe rules should be made up together as a whole class and agreed upon collaboratively. Thus,

I don’t call them rules, I call them agreements. It provides opportunity for children to talk about

what kind of support they would like and what they will need at the beginning of the year. Also,

how they will handle ongoing problems with their collective respect of the standards. The set

standards can be changed with discussion and vote by members, provided that the change is in

keeping with the core values of the institution and that there are no safety concerns. Classroom

management skills provides the time where the actual learning can happen. With constant

interruptions, behavioural outbursts and poor management skills no one will be able to focus,

think or even contribute to what’s going on learning wise throughout the room. Hence, why I

took the initiative to complete an AODA Accessible Service Training workshop. I learned how

to support students with accessibility difficulties and different ways to support them in learning

environments. I am equipped with a Second Step- Violence Protection workshop certificate

where I was immersed in knowledge about violence in the classroom and how to create and

provide safety measures within a classroom environment for the benefit and safety of all

students. Lastly, I possess a ‘Kids Have Stress Too’ workshop certificate which helps me as a

teacher to understand how children regulate emotions, deal with conflict resolution. It also helps

my role as the teacher when facilitating instruction to not overwhelm students and be aware that

we don’t always know what happens when they go home at night. We need to be equipped with

these skills to support those unique perspectives of being an educator in 2020.

The Teacher

It is important to note that there are two teachers to a classroom, the educator and the

environment. I fully embrace using my learning environment as a second teacher. Having your

learning spaces set up in mindful, diligent and thought out system will benefit you as a teacher. It

will help shape and construct organic learning experiences that can in turn reflect student interest

and engagement. Children are the future of our society. Therefore, our role as teachers is to

provide an environment that is equipped with responsive, nurturing educators and

developmentally appropriate learning tools to ignite a love for lifelong learning. The first role of

the educator is to recognize the human personality of the younger being and respect it

(Montessori, 2009). As a teacher its extremely important to develop strong, friendly and

professional relationships with children and their families. So, they can come to you with

questions and concerns openly without feelings of judgement or fear. The teacher needs to be

aware of personal biases and cultural diversity that present in their classroom environments.

“The mediocre teacher tells, the good teacher explains, the superior teacher demonstrates, and

the great teacher inspires” (Ward, William, 2009).

Resume

My resume below highlights my education credentials, professional experience,

professional development certificates and achievements.

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Reference letters available upon request.

Conclusion

This section of my portfolio looked at my philosophy of education and work experience

working with children and families. It is my greatest hope that it was evident to you when

reading this section, my continued dedication in becoming the greatest teacher I can be. In the

next section three, you will explore my anectodical evidence that has supported me in becoming

an educator thus far.