My name is Danielle Gubelman, and I am currently studying to become an early childhood educator. I am a senior at Illinois State University in Normal. Previously, I attended Joliet Junior College to obtain an Associate’s Degree before transferring to ISU my junior year. My blog will be used to connect with fellow early childhood students, ones I attend class with and ones I do not, along with other early childhood educators. I am anxious to hear about my fellow students’ clinical experiences throughout the semester. I will also use my blog to share my personal experiences from the classroom in hopes it will inspire or provide others with helpful insight.
I always knew that being around children is what I wanted a career with. I also knew that I had a strong passion of helping people, which led me to my decision of becoming an educator of young children. I specifically came to the realization that I wanted to become a teacher when I worked as a high school helper in a second grade classroom every other day during my senior year of high school. I thought “wow, I could see myself doing this as a career!” In addition, I've babysat for several years, worked at early learning centers, and worked as tutors in classrooms.
Previously at ISU, I've done clinical hours with two year olds at a daycare center, prekindergarten students in a special education classroom, and first graders at a Lutheran school. This semester, I will be in a third grade classroom. With that said, I will have several goals for myself this semester throughout my clinical journey. I hope to become more affiliated with the third grade curriculum, as I have not had any experience at that age level yet. As previous stated, I’ve done clinical hours with two year olds, prekindergartners, and first graders, so third grade is somewhat foreign to me. This kind of makes me nervous to begin this semester’s clinical experience. What makes me nervous is that I feel like third graders seem a lot older than the students I have worked with before. I’m also unsure of the curriculum taught in the third grade. I’m hoping my nerves will be put at ease as I meet my cooperating teacher and students that first day.
Furthermore, I would like to build a positive relationship with my cooperating teacher this semester. In past semesters, I have become close with my cooperating teachers, so having that type of relationship again will be very helpful. As my past cooperating teachers and professors could probably tell you, I have a habit of asking a lot of questions! I’m just always wanting to learn more, and there’s a huge curiosity aspect to what goes on in each different teachers’ classroom.
This semester, I would like to go more in depth in my learning of how to differentiate instruction to meet all of my clinical students' needs. I think this is something I can pick tips up from my cooperating teacher. Every student is different and requires different things in their instruction. I feel as though this constantly changes too. This is something I believe I will become better at with more practice.
Finally, I will work on increasing my self confidence, as a teacher, as I teach lessons and work with the students in my third grade classroom. This too will improve with practice. I struggle with being assertive sometimes, and since I have older students this semester, I need to make sure I do my best at using my “teacher voice” and providing precise instructions on what I expect of them.
It’s going to be a great semester!
"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young."- Henry Ford
