Jesse Colligan

PDP Essay
11/30/15
A persons college years may well be one of the most important times in their lives. There
is an immense amount of growth and changes that take place within a four year time span and I
am no exception. At 21 I can honestly say I am not the same person that I was when I was 18 and
leaving for college. Growth is a concept Bridgewater really tries to instill in its students. I have
seen growth in my life ethically and intellectually. I have also managed to demonstrate
community responsibility academic citizenship and create goals for healthy living.
Intellectual Growth and Discovery
College is naturally the next step in intellectual growth after high school. For me it never
really seemed like an option not to go straight from high school on to college; this wasnt
because my parents forced it on me, in fact they were strong supporters of the take a year off
option, the real pressure to go to college came from societal pressures more than anything else. I
grew up in an upper middle class family in Northern Virginia, where there were millions of other
students just like me. There was a constant push from administration for all of us to get a college
degree and to pursue higher education. I wasnt immediately thrilled at the prospect of spending
another four years in school, but I went for it. I started applying to colleges and making college
visits despite my reservations and I ended up making the decision to attend Bridgewater.
Despite my reluctance I am now very glad that I decided to go to college. I really have
learned an immense amount in the four years Ive spent in higher education. After I picked my
major, liberal studies, I truly took ownership over my learning. When I chose to be an elementary
educator suddenly college became interesting. When I was learning about child development and

teaching strategies I had genuine interest and I finally felt like college was the right choice for
me. I never thought I would end up back in the classroom as I spent a solid five years with the
belief that school was boring.
Possibly the most important project I completed during my teacher education was my
curriculum unit. I always knew that teachers were required to write lesson plans, but it never
occurred to me what that really entailed until taking curriculum and instruction with Dr. Carr.
Teachers have to do a lot more than just write their lesson plans; teachers have to think about
how they are going to incorporate music, art, cooperative learning, technology, and literacy into
daily life in the classroom. Creating this unit was extremely beneficial to my learning. Prior to
creating this curriculum unit I was pretty uneasy about writing lesson plans. The few lesson plans
I had written prior to this had never been particularly great in my opinion. Through creating this
fourth grade science unit I gained a lot of confidence in my planning abilities through a lot of
practice.
Through my education courses I developed my own teaching philosophy. This
philosophy is a blend of teaching ideals I have gained from Bridgewaters education program,
but also some thoughts I have developed through my own schooling and classroom experience.
My teaching philosophy would most fall in line with that of a educational progressivist. I
believe that students will gain the most through their education when a curriculum is somewhat
modified to fit students educational needs and experiences and peaks students interest. Students
are going to have a much more positive outlook on school when the learning becomes
meaningful to them. I know as a student one of my favorite projects was when we had the
opportunity to pick any non-fiction book and do a report on it. I picked a book on manatees,

because I loved animals. I recall this as being one of my favorite projects simply because
learning was truly tailored to my interests.
I also believe that schools have a role in molding children into functioning member of
society. In school students should learn how to make smart choices and recognize that there are
both positive and negative consequences to all of their actions and decisions. I also believe that
students need to be taught how to engage socially with other students. These skills are not innate
for some children and hence I believe it is the teachers job to help instill these in their students.
These are not skills that are taught through explicit instruction, but rather they are gained from
practical experience, such as working collaboratively, and through peer mediation.
Outside of the realm of my education courses another class that challenged me to think
and grow intellectually was my sociology class with Dr. Burzumato. Professor Burzumato
studied marriage and family and the study that he co-authored entitled the Knot Yet Report really
interested me. His brief discussion in class on the matter intrigued me enough that I wanted to go
and read his study outside of class simply based on my own interest. I really wanted to compare
my views on the matter to what the statistics had to say. Ive always wanted to get married young
and start my family sooner rather than later, but according to the report this is very counter to
most of todays findings. Despite the fact that my hopes for my future are pretty much the polar
opposite of what seems to be the trend of the day I am not discouraged by it, but I do find
enjoyment in the fact that based on this study Im not your average joe.

Ethical Development

When I first entered college I thought I knew what direction my moral and ethical
compass pointed, however upon reflecting on the last four years I can see now that the arrow on
that compass has shifted a couple degrees. Ive always used the bible as a way of directing me; I
havent always been the best about going down the path that it sets out for me, but as Ive
matured through college I feel I have definitely gotten better at it. Before college I would hear
stories about how a lot of people leave home and go a little crazy without mom and dad around. I
believed that would never happen to me, however I did succumb to some of those freshman year
peer pressure. I think a lot of my bad decision making freshman year stemmed from the fact I
didnt have the most moral friends.
After a while I got bored of going out. I realized I was trying to be someone who I
really wasnt. Im an outgoing person and love to have fun with my friends, but it took me a
while to realize that I could still be that person without partying. I realized that I had not been
living out the ethical code that I wanted to, but I didnt know how to correct the behavior I had
become adjusted to.
The summer job I had in 2014 was just what I need to help me remedy the mixed feelings
I had about who I was and who I wanted to be. I worked at a Christian summer camp where I
was suddenly surrounded by fun Christian men and women. It was amazing to me to see how
many other young adults there were who loved Jesus and loved kids and knew how to have fun
and had great senses of humor. This was how my ethics and morals were influenced outside of
the classroom, but they were influenced a great deal in the classroom as well.
During college I discovered that my code of ethics and morals dont just affect my life
they also affect the lives of those around me. This is especially true with the career field I plan to

go into, which is teaching. Teachers have the unique opportunity to work with numerous little
lives. I will be in direct contact with my students 8 hours a day 5 days a week. That is 40 hours a
week! When students are spending that much time with any one person they are bound to pick up
on the things their teacher does and says, as such it is important that teacher is mindful of what
they say and do and what sort of morals you show them.
I created my classroom management model in classroom management last year. This
model serves as a guideline of how I plan to manage my classroom. This outline of how I plan to
run my classroom can help me ensure that I remember how to treat, care for, and nurture each
student. I have learned that all students are individuals and that equal isn't always fair. Often
teachers need to make accommodations and modifications for student differences. There will be
some students in a classroom that struggle to meet expectations and some that far exceed them. It
is important not to leave the struggling students behind; in fact it is unethical for a teacher to do
that. It isn't always easy to look out for those students who take longer to learn, but it is of the
utmost importance. It is also important to incorporate different teaching strategies that engage all
learners in order to get all students engaged in their learning. It would be morally wrong for a
teacher to only incorporate one learning style into their teaching, because one style will never
suit a whole class. Teaching and learning is not "one size fits all."
Wellness and goals for healthy living
The artifact I included in my portfolio on wellness and healthy living was the behavior
change plan I completed in my Wellness class. In wellness we were asked to create a behavior
change plan. It was a pretty broad scope we could choose from. Examples of some goals were to
eat healthier, sleep more, or even procrastinate less. My goal was to become more flexible. This

behavior change project required me to complete weekly logs to track my progress toward my
goal of increased flexibility. It seemed tedious to reflect every week on how it was going but
looking back now I see how beneficial those weekly reflections were. Tracking my progress
throughout this behavior change plan was a way of keeping myself accountable to actually
stretching and doing yoga every week. This project was a short term behavior change because it
only lasted about a semester; however it really helped me understand how I can set out wellness
goals for the future.
I have found that for me running helps support not only my physical health but also my
emotional and mental health. After I go run overall I am in a better mood, which scientifically is
because exercise releases endorphins which make you happy, but I have found that even just a
little run increases my ability to focus. Running has become a useful study strategy for me as
strange as that sounds, but when I have a paper or big project I need to buckle down and work on
I will often go for a run beforehand. Some people argue that I could have used that hour I spent
on a run actually working on the assignment at hand, however I have found that if I dont run I
get so distracted that that hour would be wasted anyway.
One of my most current wellness goals is to complete a half marathon. Since I found
running to be so beneficial to my wellbeing I have decided to challenge myself to improve and
challenge myself in my running. So far I have reached 8 miles, so that means I only have 5.1
more miles to work up to, which sounds like a lot, but I imagine with another month of training I
should be ready to register for my first half marathon. Similarly to my behavior change plan
where I had to record when I did activities to support my wellness goal I have been recording my
runs. I came across the Nike Run app that will record the distance and pace of my runs. I have

found this to be fairly helpful for me because I can see my progress and I can also see how long
it has been since my last run.
In wellness we also completed an assignment where we found our inner age. We each
completed a survey where we were asked a series of questions on different healthy or unhealthy
activities we partake in and how often we partake in them. Upon completion of the survey we
were given our inner age. Mine was almost spot on. It calculated that I was 20 at age 19. I had
several friends however whose inner age did not reflect their real age at all. This struck me quite
hard as I first came to the realization that things I do now even for a short time can have a lasting
effect on my health. I want to be able to look after my family in the future and be a fit mom.
The only way I can accomplish this goal is by taking care of myself now. Doing things like
drinking and going to the tanning bed may seem great in the short term, but in the long term they
can ultimately lead to my early demise.
Academic Citizenship and Community Responsibility
Community Service is something that is near and dear to my heart. Every year our
lacrosse team participates in community service projects. As a team we went to a couple of
dances hosted at a local community center coordinated by the ARC of Harrisonburg. These
dances are designed to be social events for adults with intellectual and developmental
disabilities. The arc is a wonderful organization that seeks to educate the community about
providing equal opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It was a
huge privilege to get to just talk and dance with these dear men and women. I found this
particular service project to be particularly helpful for my upcoming career path. As a teacher I
will likely have students facing the same sort of struggles as some of these adults who came to

the dance. As a teacher I will also have to help encourage my students to see their peers as equals
regardless of whether or not they have a disability. This dance really helped teach me how
important it is to encourage normal social interactions with people with disabilities. I saw that
some of my fellow lacrosse players struggled a bit to feel comfortable in the unfamiliar situation
of interacting with special needs people. I was able to show them by example how to just loosen
up and go with the flow and have a good time with the participants there.
Having the opportunity to participate in service activities while in college has inspired me
to try and do classroom service projects. It isnt that uncommon for classes to write letters to
soldiers, firefighters, police officers, and the like, but I would really like to do more than that. I
would love if my students could engage in activities like serving food at a soup kitchen or
building houses for habitat for humanity. I believe that hearing about how poor some people are
and actually seeing what poverty looks like are two very different pictures. If my students had
the opportunity to see the people they are helping I think it would be more meaningful and likely
spur future desires to help others in their communities. I am not nave to the fact that getting a
school system to sponsor such activities, so I know I would have to start by involving the parents
and asking them to bring their kids in joining me in such community service projects.
The ideas of academic citizenship and community responsibility also extend past the
scope of those immediately within my community. I see these as referring to serving those within
the global community, so that really encompasses everyone. I have learned that I am definitely a
bleeding heart for global causes. I realize letting refugees into our country is a serious hot
button issue at the moment, but I cant help but be saddened when I see the terrible injustices
being committed in a number of Middle Eastern countries at the moment. I believe that it is our
duty to aid these people in escaping the deliberate breach of human rights. Every persons life is

important and precious. This issue is difficult for me to influence directly, however I do make a
conscious effort not to stray away from tough conversations on the refugee issue, so that I can
share my ideas and opinion on the matter.
There are so many friends, professors, and assignments that have affected my life. A lot
of these people are unaware of the effects theyve had on me, but regardless they have made an
impact on me. I am in disbelief that my four years at Bridgewater are drawing to a close. It has
been an unbelievable time of growth and discovery. I feel that I can now truly say I am an adult
who is confident and wise enough to enter the education field. Im sure I will learn an immense
amount from my colleagues in the next few years as I am just starting out as a teacher and I hope
that one day I will be the experienced teacher supporting the new teacher fresh out of college.