Running head: E-PORTFOLIO REFLECTION

My First Steps into Becoming an Educational Professional

Gabrielle D. Humlicek
EDU 1010
Salt Lake Community College
April 21st, 2016

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My First Steps into Becoming an Educational Professional

First of all, this Intro to Education 1010 course has been one of the most challenging courses
for me simply because of how my opinions were challenged and ended up being altered due to
what I learned about myself. My beliefs changed as I did twenty hours of field experience in a
classroom, with middle school students. Frankly, there were days in my observations that made
me feel like I couldn't become a teacher, and all those feelings amounted to how the students
behaved. After reassurance by the educator I was observing, she taught me alot about classroom
management and how to combat nuisance and misbehavior in the classroom. This was significant
to me because the field experience really assisted in my decision of becoming a future educator. I
desire to become a teacher that allows me to impact students' lives just like the mentor teacher I
observed.
As a future educator specifically for deaf children, I am required to get a Bachelors' degree
in elementary education and then obtain a Masters' in Special Education with an emphasis on
bilingualism simply because it is a different field of education I will be engaging in. So, the
licensure of teachers does not phase me at all because I believe teachers need to be tested and
examined to prevent mishaps and to ensure that the educators will do students justice in
education. I believe all teachers should get masters degrees because this is the future of children
we will be impacting! The field experience I had did not influence my stance on this expect
strengthen my view on licensure requirements!
I was involved in a field experience for this course, and the first day of observing, I realized
so much about myself. I truly did not know what and how teachers accomplished everything in
their field of work. My mentor believes her teaching should be based on student involvement and
discussions because this allows them to guide their own learning as well as being a method for

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the teacher, herself, to assess if the students are truly learning and understanding material being
taught. Her classroom management was phenomenal and very gentle because she wanted to gain
students trust. All of these components, I will add and contribute to my future classroom because
I saw success with these methods that my mentor utilized in her classroom.
So, teaching does not come easily as it is perceived, and this was my assumption. I believed
teaching was... going to be effortless because of my genial and gregarious personality. I assumed
that students would pick up on information using just discussion approaches because that is how
I learned and retained information. I also had biases against female students because I perceived
these students as more hard-working than the opposite sex. I did not have any perceived
differences of people with varying races and ethnicities because of my interactions with unique
people all throughout my life.
Being a part of this introductory course as well as participating in field experience, these
assumptions have changed. Teaching requires a lot of prepatory work, various teaching
techniques assimilated into 'one', and students do not just like you. You have to work for the
students' trust and collaboration, so personality alone, isn't enough in the teaching profession.
Along with that, my mentor teacher incorporated alot of hands-on activities because the
discussions sometimes waned due to lack of interest, so this was an eye-opener for me. This also
influenced my teaching demonstration because I had to create and develop a lesson that was not
solely discussion based but utilizing captivating images and question prompts as a hands on
activity. Additionally, in the classroom I observed, the males in the classroom were pretty
involved in the discussions, but not independent assignments, and the females were not as
engaged in class discussions but were studious when it came to independent assignments. All in
all, my bias and assumptions ended up being debunked which I am very grateful for because I

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know with all of the material I have learned and witnessed, I will become an improved, wellrounded educator!
In conclusion, all the experiences I have mentioned in this reflection will contribute to
my future as a professional. All I have learned and observed so far is just a step into my
professional future and career, and as an aspiring student, I need to absorb and execute what I
have acquired in skills and knowledge. Without this course requiring textbook work as well as
field experience with applications of textbook work, I would not have been able to grow as a
professional. My potential as a teacher would have been inhibited, and the students I would
encounter in the future would suffer from my lack of experience and expertise. This is something
I do not want, and this experience in this course has allowed me to discover empowerment of the
students and how to be a compelling yet challenging teachers for the benefit of my prospective
students.

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