Untitled Document

	Experience with Youth
Home page WOU Softball Coaching Student Teaching Contact Information	Summary of Experience with Youth My time with youth involved a variety of different experiences. I have spent time coaching youth teams, running a daycare, being a full time nanny, and teaching in the classroom. These opportunities have shaped my love for children and have helped me dream of becoming a teacher. My coaching experienced started when I was still just learning sports myself. I was always a leader by example and soon was assisting my dad in coaching softball and basketball to my younger sister. Coaching became more serious as I went through High School: I started to run clinics and GAVE private pitching lessons for youth softball players. My most memorable coaching opportunity was during summer 2005. I was asked to volunteer my time as the head coach for the 11-and 12-year-old Tualatin City Little League All-Star Team. I accepted in a heart beat, knowing this is my chance! I had to plan practices, demonstrate drills, teach techniques, give instructions, manage games, and communicate to parents. It was a great learning experience for the children and especially for me. I loved watching them improve and seeing them come together as a team. I am still in contact with some of these players and frequently give them pitching lessons throughout the summer. I feel that coaching a team is similar to being a teacher in a classroom: The goal in both cases is to reach every individual and help them succeed together. Additionally, I worked in a daycare from Winter2003 to Spring2004. After this experience I can honestly say that a daycare involves more than babysitting a child. It is an opportunity to create positive relationships with these children. Plus, many of these children need and desire such a bond. During the school year, I worked at a local school with about 20-30 children daily and in the summer at a bigger location with 40-60 children daily. I was involved in arranging different activities like art projects, group time, reading day and even snack breaks. I also helped organize safe and affordable field trips and monitored the overall area. These children ranged from kindergarteners to 6th graders. I loved being silly and playful with the 1st graders but it was so rewarding to see the way the 4th and 5th graders looked up to me for guidance and approval. Spending this much time with various children became a great eye-opener for me. I saw children that were in poverty and the discrimination they faced when treated differently by some peers, I saw the segregation of groups that formed because of different ethnicity. I saw children fighting and bullying. I saw parents overreacting and become unhappy. I saw children that just hurt daily and I knew that life at home was just too hard. But even after seeing these unfortunate things, I wasn’t discouraged. I realized this place was a home for many of these children and I know the relationship I created with them was the only positive thing in their life. I have also had many different experiences in the classroom. In high school I took a child services class that involved an on-site preschool. I had to prepare lessons and help manage and control a class of 3-5 year olds. The majority of who were special need children. It was a challenge to find different ways to get through to this age group. Next I volunteered in a 2nd grade classroom, where I mainly observed and really created a mental picture of the teacher I want to be. I want to balance my very loving personality with my strong passion to instruct while bringing out the best in the students. Then in Fall2006, I volunteered again but this time with 1st and 3rd graders. After spending a week with both grades, I truly fell in love with the 1st grades and the attitudes they presented. I know that is my ideal grade to teach. I felt so comfortable with them and could easily lead them. However, in the 3rd grade classroom I had an experience I’ll never forget with a little Hispanic boy name Joshua. He couldn’t stop crying from the moment he walked in the door. After an hour of waiting for him to stop, I was asked to take him in the hallway because he was disruptive. We sat out there together as the time flew by and ill never forget the connection we made as I counseled him through his hard time. In conclusion, I feel I have been around children my whole life. I think that instead of us teaching the youth, that the youth is what really teaches us. We can learn so much from the way they think and I can’t wait to meet new students every year!

Summary of Experience with Youth

My time with youth involved a variety of different experiences. I have spent time coaching youth teams, running a daycare, being a full time nanny, and teaching in the classroom. These opportunities have shaped my love for children and have helped me dream of becoming a teacher.

My coaching experienced started when I was still just learning sports myself. I was always a leader by example and soon was assisting my dad in coaching softball and basketball to my younger sister. Coaching became more serious as I went through High School: I started to run clinics and GAVE private pitching lessons for youth softball players. My most memorable coaching opportunity was during summer 2005. I was asked to volunteer my time as the head coach for the 11-and 12-year-old Tualatin City Little League All-Star Team. I accepted in a heart beat, knowing this is my chance! I had to plan practices, demonstrate drills, teach techniques, give instructions, manage games, and communicate to parents. It was a great learning experience for the children and especially for me. I loved watching them improve and seeing them come together as a team. I am still in contact with some of these players and frequently give them pitching lessons throughout the summer. I feel that coaching a team is similar to being a teacher in a classroom: The goal in both cases is to reach every individual and help them succeed together.

Additionally, I worked in a daycare from Winter2003 to Spring2004. After this experience I can honestly say that a daycare involves more than babysitting a child. It is an opportunity to create positive relationships with these children. Plus, many of these children need and desire such a bond. During the school year, I worked at a local school with about 20-30 children daily and in the summer at a bigger location with 40-60 children daily. I was involved in arranging different activities like art projects, group time, reading day and even snack breaks. I also helped organize safe and affordable field trips and monitored the overall area. These children ranged from kindergarteners to 6th graders. I loved being silly and playful with the 1st graders but it was so rewarding to see the way the 4th and 5th graders looked up to me for guidance and approval. Spending this much time with various children became a great eye-opener for me. I saw children that were in poverty and the discrimination they faced when treated differently by some peers, I saw the segregation of groups that formed because of different ethnicity. I saw children fighting and bullying. I saw parents overreacting and become unhappy. I saw children that just hurt daily and I knew that life at home was just too hard. But even after seeing these unfortunate things, I wasn’t discouraged. I realized this place was a home for many of these children and I know the relationship I created with them was the only positive thing in their life.

I have also had many different experiences in the classroom. In high school I took a child services class that involved an on-site preschool. I had to prepare lessons and help manage and control a class of 3-5 year olds. The majority of who were special need children. It was a challenge to find different ways to get through to this age group. Next I volunteered in a 2nd grade classroom, where I mainly observed and really created a mental picture of the teacher I want to be. I want to balance my very loving personality with my strong passion to instruct while bringing out the best in the students. Then in Fall2006, I volunteered again but this time with 1st and 3rd graders. After spending a week with both grades, I truly fell in love with the 1st grades and the attitudes they presented. I know that is my ideal grade to teach. I felt so comfortable with them and could easily lead them. However, in the 3rd grade classroom I had an experience I’ll never forget with a little Hispanic boy name Joshua. He couldn’t stop crying from the moment he walked in the door. After an hour of waiting for him to stop, I was asked to take him in the hallway because he was disruptive. We sat out there together as the time flew by and ill never forget the connection we made as I counseled him through his hard time.

In conclusion, I feel I have been around children my whole life. I think that instead of us teaching the youth, that the youth is what really teaches us. We can learn so much from the way they think and I can’t wait to meet new students every year!