My past two semesters in college, I have had the opportunity to volunteer in different

classrooms at the South Dakota State University Lab School. Last semester, I was an assistant

teacher in the 4 and 5 year old classroom at the Fischback Center for Early Childhood

Education. I was there two days a week for 3.5 hours the entire spring semester. This semester,

I am currently a student teacher in the toddler lab at the Fishback Center for Early Childhood

Education. I am in this classroom 4 days a week. The toddler lab consists of two different groups

of children. There are younger toddlers, ranging between the ages of fifteen months and two

years, and the older toddlers range from two years to three years. Through these two

experiences, I have already learned so much valuable information that will prepare me for my

future in education.

As an assistant teacher, some of my tasks included setting up and prepping for the day,

completing a safety checklist, supervising and engaging with the students during free play, and

assisting the student teachers in any tasks they had for us. I also had the opportunity to go on

home visits, administer developmental testing, complete a child study, and complete a balls

and ramps exploration. One of the main things that I learned while being an assistant teacher

was working efficiently as a team and communicating with others. I worked alongside 9 other

teachers and communication was key to making the classroom run smoothly.

This year, as a student teacher, I complete all the tasks that I did as an assistant teacher

plus some. As a student teacher, I arranged and completed home visits, plan activities for the

different learning centers, lead large group and small group, create goals for the students,

conduct teacher research, create a classroom newsletter and daily journal, and supervise and

maintain the well-being of the students in the classroom.

 These two experiences have helped me grow as a future educator in so many ways. One

way that these opportunities have helped me grow is through lesson planning. Before being in

the lab, I created lesson plans, but they were all hypothetical lessons that I could potentially do

someday. Now, I create developmentally appropriate lessons that I actually implement into the

classroom. By actually implementing them, I have learned that I need to be flexible and have

back up ideas in case something does not go as planned or does not take as long as anticipated.

Another expereince that my time in the lab school has given me is confidence when it

comes to communicating with parents. Since the children that I am working with are so young,

it is crucial to communicate with the parents before school to get caught up on what has

happened since the last time you saw the child, and after school to share how their child’s day

went as some of the students are not able to verbalize about their day to their parents yet. As a

student teacher, I have also learned to operate a parent-teacher communication app called

Seesaw. This allows us to post pictures of students and write updates throughout the day for

parents to see. Later in the semester, I will also have the chance to conduct parent-teacher

conferences which will give me experience for future conferences. As a student teacher, I have

had the opportunity to frequently communicate with parents giving me more confidence when

it comes to communication.

Throughout these two semesters, one of the greatest aspects that I will take away from

my experiences is communication and working with others. As an assistant and head teacher, I

have had to lesson plan, co-teach, set-up the classroom, research, and brain storm ideas with

multiple other people. I have learned to listen intently to others ideas and make compromises

so that the classroom runs smoothly. This semester, there is currently 5 other student teachers
that I have had the privilege to work alongside. I believe that this has prepared me for the

future, when I will have to communicate and work with administration and co-workers every

day.

My experience at the lab school has given me so many valuable skills and opportunities

that I believe will substantially help me in my future career. Lesson planning, communicating

with parents, and working smoothly with others, are huge aspects to teaching, and the lab

school has given me the chance to incorporate all those sills into my experience.