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Gurcsik

Frank Gurcsik

Mr. Cheeseman

Tomorrow’s Teachers

Final Field Experience Reflection

My time at Chestnut Ridge Middle School was undoubtedly a short and limited one,

but in that short and limited time, an everlasting impression was made. In a classroom full of

13 kids, I never thought I would be able to create the irreplaceable bond of friendship and

mentorship with my students. Once I entered the classroom and began basic instruction,

everything was second nature to me. I immediately enjoyed the sense of educating and

conversating the next generation of America’s leaders. The most enjoyable sense of pride

throughout the entire experience had to be that the classroom I was instructing was classified

as a “double basic instruction” classroom. This meant that more than half of the children in

the classroom had a 504 or IEP disability plan to enhance their educational experience as

low-retention learners.

The evidence of the class being a “Double BSI” instruction room was evident in test

scores and homework scores, but never in participation or attentiveness. Many children in the

classroom had already been removed from the coveted 8th Grade Hershey Park trip at the end
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of the year, so the motive to work was not necessarily there for all students. To get some

children to engage in political discussions about current events, not only did you have to

derive and extract the purest form of will (because of being kicked off of the Hershey Park

trip) to do so, but you also as an educator had to instruct and explain which political parties

stood for which policies and which political parties represented certain areas of the United

States. It was a lot to table on the mind of an 8th grader who is two months away from

summer vacation. Once kids started to align with certain beliefs and recognize how the civil

war and events unfolding during that time-period in the United States directly affect us

today, class became more interactive and more interested.

Mr. Ranger and I had emphasized to the children, that the events we had been

covering (the Revolutionary War, Civil War, etc.) had taken place in their own backyards.

We emphasized that we leave fifteen minutes from the birth of an entire nation, Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania. History is the backbone for today, from sunup to sundown, the world is the

way it is due to past history, and if history is not learned, it is doomed to repeat. During my

time, I had also learned the hierarchy and red tape of a fully functioning middle school. I

learned how many metaphorical “hoops” there are to jump through, both frivolous and

serious. I learned about the demographics and socioeconomic statuses that directly attributed

to students test scores and attentiveness in the class. The first time I had ever truly witnessed

an invisible backpack in all 12 years of public schooling, was flipping my role as a teacher

during my time at Chestnut Ridge. As an upper middle-class student in this school district, I

had never fully believed in an invisible backpack. I was ignorant towards the concept and

never truly understood the definition and complications that go with it. This field experience
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created a new sense of empathy for those students afflicted by problems at home and outside

of school.

It made me commit to myself that if I do become a teacher, that I will do everything

in my power to at least make their lives at school better than they are at home. One major

part Mr. Ranger and I had recognized was the effect of single parent households on students.

The mass majority of kids effected in class resulted from this. I came to a second realization

that I would deeply enjoy majoring in history education and further give back at some point

in my life by teaching the subject that made me fall in love with America over and over

again. Purpose comes from realization of a true calling and duty in life, and for me that is

service to my community and country, whether it be teaching the future leaders of America

in a classroom.

The only complaint I had about the Tomorrow’s Teachers program was that I could

not be fully devoted to the program due to work and other classwork. Often times I had work

directly after student teaching and I would not be able to stay later at Chestnut Ridge when I

wanted to. This made me realize that in college and in life I will have more time to fully

devote my time to the students I was teaching. My thoughts going forward consist of nothing

but hope and determination towards a long career of helping kids who are disadvantaged and

want to learn.