feld-tell2

Past: When I think about becoming educated with my past and trying to pick an artifact or moment to describe this I couldn't think of anything. Then I remembered the charm my mom gave me as a graduation present. I remember walking out of the auditorium after my graduation ceremony ended and having the feeling of shock. Did I really just graduate high school? What am I going to do now? I knew my whole life that I wanted to go to college and become a special education teacher but was it really time to put these dreams in action, I wasn't sure that I was prepared for this. I met up with my family and we walked to the car to head out to a restaurant as an after graduation celebration. The whole car ride all I remember hearing is "we're so proud of you," "this new chapter of your life is starting" and all I could think is I'm not ready or educated enough to go off to college and live on my own. As we were sitting in the car my mom handed me this little square box, I opened it and inside was a charm for a bracelet that she had previously bought me, a charm of a graduation cap. She told me I completed my education at home being taught textbooks from my teachers and it was now time for me to move onto college where I will learn to become a teacher so I can educate others. This seemed like a huge jump for me, going from being a student to learning to become the teacher. I will never forget this moment where it officially became clear to me that I was starting a new chapter in my life and entering a completely different kind of school where I would not only learn book smarts and street smarts, through the professors and living on my own, but I would learn how to become the teacher and educate others.

Present: The artifact for me that captures my current situation is my binder with my major information. I remember walking into my university seminar class freshman year and hearing my professor talk about the packet we needed to complete before being entered into the education program. So many ideas ran threw my head and papers about this were scattered all over my room. I went to the bookstore and bought a Bloomsburg University binder to hold my education packet and all of my major related work. This binder has been growing since freshman year and getting fatter and fatter as I move steps closer to entering the major and completing my packet. I believe this binder will remain with me for the rest of my life because I have put so much stuff inside that I can use when I enter my own classroom.

Future: A moment I image for the future is the first day of class when I finally have my own classroom. I hope to have a first (or kindergarten and first) grade self contained classroom, which contains a smaller amount of students with various disabilities. I imagine setting up my classroom with bright colors and bold printed schedules and communication boards around the room for my students to use. I see myself standing in the doorway waiting for the arrival of my students with the big smiles on their face that a new school year with a new teacher is starting. I will start the morning with circle time where we can get to know each other and explore what will be learned throughout the year. Free time where I can observe as the kids get a chance to interact with each other will give me a further understanding of each child, and pack up where I see my students get ready to walk out of the room and hope they come back the next day with the same big smiles on their faces cause after teaching them I know I will have that smile on. I recall from my observations of a self contained class of how happy I got when I helped the students because they got so happy when they got their work done that it was so rewarding for me to see this out of students.