Overall my experience at Nevada State College has been a positive one.

Several
professors have been instrumental in helping achieve academic success. Professor
Litterini helped shape the kind of teacher I have become. Fortunately, she was my
professor for two of the most important Education classes: Classroom Management
and Pedagogy I. The traits that I value in a professor are: kindness, honesty,
experience and passion for the subject. Litterini teaches important educational
teaching strategies by modeling as well as having her students demonstrate various
teaching techniques. My student teaching successes can be directly traced to her
instruction. Like Litterini Dr. Brautbar possesses the same important traits. Most
professors outside of the education program use direct instruction as their primary
teaching pedagogy. Dr. Brautbar is the exception. Her assignments varied
throughout many history courses that I have completed at NSC. She has passion for
her discipline and encourages her students to critically think and look at many
perspectives which are important for all Historians to learn. On numerous occasions
I have changed points of view based on historical evidence. Originally I majored in
Secondary Education with History concentration because I had a strong desire to
teach U.S. Government. My interest in teaching history was low to say the least. Dr.
Brautbar is the sole reason I feel in love with history. She stressed the importance of
learning about the past and why it is vital to understanding todays society.
Because of her I plan I obtain a Masters degree in history and hopefully pursue my
doctorate.
There are a few areas I hope can be improved for future education students. The
advising at NSC has been disappointing. Both advisors, prior to entering the
program and after being admitted to the program have been subpar. Information
was not communicated accurately and in return caused delays in graduation.
Scheduling times to meet were a challenge and my advisors were not as
approachable as I had liked.
What I have learned while student teaching is that teachers work hard-really hard.
Somehow they find a way, no matter what the challenge is, to make it work. I
learned that to be a good and effective teacher it takes time, resources,
collaboration, self-reflection, flexibility and a positive attitude. I have much more
appreciation for teachers because I know the time and dedication it takes to be
successful.
During my student teaching I have learned many important lessons that will help
me be more successful during my first year teaching and years to come.
Surprisingly, my strength was creating meaningful lesson plans. At the beginning of
the term I did not feel confident with this however as the weeks went on I realized
that learning was taking place and students were engaged and interested. One
important aspect is the classroom layout. My greatest challenge as a student
teacher was the classroom layout. Because there was lack of space and freedom to
move around the classroom, I felt confined. Kinesthetic learning could not take

place. Going into student teaching I did not think this would be a challenge and I
now know the importance of classroom design.