Anybody surveying my professional portfolio can see that my professional life has changed significantly over the period of the 2021-2022 school year. My work goal setting shifted from small group goals as an interventionist, to whole group and small group goals as a classroom teacher. This year has been incredibly rewarding; I wouldn't trade watching my students grow to this point for anything. That being said, my time as a classroom teacher has given me a new perspective on what my next professional steps may entail. With my work in my Masters, I still aim to run a tier I RTI program at some point in my professional career. At the beginning of this year these goals were limited strictly to reading development, but after this year I could see myself also working with students who need help with behavioral intervention. The last goal that I have set for myself at this point, is to learn more about outdoor education.
To begin with, I will start with my primary educational goal for my future. I pursued a maters in Education, with a specialization in Literacy Education. I chose this route specifically because of my work in the Lansing School District, as well as my work as Washington Parks Academy in Redford. I worked with a number of students that were significantly behind developmentally, particularly in reading. I watched as these same students struggle with Social Studies, Science, and Math. These students were essentially shut out of the world of education, simply because they were not able to complete their work independently. In these situations, students would oftentimes start to complete lose confidence in their ability to participate in school in general. This would lead to attitude and confidence issues, and in some cases could be lifelong. Being a reader in modern society isn't an option; it's essential. Watching this happen, again and again, to students that I cared about just became impossible to stomach. My work as a reading interventionist was extremely rewarding, as I was able to see the confidence start to turn in these students. Students would show up at my table sincerely not able to read; and would leave able to complete the small group tasks. Watching these students learn to read independently, and their personalities thrive in turn, made me intrinsically excited to go into work every day. I took this drive into my work in the Lansing School District, as when I started with my students, there were many that did not know all of their letters and sounds. As someone who loves to read, I share this love with my students. I read them stories with excitement, and passion, and encourage them to write their own. The other day, one of my students came up to me in the middle of class and said "Ms Barnhart, do you know why this school is the best school for me? Because I learned to read here!" This is what I pursued my Masters for, and I am so excited to see where my academic foundation is able to take me, at a professional level. Running an RTI program would give me the opportunity to take this drive into every single classroom, to genuinely make a difference from the inside out. While I have always looked at this drive from a specifically reading perspective up until now, my classroom experiences have opened up my eyes to working with student behavior.
Throughout my experiences as a classroom teacher, there have always been students who I simply could not forget. At Willow Elementary school it was a little girl who was shy, but with coaxing and consistency in goals, would begin to open up to me. At Washington Parks Academy it was a little boy who I think is somewhere on the Autism spectrum, who would have screaming, crying, panic attacks when he faced things that he could not do. When I made my room, and myself, a safe space for this child, he began to complete his work. The panic attacks, the crying, it stopped, and he began to open up to me about why he felt the way he did. At my current school, while I love every student in my class, I have three students who I would go to bat for, for appropriate resource room help, no matter the cost. Most of them struggle with impulse control issues, and emotional regulation. These students will frequently pull their desk next to mine, if they need a break from the constant stimulus of the other students. These students will run up to me, in the middle of learning, excited to show me their answer. Watching these students thrive academically because they have a space where they feel safe to, is probably the most rewarding experience to date as a classroom teacher. When I'm done with my masters, potentially taking undergrad classes, or additional training in psychology or basic social work, would be an appropriate way of solidifying this route in my professional future.
My final goal for myself in my professional life, starts with the school that I chose to teach at. Forest View is a school with an environmental education focus. When I first started, there was a sense of peace that I got from just going out to outdoor classroom on the daily with my students. At the beginning of the year, I couldn't really get my students to write anything. So I started taking them to the flower garden, let them find something to observe, come back into the classroom, and write about it. My students went from writing just a couple sentences each time, to writing four sentence almost paragraphs from this. Building upon this, I actually recently underwent from a recent training for field trip that I am beginning to prepare for with my students. This trip is called Annie's Big Nature lesson, and will be a week learning experience at Fenner Nature Center. I have been so excited to have these learning opportunities as an educator to this point, that I would love to learn more about how nature, and the outdoors, can be naturally brought into the classroom. Maybe this will mean taking some local classes in Michigan fauna and wildlife. Maybe this will mean going on observations independently in nature, and learning to appreciate it as a learning tool at a personal level, before taking my students. Whatever this means, I am excited for the learning opportunity that I will get to undergo as an educator.
To begin with, I will start with my primary educational goal for my future. I pursued a maters in Education, with a specialization in Literacy Education. I chose this route specifically because of my work in the Lansing School District, as well as my work as Washington Parks Academy in Redford. I worked with a number of students that were significantly behind developmentally, particularly in reading. I watched as these same students struggle with Social Studies, Science, and Math. These students were essentially shut out of the world of education, simply because they were not able to complete their work independently. In these situations, students would oftentimes start to complete lose confidence in their ability to participate in school in general. This would lead to attitude and confidence issues, and in some cases could be lifelong. Being a reader in modern society isn't an option; it's essential. Watching this happen, again and again, to students that I cared about just became impossible to stomach. My work as a reading interventionist was extremely rewarding, as I was able to see the confidence start to turn in these students. Students would show up at my table sincerely not able to read; and would leave able to complete the small group tasks. Watching these students learn to read independently, and their personalities thrive in turn, made me intrinsically excited to go into work every day. I took this drive into my work in the Lansing School District, as when I started with my students, there were many that did not know all of their letters and sounds. As someone who loves to read, I share this love with my students. I read them stories with excitement, and passion, and encourage them to write their own. The other day, one of my students came up to me in the middle of class and said "Ms Barnhart, do you know why this school is the best school for me? Because I learned to read here!" This is what I pursued my Masters for, and I am so excited to see where my academic foundation is able to take me, at a professional level. Running an RTI program would give me the opportunity to take this drive into every single classroom, to genuinely make a difference from the inside out. While I have always looked at this drive from a specifically reading perspective up until now, my classroom experiences have opened up my eyes to working with student behavior.
Throughout my experiences as a classroom teacher, there have always been students who I simply could not forget. At Willow Elementary school it was a little girl who was shy, but with coaxing and consistency in goals, would begin to open up to me. At Washington Parks Academy it was a little boy who I think is somewhere on the Autism spectrum, who would have screaming, crying, panic attacks when he faced things that he could not do. When I made my room, and myself, a safe space for this child, he began to complete his work. The panic attacks, the crying, it stopped, and he began to open up to me about why he felt the way he did. At my current school, while I love every student in my class, I have three students who I would go to bat for, for appropriate resource room help, no matter the cost. Most of them struggle with impulse control issues, and emotional regulation. These students will frequently pull their desk next to mine, if they need a break from the constant stimulus of the other students. These students will run up to me, in the middle of learning, excited to show me their answer. Watching these students thrive academically because they have a space where they feel safe to, is probably the most rewarding experience to date as a classroom teacher. When I'm done with my masters, potentially taking undergrad classes, or additional training in psychology or basic social work, would be an appropriate way of solidifying this route in my professional future.
My final goal for myself in my professional life, starts with the school that I chose to teach at. Forest View is a school with an environmental education focus. When I first started, there was a sense of peace that I got from just going out to outdoor classroom on the daily with my students. At the beginning of the year, I couldn't really get my students to write anything. So I started taking them to the flower garden, let them find something to observe, come back into the classroom, and write about it. My students went from writing just a couple sentences each time, to writing four sentence almost paragraphs from this. Building upon this, I actually recently underwent from a recent training for field trip that I am beginning to prepare for with my students. This trip is called Annie's Big Nature lesson, and will be a week learning experience at Fenner Nature Center. I have been so excited to have these learning opportunities as an educator to this point, that I would love to learn more about how nature, and the outdoors, can be naturally brought into the classroom. Maybe this will mean taking some local classes in Michigan fauna and wildlife. Maybe this will mean going on observations independently in nature, and learning to appreciate it as a learning tool at a personal level, before taking my students. Whatever this means, I am excited for the learning opportunity that I will get to undergo as an educator.