My previous job experiences have contributed to the development of valuable professional skills. As an office coordinator in Hospital Education at Carle Foundation Hospital, I acquired keen organizational skills and the ability to manage a complex variety of tasks simultaneously. In addition, refining my interpersonal skills enabled me to work with a wide range of personalities. The professional hierarchy exposed me to a variety of personnel, from entry to executive level. Negotiating the multiple facets of the professional sphere demanded a creative mind, energy and responsive intellect. The ability to manage time and knowing when to ask for help gave me the capacity to function in a stressful climate. My professional competence has served me well in academia.

Though I have had little professional experience with children beyond the Saturday School practicum, I have interacted with children of a variety of ages as a childcare giver for nearly twelve years. I have always enjoyed designing projects, games and activities to stimulate children in my care. My creative ability to stimulate their interests and my genuine enjoyment participating with the children in these activities is based on my appreciation and memories of my own childhood. I think it is crucial as a teacher of children to be cognizant of our own experiences, discoveries, creative constructions, experiments and learning that we experienced as children. The inherent ability to be creative and construct our own games, imaginary worlds and places is a life skill that must not be lost. Drawing from my childhood experiences and the instinctive ability to solve the wildest of problems has served me well as a childcare giver and teacher.

The Saturday School practicum has contributed invaluable experience and guidance to me as a future public school educator. My reflections have yielded the importance of listening to our students, recognizing what is significant in their lives and in their artwork and allowing these observations to guide my methodology. It is equally critical to perpetually reconsider our teaching methods and judge their effectiveness. My success as a student teacher in practicum courses and in my teaching assistantship has been contingent upon my ability to effectively and continually engage in a critical reflective practice. The video observation component of the Saturday School program has proven particularly helpful in areas where my memory of content coverage is not reliable. Also, observing my own teaching from the point of view of the student reveals weak aspects of motivation and classroom management.

Clearly, there are always areas for improvement throughout the lesson. Time management was a consistent struggle throughout the implementation of multiple Saturday lessons. Achieving a balance between the content and activities that I wanted to cover and what was realistic to accomplish is a skill that I am still learning to develop. It has required a keen ability to refine and revise my objectives and maximize the short amount of time available. I realize that this is a task that will become increasingly important as I prepare for short class periods and practical teaching situations in public schools.

Developing the consistent habit of professional reflective practice is critical to maintaining effective approaches in the classroom. It is a practical and effective method to expand experience and knowledge with different cognitive abilities and instructional approaches. As educators, it is our pedagogical imperative to be vigilant in our self-reflections and to challenge the potential of our instruction and our students.

Much of what I have learned from my teaching experience at the college level demonstrates the value of creating lesson objectives and learning climates that are stimulating and relevant to students' lives. Focusing on learning outcomes that achieve this lasting impact has contributed to my ability to motivate students to pursue learning through carefully crafted activities that draw from existing interests, knowledge and lived experience.

As I prepared for each lesson I gave a great deal of thought to the challenges of teaching and how to make the most of the time I had each week with my students. The opportunity to implement concepts that I have carefully and thoughtfully considered has been enlightening and satisfying. I recognize that I have grown in my confidence and ability to determine my students' potential engagement, enjoyment and success with concepts. More importantly, I realize I have connected with and challenged my students and created significant and memorable activities. Developing effective approaches, challenging objectives and meaningful content has been a demanding endeavor; yet it has delivered worthwhile rewards.

An overarching principle contributing to my learning experience has been the need for persistence and creativity. I have gained a vital appreciation for the unique realities and experiences of each student. Learning how to appeal to each is a tremendous challenge but an objective that is crucial to pursue for the success of our students. It is critical to continue professional education beyond the perfunctory degree. Educational psychology is a perpetually evolving field, demanding the interest and enthusiasm of invested educational professionals, reformers and parents. I realize the need for differences in my teaching style and the developmental variation in students' responses between grade levels. I am interested in investigating these differences in students' cognitive development as well as teaching methods that effectively appeal to various needs. I believe it is important to create a dynamically balanced classroom culture - an atmosphere that does not privilege the thoughts or opinions of some students over others, but rather promotes the equal contribution of all students towards the collective education of the whole. I intend to continue my professional research of cognition and learning in the arts, cooperative and socio-cultural learning contexts, and the holistic benefits of studying the arts.

As educators, we command significant influence over the teaching methods that are formative to the cognitive and creative development of students. Implementing the most effective and appropriate methods for achieving desired learning outcomes requires the dedicated pursuit of competence in theories of learning and cognitive development as well as knowledge of policy issues affecting the education of our students.

The practicum experience has taught me that effective teaching demands a high degree of preparation. It is crucial to approach students as an informed advocate for their education. Knowing the material, techniques, concepts, methods, etc. is only the beginning. Developing an archive of creative and challenging materials, images, multicultural lesson plans and ideas to draw from will enable an instructor to quickly and effectively prepare lessons. Teachers should have high standards and expectations for their students. Challenging students to achieve enables them to achieve; however, being prepared to step back and simplify when necessary requires appropriate back-up activities and lesson plans. These activities should not bore students but should stimulate their development by creating a scaffold to enable them to achieve more advanced concepts. Requisite ingenuity and spontaneity ensure a meaningful recovery when materials, technology, or students are not cooperating. My capacity to predict potential problems in lessons has steadily developed through previous failures. Having the ability to retrieve useful knowledge from mistakes develops the experiences that produce better qualified and prepared teachers. In addition, creating a collection of resources should serve to prepare the instructor to connect materials and activities to relevant experiences, subject areas, and lives of students.

Despite feeling eager to move on to the next level of responsibility, I feel I have much yet to learn about the unique capacities of students and the variance in behavioral learning. I am fascinated with the psychology of learning, and the disparate stimuli, conditioning and reinforcements that influence students. I hope to enhance my views of learning and apply this knowledge to create a learning environment and develop a teaching style that expands on the unique modes of learning and multiple intelligences of students.

The Saturday School practicum contributes invaluable experience and guidance to future educators: it is important to listen to our students, to recognize what is significant in their lives and in their artwork and allow these observations to guide our methodology. It is equally critical to perpetually reconsider our teaching methods and judge their effectiveness. As educators, it is our pedagogical imperative to be vigilant in our self-reflections and to challenge the potential of our instruction and our students.