As of today, I have been involved in the Village Project for a semester and a half. The Village Project is a way to get first year education majors into the classroom directly or working with students in an after school program. The main goal for the Village Project is to teach aspiring teachers the basics of teaching and what comes along with it. It also gives them a chance to see if teaching is a good fit for them.
While I haven’t been able to teach students directly, the lessons I have learned have been invaluable and my observations have given me the chance to see the classroom from the perspective of a teacher rather than a student. I have learned that patience is the key to having a successful lesson especially when teaching younger students. Maintaining your composure when in a classroom filled with fifteen to twenty younger students who are itching to get to recess or gym class while in math or reading is important for getting through your entire lesson. The same patience can also be applied to students who don’t learn at the same pace as others. It can be frustrating when a student doesn’t understand a topic in a subject while the rest of the class is waiting to go ahead. Helping those students who don’t learn as fast and making sure they understand each topic before moving ahead will help them later in their schooling when the topics that could’ve been skipped are applied heavily in their studies and homework.
Another important lesson I have learned is to never come into the classroom with a bad attitude. Students, especially younger ones, can easily pick up on your facial expressions, body posture, and tone of voice. This can easily turn an easy lesson into a harder one when all you can focus on is the bad experiences you’ve had before you stepped into the classroom. I can speak to this as I’ve had bad days, but I knew that I couldn’t get that in the way of my time in the classroom because both the teacher and the students rely on my help. The students seeing me walk in also helps turn my bad day around because they love having me to help or play with them.
Overall, I would say that my experience in Village Project has proved to be an invaluable one as I gain more experience every time I step foot into the classroom. I look back on the lessons I’ve learned and try to apply them every time I come back. I also understand that while I’ve learned quite a bit, I know that there is still much to learn and I can’t wait to see what the future has for myself as an aspiring teacher.
