Reflection Paper

In August of 2000, I enrolled at Houghton College with the intentions of getting a degree in Elementary Education and Intercultural Studies as well as minor in Spanish. During my first semester of core elementary classes, I enrolled in courses that I loved very much, such as methods of teaching math, and children’s literature. However, I also had to do a practicum in an elementary classroom. It was there, after a month of working with the students, that I realized and said to myself, “There is no way on earth that I can do this!” The issue was, I didn 't mind the teaching. In fact, I loved it more than I thought! It was the other details I couldn’t handle. The moments of “Oops, teacher, I peed on myself again” and “Did you remember to wash your hands?” My mind could not wrap itself around the idea that I still had to train these kids on basic skills that should be taught at home along with required skills as given by the state of New York. Nope, elementary education just wasn’t for me. With this new knowledge and experience, I quickly transferred to Secondary/Adolescent Education and my minor is Spanish became part of my major while my major in Intercultural Studies was demoted to a minor. It remained that my passion for teaching had not left, just the focus of it. I always assumed I would love the field of Education and more so elementary education.

While my extended family might work in very diverse fields, my parents both worked in education. My father began his career