Katherine Brou When I was nine years old my mom and dad told me that we were going to be having an addition to our family, a new baby. Even at that young of an age, I remember thinking that I could be this child’s second mommy. I was so excited to help him or her grow and learn. I already had a little brother who was two and a half years younger than I. Even though we were close in age, I still tried to mother and take care of him. My parents told me that my brother actually learned to talk a little later than most children and they believe it is because I loved caring for him so much that I would speak for him instead of letting him talk. The moment I heard I was going to have a second younger sibling I discovered the one thing I knew I had a passion for, helping children grow. From that point on, I have jumped on every opportunity to help my parents take care of my little brothers and loved every minute of it. In the last 11 years, I have learned so much about helping a child grow and learn. This experience, among many others, has helped me to see that teaching young children is what I was meant to do with my life. With gaining a younger brother eventually came lots of babysitting opportunities from his friends’ families. I have over the years babysat for many different families, all of varying ages, from babies to thirteen year olds. This includes groups of up to nine children at once as well as a child with Down Syndrome. Although I would never claim that babysitting is anything like teaching, I believe the times I cared for children have helped me to gain knowledge and understanding of children at different ages as well as leadership qualities and valuable experience in working with children. My past experiences have helped me to develop certain ideas about a young child’s education that quite a few people may not think about. I believe that children need the freedom to learn things hands on and at their own pace. There is no one right way to learn something and I constantly remind myself to think outside the box when tutoring or explaining something to a child. I have often been told that I am a very patient person and I strive to make this true each and every day. In the past I have worked with a special needs child who had Downs Syndrome. I used a lot of patience having to repeat directions and figure out different ways to do things he wanted to do. I think that this skill is very important when working with young children because sometimes I will be asked to answer the same questions repeatedly or will have to repeat directions or tasks frequently. It also takes a lot of patience to not get frustrated when a child is feeling down about not understanding and still not understanding no matter how many times you have helped him or her through it before. I also believe that my patience will teach the children around me the importance of patience in their every day life. If I am patient with my students and show them how to be patient with himself or herself, then I hope they will learn this skill and it will help them to retain a high self-esteem in all aspects of their lives. This quality of patience is
something that I believe will not only help me teach children, but also be something I can pass on that will help the students be confident in learning all the knowledge they need to be successful. I am also a strong believer that how a child’s life and education starts is a prediction of what will follow. I think that children should have a very firm base at the beginning of their educational lives in order to grow and live up to the potential that their education offers them. I want to be a part of creating this firm base. As a teacher, I want to be an excellent role model and motivator of learning to all the children I teach and I want to help them see their potential and grow to reach it. Doing this will not only be a very rewarding experience for myself, but also to all of my students. I hope to make a difference in at least one life, if not many more, and in some way contribute to helping all of my students achieve the personal goals they eventually set for their lives. Teaching young children is what I feel like I was meant to do. I have enjoyed all of the education classes I have taken so far hearing and learning so much useful information to use in my future classroom. I have so many great ideas just waiting to surface and help nurture a student in different aspects. I truly cannot wait to start my career and life passion of helping young children grow and learn.