Through my professional mentorship with Mrs. Schuchard, who is a kindergarten teacher at Miller Elementary School, I had a lot of experiences and learned a lot. I got to spend a lot of time with her students in her classroom, which is always fun and a good learning experience...I learned something new from the students and Mrs. Schuchard every time I was there! By spending time with students in the classroom, I just became more comfortable within the classroom setting and really learned a lot about all of the students. It was so good to spend time in her classroom to learn about what a typical day is like in kindergarten I also had the opportunity to learn about other aspects of the profession. I attended parent/teacher conferences which was awesome because I honestly had no idea what that would look like as a teacher. It was good to go to them because I learned how she talked to parents if she had a concern and what kinds of things she talked about with them. I also had the opportunity to attend a PTO meeting as well as a weekly staff meeting, which was interesting. Finally, I got to attend a class in which Mrs. Schuchard was a guest speaker. I really enjoyed her talk because I could make connections from what she was talking about to her actual environment. I learned a lot about how she keeps data on her students. She taught me about her communication notebook in which she keeps track of parent emails, phone calls, and conversations. Mrs. Schuchard was a great mentor for me and I learned a lot from her. In the future, when I need help or advice, I will definitely be contacting her, I am so thankful for everything she taught me this semester.
Faculty Mentor- Mrs. Bassingthwaite
Mrs. Bassingthwaite's passion for Early Childhood Education is something that really made me want to be an Early Childhood teacher. Her knowledge an experience within the field is absolutely amazing and I am lucky enough to have her as both my advisor and my mentor. As a sophomore, I took the Introduction to Early Childhood Education course and I knew for sure that teaching young learners was definitely something I was passionate about. Mrs. Bassingthwaite's love for young children is inspiring and I really look up to her as a professional in the ECE field. This semester, I along with three of my peers, along with the help of Mrs. Bassingthwaite, got to create a crosswalk table in which people can see possible careers in the Early Childhood field, what qualifications are required, as well as what North Dakota Colleges/Universities this degrees can be obtained. I really learned a lot from this experience about possible careers within the field and what kinds of careers I can have with my degrees. Because of Mrs. Bassingthwaite, I also had the opportunity to attend the North Dakota Early Childhood Education Conference in Mandan, ND. This was a great learning experience in which I learned about trauma, classroom managment, and many ways to prepare young learners for writing. Mrs. Bassingthwaite provided me with many opportunities to learn more about my future profession and I am so glad I have a mentor/advisor that has such a vast knowledge about education. I had a great experience with my faculty mentor this semester.