Inspiration and Set Backs

I have had a few teachers in my academic career who have inspired me to do well and showed me how much they care. One teacher in particular really stands out to me. Her name was Mrs. Boyd and she was my 3rd grade teacher. She was hands down my favorite teacher in elementary school. She use to do a lot of fun activities with us as a class and I remember her embracing all of our personalities. I was a good student, but I also liked to have fun and could be a bit of a class clown at that age. I feel that she embraced my quirky behaviors and used other methods to redirect me. 

Every Friday we got to go outside first thing in the morning and play kickball as a class. This was an activity we could earn as a class through out the week. I cannot recall her exact criteria, but I remember we had to earn this time and I loved it. I was all about anything that had to do with sports or playing outside. She utilized our interests to inspire us to do well in the classroom. Mrs. Boyd is a huge inspiration in my journey to become an elementary teacher. I lived close to the school and would go visit her well after elementary school. She had a positive impact on my education and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to be in her class. 

While I had many academic inspirations over the years, I also had set backs. When I was a senior in high school I took AP Calculus. I was always proficient in math and was excited to take the class. However, after failing the first test I began to doubt my abilities and worried I would fail the class. I had never failed a test or class previous of this. Because I was nervous to fail the class I decided to put in a request to drop the class. My calculus teacher, who I also had for statistics my junior year, heard of my request and reached out to me. She expressed to me that she knew I was intelligent and had the capability of doing well in her calculus class, but that it would take some extra work on my end. She said she would personally help me and recommended to get involved in the after school tutoring program. 

After some convincing I decided to stay in the class. I signed up for tutoring and met with her once a week during her office hours. I ended up finishing the class with a B. I am so glad that I decided to stay in the class and am thankful to have had a teacher who really cared about my education. She took time out of her busy schedule and gave me confidence in myself and instilled a sense of determination. My teachers confidence in my abilities restored my faith and I took extra initiative to get into tutoring and achieve success. 

As a teacher I will motivate my students by building trust, student confidence, and set high but reasonable learning expectations for them. I hope to embrace every student and give them a sense of inclusion and provide a space that is inspiring to learn in. I will attempt to achieve these by building rapport, getting to know my students in and outside of the classroom setting, using creative lessons, and using incentives. I will use praise and positive reinforcement to build them up and actively use different teaching strategies to target every students needs.

As a teacher I will work to avoid exploiting any of my students in a negative way in front of their peers, but rather use other teaching strategies to help motivate them. I also will avoid letting students see me frustrated and out of character. I know this is easier said than done, but I hope to show patience and consistency in my future classrooms. I want to inspire our youth to be the best they can.

  

Teaching Goals

My name is Bre Bolerjack and I was born and raised in Bakersfield, Ca. I grew up playing a lot of sports, but my one true passion was soccer. I played soccer from 5 years old into my college years. I moved to Hayward after getting my AA at Bakersfield Junior College and then attended Cal State East Bay where I played soccer and attained my BA in Sociology. Shortly after graduating from East Bay I started working for a non-profit organization called Playworks. This is where I found my true passion and realized how much I love working with the youth and being a part of the school community. I worked at an elementary school in Hayward for two years and have been working at two elementary schools in Oakland, Ca for the past four years. 

I currently wear many hats in my current position as I work with all 700 students doing PE, running the recess program, and developing the leadership program (Junior Coaches). This position has given me so many skills and tools and I am ready to transition these skills into the classroom. 

While I have not had the opportunity of being an in classroom teacher yet, I would describe myself as being a patient, caring, determined, encouraging, and creative teacher. I understand that every student is different and has different learning styles and needs. As an educator it is our job to get to know each and everyone of our students and find methods to help them succeed. Some students learn better through visual aids while some need hands on activities, and others need auditory instruction. As a future teacher my goal is to incorporate all three methods into my lessons to give every student the same ability to be successful.

Ideally, I would like to teach 3rd-5th grade. I believe that my personality fits this age group the best. While I enjoy working with kindergartners for small allotted times, I am not cut out for a full school day with them. It takes a special person to teach in general, but I believe it takes a very specific personality to work with the little ones that I just do not have.

Having said all that, I am a very patient and welcoming person and have a great ability to build rapport with students. Children are so observant and I believe they can see this in me and in return they feel comfortable sharing with me and trying new things. My honest interest in my students and their lives will hopefully inspire them to learn and give them a sense of belonging that encourages them to ask questions and be themselves.

After taking a couple questionnaires that broke down my learning and teaching styles, I fall some where in the middle in most areas. I believe that because I do not highly favor one method this will help me in my abilities to teach everyone. I have the ability to learn visually, interactively, and through auditory instruction. While I slightly prefer to learn and work independently I do not have an issue working in groups. This will be beneficial as a teacher in that collaboration is important with both the staff on campus and my students. Two areas I did score as "high" was in personal model and facilitator. As a leader to our youth I strive to set an example of my expectations and hope they learn through seeing me model what I expect.  As education has progressed and began to take a step away from using only teacher instruction, we have taken on the role of a facilitator of peer learning. Asking more open ended questions and allowing students to talk among each other and learn through peer discussions. Peer to peer learning can be a powerful tool in the classroom and I hope to be a successful facilitator of this.

I know this is all easier said than done, but I hope that when I have the opportunity to step into the classroom I will be successful in all these areas and can give my students the tools they need to succeed. 

Thank you for reading!

Bre Bolerjack