RCOE International Student Teaching Spring 08

I am Elyse Addington and I am an elementary education major here at App. Basically my entire life I have not wanted to do anything besides teach. I love children and the chance to impact their lives with knowledge. Education can be the key to open so many doors for children whose parents may not have had the same opportunities. One of the biggest reasons I want to teach, besides the fact that children are the most fun people to be around, is the chance to watch them grow and become who they are as they learn more and more.

My experiences here at Appalachian I feel are preparing me to be a strong leader and teacher when I graduate. My Block 2 experience has been absolutely wonderful and I know that I have learned so much in this last semester that I can take and directly apply to my classroom one day. I feel my professors have imparted a lot of really valuable knowledge to us over the past few years. My experiences in schools have also been very beneficial and have given me chances to grow as a future teacher and become more comfortable in the classroom.

I chose to student teach in Costa Rica for several reasons. I have always wanted to work and teach outside of the country, and I think this would be a great stepping stone and allow me to make connections with people in an other country. The Spanish language is another reason why I am excited about this trip. I am hoping to pick up lots more Spanish during our time in Costa Rica.

Before this I have had some travel experiences. I traveled for Spain for two weeks in high school and toured lots of the country while I was there. Also, I spent a week in a small Panamanian village in Central America through Appalachian's Alternative Spring Break program last spring. I have also done some tourist traveling in the Caribbean to the Cayman Islands..