RCOE International Student Teaching Fall 08

Hello,

My name is Seth and I am currently a senior at Appalachian State University. As part of my senior year I am completing my student teaching internship at Southwest Elementary School in Clemmons, NC and then in Puebla, Mexico at a school named Instituto D'Amicis through the International Student Teaching program.

The teaching degree that I am hoping to attain is for Elementary Education, K-6 and I look forward very much to working with students in these particular grades.

A Little Bit More About Me!

There has always been an understanding with the people that I have known well that I worked well with people. Not just people, but especially children. This isn't something especially rare in my family but I think that because I am the oldest boy of three it gained special attention.
This eventually led me to Appalachian State University, which is one of the premier education schools in the country. After four years and several "all-nighters" I find myself in the final semester of my college "career" student teaching at Southwest Elementary School in Winston-Salem, NC.
I don't think that liking children is a prerequisite for teaching though it does help. A good teacher is someone who is passionate about knowledge. The best teachers are, I find, those who are naturally inquisitive and even have a tendency to stretch the norm. I am a curious person. More important I love trying to get other people to think. I want me students to leave my classroom excited about how much they know and how much they don't know.

As part of the International Student Teaching Program I will be student teaching at Instituto D' Amicis a Puebla Mexico. I knew when I applied for the this program that I wanted to spend my five weeks in some Latin American country. Of the several possible locations in Mexico I revered the two locations at Chetumal and Puebla. Chetumal ended up not working out and so Puebla it was! I didn't want to go to Mexico City because I wanted to see the less commercial side of Mexico. Puebla's combination of historical and modern city as well as the local natural beauties in Parque Natural La Malinche and Parque Natural Izta-Popo makes for a great place to spend five weeks.

My main goals in going to Mexico with this program is to enhance my understanding of the Spanish language and to gain ideas about how education is done outside of America.

I can't wait till the 7th of November when I leave!

Hello,

My name is Seth and I am currently a senior at Appalachian State University. As part of my senior year I am completing my Student Teaching internship at Southwest Elementary School in Clemmons, NC and then in Puebla Mexico at a school named Instituto D'Amicis through the International Student Teaching program.
The teaching degree that I am hoping to attain is that for Elementary Education K-6 and I look forward very much to working with students in these particular grades.

My name is Katie David. I am a senior at Appalachian State University. I am completing my student teaching at Fox Road Elementary in Raleigh, NC. I will do the last five weeks of my student teaching outside of Dublin, Ireland.

I initially chose Ireland because of its rich history. I have been to Dublin and Belfast and am very excited to go back and be able to immerse myself in the culture. I will apply what I learn during this experience to my own classroom in the U.S. I am very interested to learn about the differences between the educational systems in the United States and Ireland. I would like to see what kind of environment the students learn in and the teachers teach in without the pressure of end-of-grade testing.

My name is Regan House and I am an Elementary Education major. I decided to become a teacher after working in a first grade classroom as a high school senior. Throughout my internship I grew to love the idea of teaching children not only their basic skills but also how to learn and grow. I saw this growth in my students throughout the year and that caused me to want to be a teacher. This desire to teach has stuck with me throughout my career as a student at Appalachian. During this time I have spent time in many different classrooms including a fifth grade and a second grade class. Also I am currently in a fourth grade class at Rocky River Elementary School in Concord NC.
I am looking forward to going to Costa Rica for many reasons. One reason is the learning experience this trip will be for me. By living in Costa Rica and teaching I hope to not only improve my Spanish but to learn about the culture of the families that I will be with. Also I hope to learn about teaching students with different backgrounds so that I am able to teach my future more effectively. Another reason I am looking forward to going to Costa Rica is the relationship that I will build. I am so excited about meeting new people and learning more about them, their language and culture. Finally, I believe that Coast Rica is beautiful and that by living there for five weeks I will be able to discover things that tourists often overlook. Overall, I believe this trip will be a wonderful learning experience for me and for the students that I will be teaching in the classroom.