I have wanted to be in the education field ever since I made a connection with Mrs. Menkins, my second grade teacher.  This stayed with me throughout my entire now and over the past four years I have had the opportunity to grow as both a student and as an educator.  Now I stand here, about to graduate, there is no doubt in my mind that this is what I was meant to do with my life.  Looking back over the past four years I know that I am ready to become a teacher and make a difference.
  I entitled this entry: The Production Book and Choosing the Next Season.  The production book in a directing class is presented after the play is over.  It's a showing of all the work that went into the production and it says a lot about the director and I feel this portfolio is the same for an education major.  The second part of the title refers to the point in UVM theatre year when they get together and decide as a group what plays they will be doing in the following season.  This is my piece about what I want to do in my future as a teacher, in my next season.
  As I sit here today and evaluate myself as a future educator, I think about my strengths as an future teacher.  My greatest strength is a passion for teaching.  I genuinely enjoy working with children and live for the look on a child’s face when they finally “get it.”  One of my other strengths is that I have is the ability to write clear lesson plans and follow them flexibly.  Things change all the time in the classroom and flexibility is the key.  I also have the ability to look back at lessons and evaluate where things went wrong and come up with ideas about how to change my plans for the next time.  I can create projects that children get excited about.  I also have strengths in many fields such as music and theatre that make a wonderful addition to any classroom.
   I also feel that I have room for growth in many areas. One of these areas is assessment.  This year I really got a taste of how to create formal assessments and how to use them to guide instruction. However, I have much to learn in this area and am looking forward to continued growth.  I also hope to improve on my classroom management.  Although I learned a lot this year and began to use management techniques that my mentor teacher employs in the classroom, it was not my class.  I walked into a situation where there was already a nice system in place for me to work with. I need to grow in creating and structuring one to fit my classroom.  I would also like to continue to gain knowledge about group work, especially Complex Instruction.  As I saw the results of my small unit, I became aware of the possibilities and the strengths of using such a system.  An area of growth that needs much work is accommodating students with special needs.  I haven’t had much of an opportunity to work closely with many students with IEPs or other special needs and I would like to expand my knowledge of this area.
  In order to improve on my weaknesses I need to continue to educate myself.  "Whether this means attending workshops, taking classes, observing more classrooms, reading education books, talking to colleagues, or finding a mentor to help me grow, I will use this knowledge to make myself the best teacher that I can be. 
  One important part of my future classroom is that I intend to effectively establish group work as a staple in my class.  In my classes at UVM I read a lot of Elizabeth Cohen’s book, Designing Groupwork, as well as a lot of writings on cooperative learning.  Through these readings and  implementing CI for the first time, I have been able to see the different dynamics of group work and what they do for children.  With my strength for creating fun projects for children I will be able to use Complex Instruction to get students to work together for a group performance or project.
  With all that I have learned here at UVM and what I know about myself, I can confidently say that I am ready to have a classroom of my own. (PC 1b, 2d)