Reich College of Education

The Journey of Learning

 As I stride proudly towards my final days at Appalachian State University, I have so much to be thankful for.  My education as a student has come to a close and now it is my chance to practice some of the amazing skills I have ascertained in my years at Appalachian.  I finally feel prepared to teach and inspire young adolescents in the classroom and I am ready to guide them in the journey of finding themselves as learners.

One amazing opportunity I was lucky enough to attend was a senior professional development trip to the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching on Ocracoke Island.  During this amazing weekend, I was revitalized and rekindled my fire for teaching.  I learned strategies to keep my students’ attention while teaching and for classroom management.  It was a weekend full of inspiring stories from valued educators, an island experience and lots of memories with my class of ACES.  This experience reminded me why I love teaching so much and fully prepared me for my long semester of student teaching to come.  

 I am student teaching in Sparta Elementary School located in the small town of Sparta, North Carolina in Alleghany County.  This is a small mountain community where a lot of my students are very familiar with farm life.  We experience a high influx of Hispanic students, migrant students, during the winter months while their parents farm Christmas trees.  These students tend to leave in February to move back to Florida where their parents work in orange groves.  My students experience high poverty and some of them are sent home with food bags for the weekend so they can eat.  There are a lot of resources available for students whose families need financial help, which has been uplifting for me to watch. 

 I am teaching language arts to three blocks of rambunctious and funny 8^th graders.  It has been exciting to finally use a lot of the skills I have learned over the years in my classes.  I just finished teaching them a unit on infectious diseases, which they were very interested in.  I used a combination of nonfiction and fiction texts to interest them and instruct them on the various infectious diseases that have plagued the world throughout history.  I am providing them with test taking skills that they can utilize on their end-of-grade tests.  I think one of the coolest things about my teaching this unit is watching students improve their pre-test scores in their post-test scores after my instruction.  I saw a lot of students who normally do not make fantastic test scores, make almost perfect scores on their post-tests.  Seeing how excited they were at the mastery of these skills, really reminded me how important it is to provide my students with evidence of their learning. 

 I am also working with a target group of students who did not meet growth on their end-of-grade tests last year or their midterm benchmark.  For an hour each day, I teach students strategies to annotate their excerpts as they read.  This requires students to have a “conversation” with the text.  They react in the margins of the things they read and make connections to their own lives.  While they are reading, I also instruct them to highlight the important details as a lot of the 8^th grade curriculum is discerning the essential ideas of passages.  This has been extremely helpful for me, as I really enjoy helping students succeed.  I want to help students have concrete tools to use during hard end-of grade tests to aid them in their success. 

 I have also experienced a lot of growth in my classroom management skills.  When I first started at Sparta, my students were really interested in learning all about me.  They wanted to know what college was like and a lot of information about my personal life.  I shared what was appropriate, but because I am closer to their age than my cooperating teacher they formed a bond with me that was more friendship than respect.  I had to reestablish my presence in the classroom when I returned after Christmas Break, so recently I have had to be hard on them.  My students and I have formed a mutual respect where I will have fun and learn with them until they take advantage of me.  I am learning so much about creating a conductive atmosphere while also remembering to treat my students like people and not robots. 

This year has been absolutely amazing year and I have developed so much as a middle school educator.  I have acquired many life skills that will aid me in and out of my future classroom.  I continue to develop my knowledge of my students’ mental, physical and academic development, which has only inspired me to find better ways to reach them.  Thanks to the opportunities I have had because of this scholarship; I know I am better prepared to be a teacher. 

As I start my job search for my first teaching job, I remain humbled by the opportunities granted to me thanks to James Patterson.  I know still have so much to learn about being a teacher, but I feel confident and excited to dive into the lifelong journey that is learning.  I feel prepared to navigate the hurdles that are ahead in my first few years of teaching because of the numerous experiences I have received at Appalachian State University.  Becoming a teacher is embarking on an endless journey of learning and instilling in a love of learning in my students, and I cannot thank James Patterson enough for helping me so much along my journey.       

Interview with Nicole Iorio

Listen to a radio interview with Patterson Scholar, Nicole Iorio! Listen with transcript