Danny Heise
My Village project experience was extremely helpful in my goal of becoming an educator.
From my first day at my site thinking to myself, how would 2nd-5th grade students benefit someone like me who had a goal to teach at the highschool level, to my final day this spring reflecting on all of the memories. It brought me great joy to be able to impact a single student. The simple gratitude it brought me when a student needed my help or even simply knew my name is something I will never take for granted.
During my time at my site I walked away with many lessons learned and ideas created, here is a cultivation of 10 ideas
The biggest idea I will take away from my time in the Village Project is how important relationships are. If it was establishing a relationship with coworkers and being able to work as a team or if it was establishing a relationship with a student I would play basketball with or help with an activity, forming relationships only helps the entire process run smoother.
Patience is another tool I have gained, for me it was difficult to stay patient with certain students I worked with and over time learned to appreciate the importance of patience while I was at my site. Some students will be easier to control than others but for every student there are different levels of patience needed to be able to assist and help each student individually to be able to do the best job that I can.
With the idea of patience comes the idea of respect. I never really fully grasped the amount of work that goes into being an educator or simply an after school volunteer, but what my time at the village project showed me was the hard work and care that every person involved puts into the program to keep it running smoothly, something that without them would not happen.
Collaboration is also a major idea I have taken away from the village project. My site showed the importance of good teamwork and collaboration to be the most productive educator possible. No task is easier done alone and it is always beneficial to trust the people who are on your team and work together to achieve a goal.
Attendance is so important, whether VP interfered with baseball or schoolwork, it was always important to show up when you were supposed to, the after school program wouldn’t be able to run without the staff and when you might miss a day, the next time you would be present you would realize how important each and everyone of the volunteers are to the students. The kids need you, show up.
I noticed how important it is to give my time to the students. I was there for only 2 hours and wanted to make sure the 2 hours went to the students. I found it to be very important to not be distracted, not be on my phone, and to not be talking to my friends. It was very important to give the students all of my attention, something that will benefit my goal of being an educator.
I also took with me valuable skills on how to control a classroom, I learned what students would listen to and what worked in different situations. With this, I also learned what did not work and essentially what not to do in classroom management. This was very important to me as I find classroom management to be extremely important in being a successful educator.
The idea of “meet them where they are” also proved prominent in my VP experience and showed how important it is to treat every student individually and understand how each student is different socially and academically. This idea showed up frequently in my time at my site and I learned how to effectively put this idea into practice and believe it will play a valuable role in my career as an educator.
It may not seem like a big deal but simply just being around students as a part of my VP time helped me in becoming a better educator. Just like in baseball, practice makes perfect and in the Village Project the exposure itself played a large pole in my road to being an educator. The exposure to situations within a classroom gave me somewhat of an idea of what to expect and whatI am getting myself into.
The final takeaway I have from my time in the Village Project is gratuity. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to be able to work with the staff and students at Nicolet Elementary. I have good and bad memories I will never forget and will forever cherish my time there and use it as a learning experience for whatever career my life brings me down the line
