This article originally appeared in the January 2025 edition of The Commuter.
Tell me about your major and year in school.
My major is early childhood education and I’m in my second year. I intend to graduate in June. It started in my senior year of high school when I took a child development class. That led me to taking a practicum class, because at that time I had no idea what I wanted to do. So I was kind of just taking a leap of faith with that one, and I did it and I ended up really loving it. It was so enjoyable. I had so much fun with it and I knew it was something that I wanted to continue to do.
I looked into different education programs and I found that LBCC would be the best starting point for me. Since then I’ve really enjoyed being part of the practicum. I’ve created so many awesome bonds with the children that I work with, and it’s been such a fun experience for me.
Could you tell me more about the practicum and what that is?
Yeah, so a practicum is – I don’t know why it’s named practicum – but it’s where we go into the Periwinkle daycare as part of our class; that is the class. And we have assignments that we need to do for practicum, like lesson planning. We have to do reflections and we just have to be present in our classroom.
For our first term, we didn’t have a practicum classroom to go to, so we had to do our CWE (career work experience) because we weren’t able to do it during our first year. But then the Periwinkle Center was finally finished. In the beginning of the year we just did not have enough kids for the amount of teachers that we had. Now that has changed. The amount of kids that we have is growing, but we still have one vacant room.
Did you have a mentor or teacher who influenced you to go into this career field?
I think back to my senior year – my child development teacher, Ms. Bender, I think she was my biggest mentor and motivator because she was such a kind, gentle, and patient person. So I wanted to be that kind of person. I wanted to reflect on her personality traits and be like her. She was my first mentor. And then coming here, the main teacher for the early childhood education major is Alicia [Jabin], and she became my mentor because I was also really inspired by her and looked up to her.
Could you tell me more about some of the classes that you’re taking this term?
I’m taking a literacy, math, and science course, and that is just all focusing on the curriculum. We focus on making lesson plans, learning about different aspects of math, literacy, and science with different ways we could teach it, how it’s been taught in the past, and the history of why they have been made part of the core curriculum. Three of my classes have the same teacher, Alicia.
And then I only have one different teacher, Nicole [LeSage]. The one I’m taking with Nicole is a positive guidance class, which teaches us how to guide the children in positive directions. It focuses on authoritative teaching, or gentle parenting. It teaches us how to be a positive influence in the children’s lives in different ways; not to yell at them, scream, or become aggressive or mean for no reason. We focus a lot on child-led learning as well, which is an educational approach where learning is flexible, and they are encouraged to experiment, explore, and use their creativity. Educators form strong relationships with the children in order to understand their unique learning styles.
I think one of the main assignments in all those classes are the chapter organizer notes. I do not like those – they’re very time consuming. They’re helpful, but just really time consuming.
What has been one of the most challenging parts of the program?
I think one of the most challenging parts happened in the beginning of the year. We have mentor teachers while we’re in the classroom, which is the main teacher who mentors us around the classroom. And in the beginning of the year, the classroom with my first mentor-teacher was completely chaotic and had me rethinking my career choice. I was like, do I really want to do this that badly? Is it too late to switch? And it wasn’t even because of the kids. It wasn’t their fault. They were just severely disorganized. We had no routine, we had no study teachers, we were just all over the place. That disorganization and the lack of a good environment really caused a lot of bad chaos. Classrooms are chaotic in general, but there’s good chaos and bad chaos.
What would you say has been the most rewarding part of the program?
The best part – seeing the transition from the screaming, the yelling, the loud and very overstimulating classroom, to a classroom where the children are actually benefiting from it. They’re a lot happier; it’s calmer. They’re learning, making observations and discoveries, and they’re just able to enjoy being there. Seeing that is the most rewarding part, because the group of kids that we have is a little more challenging than ones that I’ve had in the past, but seeing them get along with each other, make friendships, bond, and be able to be comfortable in telling me things was a really rewarding part for me.
What are some of your plans for after LBCC?
After LBCC, we were presented with an opportunity from Western Oregon University to be substitute care providers, and it’s where we get to choose the range of wherever we’re living at the time. In my case, it would be Albany and they would find different childcare centers that need substitutes, whether they’re out sick, on vacation, or just lacking staff in general. And they would send us there and we would get to pick our hours and everything like that. The pay is $20 an hour.
I plan to do that because it would be a great opportunity for me to experience a lot of different kinds of centers, because the types of centers that we would go to range from in-home care, to churches, to Montessori, to more prestigious ones and more. I think it’s a really great opportunity for me to learn what I like and what I don’t really like and what kind of classroom and school that I would have the best experience in.
Is there a certain age range that you’d like to work with?
I’ve worked with all the age ranges, and I would confidently say I like working with the older kids. Preschool to pre-K I really enjoy, which is ages 3-5. I really do enjoy teaching, but I also really like who we call the wobblers, which is 1-2-year-olds. I just like them because they are adorable and they’re so fun. I love them – they’re like little geniuses when they’re not screaming at you. They’re just so fun. But mainly I would want to work with 4-5-year-olds.
What are some of your hobbies and interests outside of school?
Outside of school, I really like drawing. That’s something that I really enjoy doing. And I like finding new things to do and going out with my friends. I really enjoy finding new places to hang out and finding new things to see. We really like going on hikes to the mountains, especially around this time of year because of the snow. And I really just enjoy spending time with family. I have two older sisters, one older brother, and then two younger siblings.
What kind of art do you like to do?
I like to paint a lot. I think watercolor would be my preferred medium. I like how it looks on paper, and I think it’s really pretty. And there’s a lot that could be done with watercolor.
Is there anything else you’d want to leave with readers if they’re curious about the early childhood education program?
Don’t listen to the stereotypes or stigma surrounding it, because it really is more than coloring, singing songs, doing the ABCs, all of that. There’s so much more work that comes with it. And don’t listen to people who are like, “Oh, that’s not a real career,” or, “Oh, that’s just not a real major,” or anything like that. Because it is – it’s a lot of work. It can be a lot of work, and being part of an actual classroom can definitely be very mentally taxing and draining, and you need a lot of patience. So take a lot of time for self-care and self-reflection and all of that, and do what you think you need to do to learn, to grow, and to adapt as necessary.