Hello! My name is Chantal Heagy and I am a senior at Illinois State. I am 23 years old and live in Bloomington now. I recently moved here with my boyfriend from our hometown of Peru, Il and am enjoying our last year on campus! I grew up in Peru, Il but moved around a lot as a child and graduated from high school in De Kalb, Il. When I went to community college in Peru, Il, I knew I wanted to be a teacher because of my experience in so many different schools and diverse communities. Also, my mother is a Special Education teacher and has inspired me to help others all my life.
<This is a picture of my mother and I in Washington D.C. when she won an award for her high academics at NIU.
She has always encouraged me to challenge myself and she has never not been there to support me. As a teacher and a disabled person herself, she knows how important it is to keep going, keep trying, and never give up your dreams.
When I came to Illinois State, I knew I wanted to teach 1st or 2nd grade level because of the experience I had working in my clinicals in my community college. I truly think going to community college prepared me to work hard and know what to expect as a Early Childhood major at ISU. I have high goals as a student because I want to be a great model to my future students, and I think that starts before you even graduate. I am very excited for student teaching because I get to go to England for the last eight weeks and do part of my placement there, and I have never been out of the country before.
I have four main goals that I want to accomplish in my last clinical block this semester. I believe that these goals align with the knowledge and experience I have had in my past clinicals, prepare me for student teaching and career preparation, help me develop my teaching skills in planning for my future classroom, and expand my learning of subject areas and grade levels. My first goal is to use the knowledge and experiences from my past clinicals and what we will be learning in class to use in my clinicals. I want to be able to practice some of the things we will be doing in student teaching, like assessments, planning a curriculum, and working with parents and staff. I would like to be able to apply as much knowledge as I am learning in my classes with my clinicals this semester. My goal is to work cooperatively with my CT and build a relationship with her to let her know how important it is for me to be engaged in the classroom and using the knowledge I have and learning from her to help me gain insight and skills in my teaching practices. I think it's really important to establish my goals with my CT so that I can accomplish my goal of utilizing what I learn in my classes and from my past clinical experiences to incorporate ideas and practices into my last clinical block.
My second goal is to plan and organize myself well so that I can work hard and know my expectations for doing well in my classes and focusing on graduating and preparing myself for student teaching. I know that a lot of what we are learning in this semester will be used in our student teaching placements, and I want to understand all the work and do well in my assignments so that I feel confident in doing this work in my placements. Also, I know that much of what I am learning this semester is beneficial in helping me find a job and know how to work professionally and learn from our last clinical placement, so that student teaching may be a gateway to a future job. I know that it is important to be prepared when looking towards the future, and that is my second goal.
Another goal I have is acting as a professional and focusing on my academics as a priority. I know in the past some of my personal issues have got in the way of doing well in my classes and I intend to make it a goal to not allow anything of my own personal performance to discourage my act of professionalism and my accomplishment in my academics. I want to show my professionalism through my work and my abilities and strengths in my teaching and clinicals.
My last goal is to become more familiar with science and social studies subject areas. I have not learned a lot or seen much of these subject in my clinicals or classes, and this semester I have two classes pertaining to these subjects. I have a goal to become more knowledgeable in these subjects and find ways to incorporate these subjects into my future curriculum and successful use what I have learned to improve education in these areas. I know from my past experiences that science and social studies are not well-incorporated subjects in the curriculum, at any grade in early childhood levels, and I think it is important to become more knowledgeable and be able to use what I have learned for my future.
