Essay 1
Career in the Psychology Field
Tajoann Willis
PSYC 200
September 9, 2010
While attending UB for my degree in forensic science, I started substituting at a local middle school. I fell in love with the idea of being a teacher instead of a crime scene investigator. Once I finished up with forensics, I left UB to attend UMBC in pursuit of a teaching certificate so that I could teach middle school science. While I was enrolled at UMBC there were numerous problems with the way the schedules were being run; so I decided to return to UB and get my BA in psychology. Having a BA in psychology will allow me to teach kindergarten through twelfth grade.
I have been teaching at the middle school level since Fall of 2008. On a daily basis I see how psychology plays a major role in education. By being able to understand what students are thinking and going through, I am able to explain things in a way that every student will understand. Over this past Summer I took two psychology classes, human sexuality and stress management. This allowed me to be able to better understand myself as well as my students. The stress management class in particular has helped the most. Instead of piling on homework every night and having it due the next day, I give weekly homework assignments that my students can start Monday nights and do a little each night until they are complete.
I am not sure if I will continue to be a teacher until retirement, but becoming a guidance counselor is something that I have a high level of interest in pursuing. By being a guidance counselor I will be working one on one with students and their parents/guardians to find the best environment for each student. The one on one time with the student will allow me to use my background in psychology to help direct and provide a positive learning environment for the students at my school.
I feel that by being a guidance counselor I will use more of the skills and information that I have learned in my education in psychology. In fact, I believe that my background in psychology best prepares me to work with children of a middle school age because of the psychological changes that middle school children experience. I will take great pride in assisting adolescents as well as young adults in getting through their own personal challenges, as well as the challenges that society and assuming their roles in can potentially bring them.
In conclusion, I feel that by taking this class I will have an educated approach to situations, rather than a personal assessment. I will have a set of tools at my disposal to handle situations and guide others through difficult situations without allowing my own idea of norms to affect my decisions.