Photo 1: Through my studies at both Deerfield Academy (2010) and University of Michigan (2014), I came to appreciate the tremendous task charged to a teacher in guiding students towards success through effective social and intellectual development. I discovered my love for teaching and spent four summers interning for a program called Horizons, hosted at Greens Farms Academy. Horizons is a national not-for-profit educational enrichment program operating in 15 states for inner city children in Kindergarten through 8th grade. I taught kindergarten, 2nd and 7th grade reading, writing and mathematics. As a teacher for Horizons, I worked with inner city children whose backgrounds and abilities were diverse. I utilized teaching strategies designed to make learning fun and interactive, while enhancing my classroom management skills. A unique part of my Horizons experience was teaching swimming to children who had never been in a pool before. Additionally, I served as a Horizons Saturday Academy teacher this Fall. I spent my Saturdays working with the same children; reinforcing reading, writing and math skills we had practiced over the summer. Looking back, my moments teaching Horizons children were some of the most memorable and rewarding experiences I have had. I have considered the idea of working at a charter school someday, and began researching graduate school programs.
Photo 2: Currently, I work as a 2nd grade Teaching Assistant at Greens Farms Academy (an independent co-educational college preparatory day school for grades K-12) in Greens Farms, CT. In addition to my passion for education, I believe extra curricular activities reinforce valuable lessons learned in the classroom. By participating on a team, children learn how to collaborate, work hard and inspire one another. I learned this at Deerfield. This spring I will coach the Varsity tennis team at Greens Farms Academy. Another extra curricular activity that has always been important to me is art. This interest stemmed from Mr. Dickinson’s classes at Deerfield and I continued to take many studio art courses, majoring in art history at University of Michigan. I am always eager to incorporate creative and visual exploration in the classroom at Greens Farms.
Bea Crawford
2010
