Brooke Turulski is a senior at the University of Delaware, majoring in early childhood education and currently student-teaching at Southern Elementary School in New Castle, Delaware. Brooke, a Cohort One graduate and DCS advisor for the summer 2019 program, sat down and shared her experience of teaching 1st graders with us and what inspires her each day.
What did your daily prep look like when you were teaching in the classroom each day?
While school doesn’t start until 8:25am, I always like to arrive an hour or so early. Before school starts, I go over the lesson plan for that day and help set up the classroom for specific lesson plans. After school ends at 3:20pm, I tend to stay for an additional 2-3 hours to prepare for the following day. By using this time after school to prepare, I always feel ready for the next day. Additionally, I have built a really strong relationship with Cindy Price, who serves as my clinical educator in the classroom, so I am always glad to have time with her. Cindy has been working in education for 27 years and provides great insight and thoughtful feedback.
How has that changed with COVID-19?
A lot has changed, but we’re still very much engaged with our students. We are currently using Zoom and we have a small lesson each day for 40 minutes. We also offer office hours for 30 minutes each day as our students love to chat!
What advice would you give to scholars who are looking to get into the education field?
Go with the flow of the children and adjust your lesson plans based on what they need.
What inspired you to work with elementary school children?
Throughout high school, I participated in Delcastle High School’s culinary program and believed that would be my career path until we visited Loyola University as part of my DCS experience. During our visit at Loyola, they talked about their education program and I became excited about the possibility of working with children. When we returned from our visit, I began to research the education program at the University of Delaware and immediately knew that’s what I was meant to do.
What’s the biggest challenge working with 1st grade students?
Making sure kids understand where the boundaries are and being assertive — putting my foot down when kids begin to act up. I have a really good group of students, so I don’t have to do this often. From an education standpoint, it’s just being well-versed in everything as you are planning, from science lessons to english lessons, throughout the day.
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
When the light-bulb goes off for a student! It’s always rewarding to see a student, after a few moments struggling with a specific concept, get it and instantly be able to apply it with whatever lesson we’re working on.
You recently participated in the Get Your Teach On! conference. How was that event and what did you learn?
It was a great networking opportunity for me, being able to be around elementary school professionals who were willing to share their knowledge. We talked about various ways to create an engaging, welcoming classroom atmosphere for our students.
What are you most proud of?
I’m most proud of the relationships that I’ve built with the children as I’ve earned their trust. This experience is everything I thought it would be and I’m excited to continue my work throughout the winter and spring.
