Name: Chris Minor
Breakthrough Program: Breakthrough Sacramento
Subject Teaching: Literature
School Attending: UC Davis School of Education; Credential/M.A. Program

Over the 6 week summer program I felt I’ve been able to develop and strengthen the skills I learned in summer of 2010. I improved my ability to develop lesson plans, task analyze, manage my classroom, and appropriately prepare my students for future academic success. The area in which I grew most dramatically was in my professional relation with students.

During our summer program I had small class sizes of 6 and 7 respectively. In each class I had a diverse group of students that included high performing, low performing, English learning, English proficient, and advanced students. Additionally, both of my classes had a particular student who required more attention than the others to be attentive, stay on task, complete in-class, and out of class assignments. As the weeks progressed I learned how to work with these students inside and outside of the classroom in order to positively influence their behavior. For example, learning about their interests in sports, music, and popular culture allowed me to engage them, to encourage participation, and to develop positive behavior inside and outside of the classroom. As a result, my professional relationship with these students and my classes in general, improved my overall instruction.

This development in my professional relationship with students informed my teaching, expanded my capacities as a teacher, and improved the environment of my classroom for myself and for all of my students. Most importantly, by learning how to develop positive relationships with these students I helped to prepare these students in order to become successful scholars in middle school and high school.