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Blas Orea 4/9/14 ELA 12 Ms. Skinner Job Shadow Experience Around the time of my middle school I had to decide what it was that I was going to do with my future. I was informed of a plethora of jobs that vary from being an automotive technician to a learning facilitator. I showed interest and promise in both of these fields of work. Over the course of my high school experience I finally decided that I wanted to be a specialized surgeon. I understand the difficulty, commitment, and time I would have to put into becoming one so I decided to look into another possible field of interest. After school I tutor or help in some minute way in class to those that ask me. Teaching others has always been my thing even when I was in elementary. On top of that, over the summer vacation before my senior year I helped out at my step-sisters daycare; as her assistant I helped in various jobs such as teaching, feeding, and caring for the kids at her daycare and enjoyed it. With these two attributes in mind I decided that I wanted to run my own small business, particularly, a preschool. I job shadowed Nate Wilbrock, the founder and head facilitator at Hoops Preschool in Porterville. I arrived at Hoops preschool around 8 in the morning to find Mr. Wilbrock hanging a flyer for his facility. I walked up and helped him post it and introduced myself to him. We talked a little about who I was and why I chose to job shadow him. After our introduction, we walked into his school and I was amazed at the amount of pictures on the walls. Pictures of each kid at

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the school and their class photos in frames hung in the wall around me. There were also many different photos of events that are hosted at Hoops. Teachers with outstanding dedication were awarded with Teacher of the Year. Behind all the photos I saw Disney characters painted on the wall with a yellow background. As I continued my tour of Hoops I found that it was separated into 5 rooms for the children. The First room is for drawing and drama. The second room was for eating. The third room was for exercising or holding school meetings. The fourth room was for bilingual and shapes. The last room was for reading and writing. Outside in the back was the playground. Along the tour Nate would greet the parents that walked in and said hello to the children. I noticed he was very involved with both the parents and students at Hoops preschool. Once his school was finally in session I was granted permission to follow one of the staff members, Ms. Cookie. She taught the highest grade, Spunky Seniors. Her itinerary for the day first included going outside to the playground. Next she took her kids inside for a meeting. After that we headed over to the fourth room. There, I asked Ms. Cookie if there was a rotation for the rooms and indeed there was. Certain teachers will use certain rooms on specific days. Today, Ms. Cookie had the fourth and fifth room. When we were finally done in the fourth room we headed over to the fifth room. I read books to a few of the children while Ms. Cookie was helping other students write. Nate came in at this point to check up on me and was surprised to see me so involved with the kids. He told me that after this class I am free to leave. I didnt want to seem rude or over-stay my welcome so I told him I would. Once the class was I over I found Mr. Wilbrock and conversed. I asked him about his staff, curriculum, the qualities needed for his job, and a little about himself before finally extending my gratitude for this opportunity and departing.

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Through my job shadow I learned that you need an understanding of children's education, in this particular business, and starting your own business. You must be prepared to research local laws governing both small businesses and preschool education specifically. You must be plan in terms of acquiring an adequate space, obtaining insurance, developing a curriculum, hiring additional staff, advertising and registering children. The proper care and teaching of children requires no detail be overlooked. Contacting your local gov. about licensing fees, writing out your business plan, ensure that you and your staff have the level of education required by your community necessary to provide a preschool education, preparing a curriculum, determine the number of kids you will be able to teach, advertising your school, and finally, choosing interested parents whose kids you want attending the preschool. What I liked most about this career is working with both children and adults. I enjoy teaching others something they dont yet already know. I find satisfaction in being my own boss and not having to listen to someone else. What I disliked most would also have to be dealing with the parents. Working with the parents and created a new, professional friendship is something I would enjoy doing; however, I know that there will be times when I meet parents who are overly protective of their kids. I might even find some parents who push their kids to an extraneous extent. I understand that performing this job will require me to be a well-educated, patient, encouraging, and enthusiastic person; I need to be self-directive, committed, and passionate towards this career. I am still interested in becoming the head of a preschool teacher but I understand that there are other fields in entrepreneurship that I can study. I feel, however, that being the head of a pre-school would come most naturally to me. I enjoy taking care of kids and I find satisfaction in teaching others new material. If I choose this path, I cant for the day that I am able to open up my facility.