Overall my experience at Nevada State College has been a positive one. NSC has prepared me well to be a successful teacher. Several professors have been instrumental in helping achieve academic success. Professor Litterini helped shape the kind of teacher I have become. Fortunately, she was my professor for two of the most important Education classes: Classroom Management and Pedagogy I. The traits that I value in a professor are: kindness, honesty, experience and passion for the subject. Litterini teaches important educational teaching strategies by modeling as well as having her students demonstrate various teaching techniques. My student teaching successes can be directly traced to her instruction. Like Litterini Dr. Brautbar possesses the same important traits. Most professors outside of the education program use direct instruction as their primary teaching pedagogy. Dr. Brautbar is the exception. Her assignments varied throughout many history courses that I have completed at NSC. She has passion for her discipline and encourages her students to critically think and look at many perspectives which are important for all Historians to learn. On numerous occasions I have changed points of view based on historical evidence. Originally I majored in Secondary Education with History concentration because I had a strong desire to teach U.S. Government. My interest in teaching history was low to say the least. Dr. Brautbar is the sole reason I feel in love with history. She stressed the importance of learning about the past and why it is vital to understanding todays society. Because of her I plan I obtain a Masters degree in history and hopefully pursue my doctorate. There are a few areas I hope can be improved for future education students. The advising at NSC has been disappointing. Both advisors, prior to entering the program and after being admitted to the program have been subpar. Information was not communicated accurately and in return caused delays in graduation. What I have learned while student teaching is that teachers work hard-really hard. Somehow they find a way, no matter what the challenge is, to make it work. I learned that to be a good and effective teacher it takes time, resources, collaboration, self-reflection, flexibility and a positive attitude. I have much more appreciation for teachers because I know the time and dedication it takes to be successful. During my student teaching I have learned many important lessons that will help me be more successful during my first year teaching and years to come. Surprisingly, my strength was creating meaningful lesson plans. At the beginning of the term I did not feel confident with this however as the weeks went on I realized that learning was taking place and students were engaged and interested. One important aspect is the classroom layout. My greatest challenge as a student teacher was the classroom layout. Because there was lack of space and freedom to move around the classroom, I felt confined. Kinesthetic learning could not take place. Going into student teaching I did not think this would be a challenge and I now know the importance of classroom design.