My name is Dylon Starr, and I am a Winona State University Elementary Education major. When I was six years old, my family moved from a small town near Lincoln, Nebraska to another small town, Zumbrota, Minnesota, just north of Rochester. My family has been very involved in my academic career by finding the best teachers, helping me maintain good grades, and encouraging me to follow whichever paths were best for me, socially or academically.
Throughout my life I have been extremely involved with and interested in music. The most influential spark came when I was about nine and started piano lessons. Since then I have kept music a huge part of my life. I was involved in band and choir throughout high school and into college; I performed in various musicals at both the high school and collegiate levels; and I continue playing the piano in local churches and nursing homes.
With my strong educational background and great interest in music, it is no wonder I have chosen a career path that leads me to opportunities to influence others in both areas. I have worked in various fields of study with many young people in both the Winona and Zumbrota areas. While the full list of my experience could never be summarized in two pages, the highlights of my endeavors with young people include coaching soccer for first and second grade students, teaching music to children of ages three through twelve, and teaching a reading class to third graders as a volunteer experience. I have also volunteered in various classroom settings both as a high school and college student, but I would most like to speak to my experience teaching reading to gifted third grade students.
As a sophomore in high school, I built a strong working relationship with a third grade teacher in my elementary school. She was also my third grade teacher, so I remembered reading a certain book, Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary. When I asked if her current third grade class would be reading the book, she told me that not all students would be ready for that book because of its reading level. I was offered the opportunity to teach the book to her gifted reading class, however, because they would be ready for the challenge. I prepared study guides, wrote various quizzes, developed vocabulary words, and formed a cumulative test to take at the end of the unit. I really felt accomplished, like I was getting a good taste of the teaching experience, and I was only sixteen! This experience was one of the most eye-opening and informational opportunities I’ve had in my entire academic career. The students enjoyed reading the higher-level book and working with a different teacher, and I enjoyed being the teacher and seeing my students grow as readers.
Since then, my education program at Winona State University has offered various field experiences to advance and ensure my interest in becoming a teacher. Through these placements I discovered that my interest in math teaching is very high. I have always enjoyed “putting the mathematical puzzle together,” and I think that I will definitely be able to help students with this skill as well. I have also learned that students will develop and show so much more respect for a teacher who can relate to them and their interests. So by keeping up to date on current trends and goings on that affect the students’ lives, I will be much better at relating my lessons and teaching to them, which will make me a more respected and charismatic teacher.
Finally, I aspire to become a teacher because of the vast array of doors the field of education will open for me. As a classroom teacher, I will be able to incorporate my interests, especially in music, in my daily lessons. I’ll also have opportunities to influence students’ interests to help them grow as individuals. I know that, as a teacher, I will be able to take all of the people, things, and events that inspire me and turn them into wonderful, diverse opportunities and lessons for my students, making these young people into excellent, well rounded members of their community and world.
Dylon Starr's Portfolio 