As a teacher, I have many objectives that I would like to achieve in my teaching methods. I believe that the most important objective is to teach my students the skills that they will use for their entire lives, not just in the classroom. Some of these skills include respect, curiosity, resiliency, and patience. I will teach these life skills mainly through effective modelling and hidden curriculum. Students who are introduced to these life skills early on, will find them valuable and useful for the rest of their lives. I also plan to relate explicit curriculum to personal experiences and the outside world, so that the students remember what they are taught and can apply it to their everyday lives. Making students more aware of the community and world around them will foster their creativity, develop critical thinking skills, and enable them to better understand who they are and what influences helped them to form the perspectives that they have. I plan to use a wide variety of learning and teaching techniques to accommodate all personalities, foster critical thinking and resiliency, and develop a keen sense of curiosity in all of my students.
There are countless methods that I will utilize in order to achieve my goals and be an effective teacher. I believe that a positive attitude and encouragement are the most important methods to use in a classroom. They create a welcoming and safe environment for students, making them feel like they belong. It is also very important to include laughter and enthusiasm in the classroom. If students are not having fun while they are learning, and if their teacher is not showing enthusiasm and interest in what is being taught, the students will not be engaged or remember the content. High and positive expectations will always be present for my students, no matter what level they are at. By doing this and motivating them to do their best, they will all achieve success in their own way. When planning, I will plan my lessons to accommodate all nine multiple intelligences, as well as the three learning modalities, being visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Glasser’s five needs and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are two other systems that I will employ in my classroom. Peer teaching is another concept that I will frequently use. I think that it is just as important for students to learn from their peers as it is from their teacher. Learning from peers is an excellent way to share ideas with one another, and develop socialization skills, both of which are part of the hidden curriculum being taught. Utilizing technology in the classroom, when appropriate, is also very important. I hope to teach elementary, so by introducing technology to the students at a young age, it will help to develop the higher order and critical thinking skills required to properly use technology in their learning, as well as learn the ongoing lessons of being a responsible digital citizen.
I plan to only use a relatively small amount of traditional assessment or testing. I prefer to use a variety of different kinds of formative assessment, although I recognize that summative assessment is important as well. I find that having a mix of both formative and summative assessments throughout various units is the best way to assess students in elementary. Formative assessment will allow me to accurately know where my students are at when it comes to understanding the material being covered, while also helping determine future instruction, including whether or not my students are ready for summative assessment. I will only use summative assessment when my students are ready for it, as it should show the growth and learning that students have completed over the course of a unit of study. I plan to use project based assessment in my future teaching as much as possible, which I feel shows what students have learned, while also decreasing student worry and anxiety. I feel that my journey to understanding assessment will be an area of constant and career-long growth. I believe in providing the most valuable learning experience that I possibly can for my students, and properly assessing students is a huge part of that. Therefore, I will try my best to improve my assessment strategies, ideas, and practices as I gain more experience.
Teaching is important to me for many reasons. The profession of teaching is very important to me and I truly believe that it is and always will be a part of me and who I am. I think that a teacher holds the future of a student in their hands and plays a huge part in determining the success or failure of a student. I love that teachers have this responsibility and opportunity. It is truly wonderful how a teacher can make an impact on so many students’ lives. Teachers should always try their best to set a good example for their students, but also never be afraid to be themselves and teach the way that they want to. I also believe that teachers should stress the importance of being a good person to their students. Having good manners and being a truly good and kind person is so important and will get one farther in life than anything else. Teaching is such an exciting career for many reasons, one of them being that it largely relies on teacher creativity. Teachers have the ability and freedom to teach outcomes any way that they would like to. Activities and lessons can be created that have no boundaries, and they can be taught while being yourself and putting your own personality into instruction. Teaching is also very important to me because it is such a rewarding career. Seeing a student understand a concept that they have been struggling with or making them smile is such an amazing and gratifying feeling. Most of all, teaching is important to me because I love children and everything about them. I really love the idea of getting to spend every day with children and getting to know each and every one of them and learn from them all. I look forward to experiencing a variety of opinions and personalities. I am thrilled to one day be able to make a student's day and be someone that they are excited to see and look up to.
I want all of my students to be successful, and I know that this is an achievable goal. If each student’s individual needs are met, they can succeed in their own way. No matter what approach it takes to achieve this, it is worth it in the end. By keeping students engaged and interested, as well as teaching them skills that they will use for the rest of their life, they will be able to achieve whatever they set their mind to.