Dan Bogdanowicz

What I Know

When I decided to make the change to teaching I reflected on my past schooling. I thought of my own personal struggles in middle school. I did okay through elementary school but struggled with some subjects in middle school. I was not receiving the help and learning assistance from my teachers that I needed. When I was finally placed with teachers that recognized my shortfalls and strengths in my learning abilities and processing, not only did my self-confidence grow, but I began to retain lessons, understand what I was reading and overall have a more successful learning experience. This because these teachers set me up to be successful with their assistance of breaking down much of the materials. blocks that I could continually build into being more proficient. By “chunks” I mean I was not so overloaded with materials at one time that I became frustrated and wanted to give up. I was given a lot of positive reinforcement and challenged to want to succeed. Some of my teachers would even work with me one on one. They taught me how to study, how to take notes in class and how to listen for key phrases when a lesson is being taught. Thinking of my personal experiences and the help I received during my struggles in middle school. Not only did my learning improve, my self-confidence became solid and I was not embarrassed or afraid to be called on or respond to a question.

Using my past experience in school and my experiences in various jobs it has created a foundation for me to use in my classroom. I have learned that students learn in different ways and you need to include various lesson and learning styles to be able to for students to understand the information your are teaching. I plan to be that teacher that gets to know and understand my students. Know some of their likes, dislikes, as well as family background, so I as Mr. B will be able to make a connection with them. A connection we can build a learning rapport together.  I want to get to know my students not only as the individuals they are, but know how they learn. I learned in working as a coach and caseworker by making that personal connection and having the rapport with your students you can help them to grow and to reach their potential.