Peter Ortell

Who I am

I am 21 years old and I come from a big family with many cousins, nieces, nephews, second cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. I have always had a strong bond with children and love working in childcare/education. I also grew up a military child and have lived in many different parts of the country. Both of my parents are middle school SPED teachers and have had a large influence on my want to get into the field. I have passion for the kids and want to contribute to the solution when it comes to public education, which is my main inspiration to become a teacher.

What I know

What I know is that I strive to provide a safe and fair environment for all the youth that I come across. I involve myself in as much as possible when it comes to childcare. I let them know that I can be someone they can come to for a snack, advice, help, or just to talk. I treat them with respect and they learn to return it. I believe teaching respect to students is what allows them to become better people.

What I have to learn

I still have very much to learn when it comes to handling a classroom environment - when to take things more seriously, how to push students to their limits, and make every student feel equally as comfortable. As a person I will challenge myself to make the extra effort to get to know each student and strive to provide them the best 7 hours I can each day they show up to school. To become the teacher that I strive to be, I will create personal relationships with each student while also maintaining enough distance and respect so that they know I am someone they can rely on.

The Teacher I Will Become

I believe the purpose of school is to provide each student with enough preparation to be hard-working, self-respecting individuals, who can find their place in the world and chase fulfillment. The most important thing my students will learn is how to treat each other equally and with respect, as well as critical thinking and collaboration skills. They will learn these traits by taking part in a student-centered, progressivist classroom with the teacher at the helm providing them with the resources and guidance to arrive at that point. My students will value each other's respect and time while prioritizing their own education and learning. A word that describes me as a teacher is nurturing. A word that describes my students is resilient. If someone walked into my classroom, they would see a dynamic and flexible layout, interactive and creative learning tools, students actively engaged, and the teacher as the facilitator.

Educational Philosophy: Progressivist

I believe the Progressivist educational philosophy matched my teaching beliefs the most accurately because I want my classroom to be a student-centered environment where we prioritize respect, collaboration and critical thinking. Hands-on and involved assignments that keep each student engaged and excited to continue on with their work while knowing the significance of their learning.

This image reflects similarly to what my ideal classroom setup would look like. I want the students engaged in their assignments, where the hands-on and individualized activities feel important to the student. Implementing differentiation is important as I want the students to have options on what they have to work on in my classroom while I go around and make sure they are on task, assisting wherever a student may need help.

How I Used AI

I used Dream Lab via Canva to generate the above image. I used the prompt, "Progressivist student-centered classroom."

I also used ChatGPT to help me learn more about educational philosophies. I used the prompt, "I am a college student studying to be an elementary teacher. I am trying to learn more about educational philosophies, especially perennialism, progressivism, essentialism, existentialism and social reconstructionism. Quiz me to help me figure out which philosophies best match my beliefs about education." Once I landed on Progressivism, it helped me match my personal educational philosophy and expand my knowledge on it.

I asked ChatGPT, "If someone walked into my progressivist, student-centered classroom, what would they see?" and it provided me with "they would see a dynamic and flexible layout, interactive and creative learning tools, students actively engaged, and the teacher as the facilitator," which I used in my "The Teacher I Will Become" section.

Comments:

Patrick Videll says: Hello Peter, firstly thank you for your kind remarks on my own page. I’m happy to return the kindness and offer any extra encouragement that I can. Forgive my additional comment section as Isee you left a dedicated form but I strugled to make mine stick. Anywho, as children of educators, I feel we're privileged to have grown up with the additional mentorship we received. I'll say it was reluctantly because, like many young high school graduates, the idea of following in your parents footsteps is the last thing I initially wanted for myself. However, now that I’m older and have the experiences I have gathered during my time in the workforce, I’ve determined that they might have been onto something when they initially encouraged me to persue a career in education as well. There’s just something special about it that any Fortune 500 position lacks. I’m eager to get out there and make a difference to these kids and I’m excited that the folks we learn besides all seem to have that same shared enthusiasm. I’m also inspired by your use of the AI tools and how it helped refine your ideas. Personally, I’ve been rather conservative about my opinions on it but am slowly coming around to the benefits it offers if used in good faith. Great work refining your teaching philosophy too.

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