I find that the purpose of education is to build and expand a foundational base for our generations to come. I believe that in the early ages of a students’ life, it is crucial to prepare them with common skills that apply not only in the classroom, but also in the real world. With Covid being such a huge impact on childrens’ learning, I want to prepare my students the best I can so that they do not feel the pressure of generational loss and the statistics they are being generalized into. I will promote my purpose by emphasizing how these concepts can be grasped and used outside of school. My lessons will include real life connections so my students can further understand the concept and how to use it when needed. Within this, students can discover their own way of thinking and can venture into their own connections. This all connects to my discipline of elementary education because I will set short and long term goals that I would like my students to achieve. A short goal could be learning their sight words and being able to point them out in sentences. A long term goal could be being able to form a complete sentence. I want to help my students overcome the fear of generational loss that is hanging over their head. I want my students to know that they can be someone in the world without having to meet all the standards in place but at the same time, the effort has to be there.
I chose education because I have always felt my heart gravitate towards teaching. I did not have my career path chosen until midway through my first year of college. I did not fully discover my love for teaching until I became a dance teacher. It was here that I learned my love for being in front of kids and teaching them the foundation of dance. I would say that their love and eagerness to learn is what pushed me to follow my heart. With making this choice, it helped me become aware of how important starting at the basics is and building up from there is crucial. With being a dance coach and teacher, It has helped me transition my discipline into both. Being involved in dance has helped become aware of realistic goals and seeing improvements, even on the bad days.
As a teacher, the work I expect from my students would be their absolute best, but that starts with me and my teaching methods. My thought process has always been to introduce our topic and build upon it. While gaining knowledge of new topics, I can introduce informal assessments to see where everyone is on the topic. I can include an activity where they give me a rate of 1-3 that shows their understanding or have a class discussion of where I lost everyone or what is a topic I can reteach in another way. Alongside this, I can incorporate how our lesson can be used in the real world, such as percentages in math with store sales. I enact my philosophy in my classroom by being supportive and open to new ideas. I will be on top of new and changing generational trends and incorporate that so my classroom feels like a safe environment to learn and ask questions.
My students can expect me to always be there for them when they are stuck. Whether it be on homework, athletic life, or a lesson outside of my classroom. I can guide the student to the appropriate resources they may need. My students can also expect me to be understanding of their circumstances and caring. I can show this by showing interest in what is going on and guide them to appropriate resources that might help them further. As a teacher, I can understand that sometimes homework is not their first priority because there are more important and urgent things going on outside of school. I can care for my students by becoming involved in their interests such as coordinating lesson plans with things they are interested in. A concept that I adore is further developing and growing my students’ mind and helping them be their true self. But with this, I can grow and develop as a teacher also. As much as students learn from us, as teachers, we can learn from them and their always developing generation.
With this, it can help me grow and develop as a teacher by seeing that times are changing and adapt my thinking and ideas to new ones. It can help me switch lesson plans that will be more effective in the classroom and I can ask for help from my fellow peers so I can learn new teaching strategies. I can further observe other classrooms and how methods work for them, while shifting it into my own. Alongside this, I can take courses that can further expand my teaching strategies and how I can help my students that are struggling. I love being the person that can help in many ways so I do plan on getting licensed in SPED. With being in elementary ed, licensed in both ESL and SPED, it helps me further my education and most importantly, helps me be able to help more students.
Furthermore, as a teacher, I would expect things from my students also. For me, these are more on the behavioral side such as showing respect towards not only their peers, but towards everyone. WIth this, I can also teach students about kindness and how to treat others. In the same way, I will expect active listening and participating while I am teaching to know that they are paying attention and picking up on the concepts being taught. One thing that is important to me is knowing my students are feeling good. I want to incorporate some sort of smile a day, where students can assure me that they are okay or going through something. This can be done through a silly face while walking in the door or a thumbs down if they have something bothering them. From here, I can acknowledge my students and their emotions.
My students will know what I expect from them because I will be open and honest with them. I will have signs around the room about respect and kindness so they always have that reminder. I can make my lessons interactive and fun to keep their attention while learning. And, I can show our silly morning rituals by demonstrating, although COVID might still be around, we can switch a smile for a wacky dance move so we can keep the fun going through the pandemic. Alongside this, I want my students to grow throughout their year with me and take away my classroom values. These takeaways would include how to treat others, actively participate in discussions, and how to demonstrate their emotions through body language. I believe that with these, a child could learn the foundations of skills that could be used in the real world.