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My name is Heather MacKay and I currently reside in Greenville, North Carolina while attending East Carolina University. I grew up Raleigh, North Carolina but I moved when I received my acceptance letter from ECU in 2017.
I will be graduating from ECU in the Spring of 2021 with my Bachelors degree in Birth through Kindergarten Education. Upon graduating, I hope to move back into Wake County to find employment in a child development center while I continue my education.
As of now, I have little practice in the B-K education field. My experience is made up of practicums that have taken place in the Nancy Darden Child Development Center on ECU's Main campus. I am looking forward growing up, with the most impactful being my Kindergarten teacher. These people have shown me that teaching can be a difficult yet rewarding profession. I know that I will be successful as long as I remain passionate about the work I am doing and remember my purpose.
Teaching Philosophy
Teaching Philosophy
As a teacher I hope to open my students up to knew and fun experiences that will encourage them to take responsibility of their own learning. English, math, science, and history are very important subjects to learn and they are enforced by curriculum but I hope to incorporate art, music, games, etc. into lessons to engage my students in their learning and to help them find their personal interests and grow as a person opposed to strict cognitive growth. There are a lot more components that make up education than the subjects that are being taught. The environment is a huge factor especially with the young children that will make up my future classroom. The environment needs to be open for collaboration, play, and movement. Children learn best through play so it is important that their environment supports this concept. It is also very important that all of the children feel safe in their learning environment. Children will not focus on learning if they fee uncomfortable in their surroundings. It is our job as educators to provide children with all of their physiological and safety needs so they can be prepared to learn when they enter our classroom. Resources also play a big factor in a child’s ability and willingness to learn. There are many types of learning styles that will be included in our classroom and we must have resources available to help all of our students understand what is being taught. If I can provide children with a safe classroom, resources, and their basic needs, I know that I will be able to provide the education they deserve.
Technology Belief
Technology Belief
Technology has developed very rapidly and I believe it will continue to develop as we move into the future. There are positives and negatives to technology use in the classroom but we can either embrace the positives and incorporate it into our lesson plans, or we and our students, will be left behind as technology continues to advance. I do not believe technology should be used every day with the young children I plan to teach because I believe they should be playing in centers rather than playing on an iPad. I do believe, however, that technology can be very helpful in teaching abstract studies such as math and science as well as some concepts in relation to reading. Children get excited when they are able to use technology in the classroom and teachers should use this excitement to their benefit. One of our goals as educators is to make children excited about the lessons they are being taught. To me, nothing is better than seeing a child excited to learn about math or reading. If a fun app on the iPad allows them to learn these concepts while being engaged, there is nothing wrong with that. As long as we monitor and limit the access to the technology we bring into our classrooms, I believe technology could help teachers tremendously.
Classroom Layout
Classroom Layout
The classroom I decided to design is a Pre-K classroom. This age group still has center time for a majority of the day with little time spent in large group discussions. Because of their daily routines, this classroom doesn’t have individual desks for the students. My classroom has six centers: reading, technology, art, dramatic play, science, and blocks. It is best practice to place your quiet centers further away from the more loud centers so this is how I decided which center would go where. Reading and technology will be quiet centers. The art center is a transition between the quiet and louder centers. The dramatic play, science, and block centers tend to be more loud and populated therefore they are placed the furthest away from the reading and technology center. Large group will be held on the circular carpet placed in the middle of the room with the easel for teacher use. The children will eat at the three rectangular tables closest to the sinks. Cubbies are placed on the right wall, which would be next to the door for parents to sign them in. It is important to adapt your classroom to fit the needs of your students so this layout may not work for every Pre-K class I work with but this seems to be an effective layout that children may be comfortable with.
Please scan the QR code to watch my self-introduction video!
You can watch the video in AR mode by scanning the code in the Flipgrid app!
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