I believe that a prominent responsibility of an educator is the ability to instill and foster leadership in others. Despite the hierarchy that is established within a classroom, both teachers and students are responsible for working together to foster a relationship. It is essential that both leaders and followers work hand in hand to promote the successful functioning of any system. I am confident that as a teacher, I will instil the qualities of a leader within my students through our classroom routines.

A crucial component in the promotion of learning is an open and inclusive classroom environment. As a teacher, I will strive to create a classroom that demands respect and encouragement amongst all enter. Feeling welcome and comfortable is pivotal during a student’s education as it promotes motivation within their learning. As well, by ensuring a safe space to explore their interests and strengths in, I hope my students will develop a positive attitude towards their process of learning. Additionally, addressing students varying learning styles within the class will allow them to feel included in my teaching process. By presenting material through several methods of instruction, such as lecture format, images and graphs, primary sources, group work, discussions and online forums, I can cater to individual students and their preferred method of learning and assessment.

I am an advocate for collaborative teaching as I promote learning through all interactions between peers. I am a firm believer in student-guided learning as it promotes students demonstrating independent leadership skills within a classroom setting. By utilizing group based work and “think, pair, shares”, students can become confident in their responses when collaborating with their peers. I believe that peer guided learning is an excellent way for students to develop collaboration skills by learning to agree, disagree and debate with their fellow peers.

It is crucial that students develop the ability to think critically throughout their learning. By questioning what they already know, students are inviting curiosity into their understanding process. As a History teacher, I hope to engage my students through primary sources within the class through analytical operations. As a 21^st century teacher, I understand the importance of using technology in the classroom as a productive and innovative addition to delivery methods. I aim to bridge the gap between traditional and modern methods by incorporating conventional methods of teaching, such as lecture and discussion, with technological advances, such as digital sharing tools and primary source research.

I am a firm believer that assessment should be ongoing within the classroom. Students should be given the opportunity to understand specific and purposeful goals before being assessed on them. Informal assessment is an effective method of gauging students understanding of a concept or task. By creating opportunities for informal assessment such as class discussions, anonymous Padlet submissions or feedback boxes, students can articulate that help is needed without being singled out.

Reflection is a large part of a studen'ts personal assessment. By providing opportunity for reflection in the classroom, students can have a better understanding of why they are learning what they are learning and how the content reflects their interests and identity. As an artist, I will provide several creative reflection options for my students to explore their thoughts and opinions. These can include, creative writing, prompting relfections, drawings, poems, collages, etc.