Teaching is important to me for a great deal of reasons. Building positive relationships with students and staff members, creating a safe and fun learning environment, and educating and inspiring children are a few of my most important reasons. In the first place, my absolute favorite part about teaching is building positive relationships with my students. I firmly believe that this is so important in the teaching profession. Being able to know, understand, and relate with my students is one of the most important reasons teaching is important to me. Also, teaching is important to me because it allows me to create a safe and fun learning environment for all of my students. Many students have times at home, or elsewhere, where they do not feel safe or are not safe. This is a major issue in my opinion. With that being said, I feel as if it is extremely important as a teacher to create a safe “space” for all students to learn, grow, and have fun.
My beliefs as an educator are that positive relationships are the gateway to success for both the student and the educator. I truly believe that fostering positive relationships, and building these relationships with all students is vital to student success. I feel if students trust you, and have a positive relationship with you, they will be more likely to want to work hard and make good choices for you, and for themselves. I also believe that students will be much more likely to rely on you for necessary help, if they have a positive relationship with you. A research study done by assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Korea University Jinho Kim, PhD, found that participants in a study who reported better relationships with peers and teachers during middle school had an overall higher physical and mental health in adulthood. This shows a significant reasoning behind creating positive relationships with students, and the impact it can have in adult life.
A learning outcome that I would like to foster in my students is critical thinking. Two instructional strategies that I will use to foster student mastery of this skill are think-pair-share, and exit tickets. The think-pair-share strategy will foster the learning outcome because it will allow students to think critically about a given question, and to share their thoughts with other students. Exit tickets will foster the learning outcome, as they will give students an opportunity to think about what they have learned, and to share their knowledge through writing or creating something. Two specific assessment tools that will be used to measure student mastery of this learning outcome will be rubric-based assessments, and portfolios containing student work. A rubric-based assessment will measure student mastery of critical thinking skills by unbiasedly grading their work, and their ability to think critically through writing or creating. A portfolio containing student work will measure student mastery of critical thinking by allowing the teacher, and student to evaluate their critical thinking over time, and monitor student progress and growth.
As a professional educator, I believe that building positive relationships with school stakeholders is vitally important to the success of students, staff, and the community. I look at stakeholders as the reason that schools are able to run and function properly, foster learning, and grow as students, staff, and community members. I will implement a few strategies in order to build these relationships. In the first place, I will contact stakeholders on a regular basis. I will create a weekly newsletter to inform, and involve stakeholders in my classroom. Also, I will ensure stakeholders know how to reach out to me with any questions, or concerns they may have. I believe that these two strategies, as well as others I will pick up along the way, will ensure a positive relationship with stakeholders is kept.
Works Cited:
Jinho Kim. The quality of social relationships in schools and adult health: Differential effects of student–student versus student–teacher relationships.. School Psychology, 2020; DOI: 10.1037/spq0000373