I left the corporate world to go back into Education. As an educator, I believe that it is my mission to educate and train our youth to become strong, healthy, well-adapted young adults who will make a difference in our society both locally and globally. It is my goal to engage and excite these students to become involved in the world around them. In an area with high ethnicity and strong cultural background, it is important to remember that I must reach and teach each individual in a manner that allows them to be productive in their community.
As a teacher of emerging young adults, I must approach their learning with both enthusiasm and caution. Young people of this age have the expectation that everyone should be their "friend", and while it is not altogether wrong to engage their friendship, there must be a clear understanding that I am the "teacher" first and foremost with their future success as my central goal. Daily, I attempt to understand and restrategize my classroom techniques and instructional processes to achieve a near 100% level of connection with my students. I attempt to incorporate a variety of different learning styles throughout each lesson to help each individual achieve a certain level of understanding and success. This is a constantly shifting goal as their minds and bodies struggle to keep pace with their environment. Additionally, within a single classroom, even in a small school, there are multiple levels of intelligence that must be challenged every day.
The connection and "friendship" with the students allows me to understand their point of reference in life, both inside and outside of school, and then subsequently apply this information to my teaching methods. I must recognize that the challenges many children face outside of school are far worse than any in my classroom. For example, not too long ago, I discovered that one of my best students has been almost homeless and only having a "home" when mom found a "friend" with which they could live. I must pay careful attention to attitude, grade, and even hygiene changes to be constantly aware of the roadblocks that my students have to their lifelong success. My help could be in the form of tutoring, coaching or simply as an ear to listen.
Although time and standard objectives can be constraints, I attempt to maintain a student-centered classroom and "teaching" style. My teaching style is more as an expert guide through a particular subject area. My attitude and relationship with the students should be reflected by their willingness to learn and to attempt new skills. My classroom is colorful and bright with interesting posters, student work and personal memorabilia of my own which allows the students to feel more "at home" in the classroom. The desks are arranged in such a way that not only is group work occurring "as needed", it is actually encouraged. This again is a precursor to their need to be able to work with a variety of different people on any given day for any type of project. There is even a water element (a live fish tank!) in the classroom which is amazingly interesting and calming to us all.
My teaching style is very open and fluid with constant discussion and feedback from students in my effort to maintain a student-centered classroom. As is the case with any science or math discipline, there are simply some rules and information that must be memorized. However, my focus is primarily on engaging students in the material and recognizing how it applies to their daily life. I love to utilize all different forms of technology to encourage their learning from hardware like laptops, iPods, iPads to software and interactive online programs like Adaptive Curriculum and Quizdom. I allow students to listen to music and for the most part, sit where they feel comfortable in the classroom.
The other piece to the education puzzle is keeping students positive, involved and feeling good about themselves even when they don't understand or do poorly on a particular unit or skill. I try to acknowledge when I don't know the answer or state something incorrectly while emphasizing that it is more important to know HOW to find the right answer. We have active discussions in which students are allowed to share stories and experiences. There are opportunities for students in public speaking and/or becoming an expert in a certain subject area. I believe in assigning projects with multiple avenues of self-expression so all students have a chance to be successful.
I believe schools hold the opportunity for much more than just an education and teachers are meant to do more than just "teach". As educators and leaders in our classroom, we are empowered to help our students have a really good day, year and school career. We have the opportunity to teach them subject material as well as "life" material. It is that opportunity and the thrill of watching a kid "get it" that drew me back into teaching, and it is that "rush" that keeps me getting out of bed excited for another day! I love the challenge that each day brings and the impact that we can have on the lives of so many young individuals.
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