Sometimes all
that is needed to make a dream come true are the right tools. I plan to be an
educator who shows students the possibilities and provides the tools to make
those dreams come true. During my lifelong learning experience, there have been
many people who have inspired me and believed in me and who have given me the
courage and tools that I needed to make my dreams come true. I want to be that
person for every student’s life that I touch.
The world faces
many problems today---large and small. We need problem solvers, team players,
citizens who are thoughtful, empathic, helpful, respectful and considerate so
that each person can contribute as problem solver in an individual and unique
way. As a society and as educators we should never lose sight of the goal that
education should be for the betterment of humankind and the planet.
I believe every
child is born with a natural curiosity to explore this world. There is also an
innate desire to be helpful to others. I think the natural propensities we are
born with can be nurtured or stifled depending on the learning environments
provided both in and outside the classroom. I think that educators are just one
of the many life teachers that surround a child, allowing that child to grow to
full potential. I plan to search for and use any and all the resources
available to help students develop and reach for their dreams. I would like to
operate as part of the team that surrounds the children and call the other team
players---parents, school administrators, corporate and business partners to
action when necessary to assist the students in accomplishing goals.
As a teacher, I
plan to offer a classroom environment that engages the students in project
based learning. I’m a lifelong learner myself, and there is nothing more
exciting to me than exploring a subject and learning new things. This is not
the easiest form of instruction as a teacher but I believe it provides a safe
environment for children to learn problem solving skills, make mistakes, and
develop the tools that they will need to go onto further education and beyond.
There’s a lot of talk today regarding “teaching to the test.” While I feel that
some form of assessment is required, I hope that the future of assessing our
schools includes ways of assessing project based learning. For example, by
working with problem solvers at the university level; value and collaboration
can be added including real life assessments to ascertain how well the students
are mastering the tools they need to have to problem solve and work in the
future. But in the end, if I must teach to the test, so to speak, I will have
students mastering the curriculum through projects that help students own that
learning as their very own.
I strongly
believe in Bloom’s taxonomy. I feel that, until just recently, the focus of
education in the United States has been too much on the knowledge and
comprehension rungs of the ladder and not enough on application, analysis,
synthesis, and evaluation (Koch, 2014). I
think that this is one of the main reasons that we are behind the rest of the
world in educating our children. I base this on my belief in the theory and
also on real life observations of two Brazilian exchange students that I had in
my home a few years ago. Even with the language barriers, the Brazilian
students did well in school and seemed to be unchallenged by everything except
U.S. history. The Brazilians seemed to have mastered the bottom rungs of
Bloom’s ladder by that time in their education and back at home in Brazil would
have been studying subjects much in the way that learning is conducted at a
higher, university level in the U.S.
Because my
project based learning teaching style may contribute to classroom management
issues, I plan to begin each year with an outline of expectations that hinge on
mutual respect and consideration of and by all. I plan to model this
expectation so that students can learn from example. I think that consistent
enforcement of this policy will provide an atmosphere of learning and teamwork
with little management interruptions.
I plan to keep on
learning and growing in the field. While I’m substitute teaching I am
constantly amazed by the unique and exciting ways that teachers bring learning
alive in their classrooms. There is a lot to learn from other teachers. For
example, I recently substituted for a teacher who had developed and taught a
cheerleader type routine for phonics. Not one child was lost in the mastering
of this cheer (and, as a result, the subject), it covered most of the phonics
needed for that grade level, it was fun to do and to watch, and got the
students physically moving in the classroom, which is something I believe we
could do a lot more of for health reasons. I also plan to keep on learning and
keep on growing. As always, I will be reading and taking more classes in areas
where I can learn to help my students. Whether it’s learning new ways of doing
projects, mastering sign language for a deaf student, or learning Spanish, I
plan to do what it takes to connect with and inspire every student that enters
my classroom to develop and follow their dreams.
Portfolio INTASC Standards Work:
Portfolio INTASC Standards Work:
- INTASC Standard 1 Learner Development
- INTASC Standard 3 Learning Environments
- INTASC Standard 4 Content Knowledge
- INTASC Standard 6 Assessment
- INTASC Standard 8 Instructional Strategies
- INTASC Standard 10 Leadership and Collaboration
