My Professional Goals.
In my current and future positions, I see myself being an essential and complementary asset to my administrator, the staff, my own classroom and the lives of students. I see myself rising to the leadership challenges my administrator provides me as I feel confident in my perspectives of what effective schools should be doing. I see myself not only coordinating but also being an active participant myself in collaboration amongst staff members. With my knowledge and expertise in best practices, I see myself as a resource that my colleagues utilize to reach their potential as educators and beyond. I see my own classroom constantly improving through researched practices and action research methods. I envision my presence at any school positively impacting all of the students as I ensure that they receive an educational experience that is meaningful and relevant to their current and their future lives.
In the next five or more years, I would like to gain additional experiences in education that will support my ultimate goal of obtaining my administrative license to become a principal.
In the next five or more years, I would like to gain additional experiences in education that will support my ultimate goal of obtaining my administrative license to become a principal.
|
A brief history of my professional goals that have helped make me the teacher that I am today.
|
My Teaching Philosophy.
It wouldn't be fair to say that I know everything there is about teaching because I have a teaching certificate or a Masters in Education degree. I believe that I have only experienced the tip of the iceberg that teaching is. Though, I can say that I have spent a lot of time as a student and that those experiences have contributed a great deal to the educator that I am today.
As a student, I always held three expectations of my teachers. First, as I’m sure any student would agree, I expected my teacher to be fun. They didn’t need to be my friend or make jokes all of the time but they needed to keep me interested and motivated. Second, I expected my teacher to be caring. If I had questions, comments or concerns, I wanted to know that my teacher would be willing to take time from their schedule to be there for me. Third, I expected my teacher to be challenging. A multitude of people told me that I could be whatever I wanted in life because I was naturally successful; school came easy to me. But being challenged helped broaden my perspectives of life.
I have taken my academic experiences and personal interests and constructed the foundation of my own teaching philosophy. My primary goal as a teacher, that supports all behaviors I possess, is that students should leave my classroom knowing more than when they first walked in. Whether academic or social emotional, I guarantee that my students are challenged every day to better themselves not only as students but as members of the larger community. In order to reach this goal, I focus on three specific classroom attributes.
As a student, I always held three expectations of my teachers. First, as I’m sure any student would agree, I expected my teacher to be fun. They didn’t need to be my friend or make jokes all of the time but they needed to keep me interested and motivated. Second, I expected my teacher to be caring. If I had questions, comments or concerns, I wanted to know that my teacher would be willing to take time from their schedule to be there for me. Third, I expected my teacher to be challenging. A multitude of people told me that I could be whatever I wanted in life because I was naturally successful; school came easy to me. But being challenged helped broaden my perspectives of life.
I have taken my academic experiences and personal interests and constructed the foundation of my own teaching philosophy. My primary goal as a teacher, that supports all behaviors I possess, is that students should leave my classroom knowing more than when they first walked in. Whether academic or social emotional, I guarantee that my students are challenged every day to better themselves not only as students but as members of the larger community. In order to reach this goal, I focus on three specific classroom attributes.
First, I support all students and treat each one as an individual young adult. Each student has their own set of strengths and weaknesses and no matter the ratio, I know and let each student know that they have the potential to be successful both in and out of school. For each student, I provide affirmative and constructive feedback which students can use to direct future actions. What has been working well and should keep doing? What hasn’t been working and should be changed? I mentor students as they make decisions in concurrence with the rules and routines that I specifically set up in my classroom. Students know that they can rely on me when a tough decision is ahead of them. In addition, I strongly believe in being involved in a student’s life in more than one avenue. I advocate that students be involved in extracurriculars and to show my support I both coach as well as attend various after school events. |
|
Second, I recognize and fully accept the inherent diversity of learners found within a classroom. I know that there are students who truly enjoy school and that there are others who do not. In an attempt to show every student the relevance of what they are learning, I always try to connect concepts to the students other classes, to their interests and to their everyday lives. There are a variety of learners in each class, and I deliberately plan my lessons to account for this. I try to create creative outlets, especially, that allow students to manipulate the material in ways other than what is found in short lectures and experiments.
Third, I consistently challenge students to think critically and work to expand their knowledge. At the beginning of the topic, students are asked to share what they already know about the topic and from there, I immediately launch into an activity sequence that will make them either confirm their ideas or question their understanding. At the end of the topic, each student should be able to see how their knowledge has evolved with the influx of information they received through the models, experiments, simulations and activities we have done.
By using these as guiding principles for my planning and implementation, I have seen students flourish as knowledge seekers and young adults. They have begun to critically analyze the world around them and use the skills they have learned from working independently, in small groups and as a large team to become the successful students and contributing young adults that I knew they always could be.