Throughout the last 18 years, I have moved nine times. Meaning I have attended several schools; six to be exact. Each school had a different atmosphere, culture, and ways of learning. This allowed me to view different teaching styles and different parts of society. I can benefit from these experiences by taking what I thought worked best and trying to avoid what I thought hindered both the educator and the students.
Positive things I took away from the different learning environments were open-minded teachers that were good listeners helped students feel more welcome and feel that they could trust their teacher, teachers finding ways to avoid students being left out such as making groups with all different students, rather than who were friends, or having desks set up in a way so all students were included in class; not just stuck in a corner. I also took away how the teachers adapted their ways of teaching. They would have different assignments that catered to different learners such as hands-on assignments, drawing assignments, writing assignments, or speaking assignments, so every student could strive for the best competition and effort in their work. Not only were assignments adjusted, but in everyday classwork and teaching; they had different work areas such as tables, comfy chairs, desks, or floor sitting. Teachers would also adjust how they taught; they would give whiteboards so students could interact with what was being taught, they would give examples for visual learners, hand out notes, or stand in front of the class and speak for audio learners; they would also combine these methods so no student was feeling lost and it allowed each student to learn to their best of their ability. As an educator being able to understand these positives helps both the teacher and the student in the environment.
Negative things I took away from my different learning environments were teachers who did not adapt ways of learning left some kids feeling unsuccessful, strict teachers who left out emotions left students feeling unvalued, or cold colourless classrooms that were just desks and a whiteboard left students feeling unmotivated. Understanding these negative impacts on students allows me to focus on how I can avoid these situations to be a better future educator.
