Over the course of the past seven weeks, I feel like I have grown to understand what kind of teacher I want to become. Every teacher that I remember that had a positive impact is the teachers that really cared for their students and people. With each week and a new aspect to focus on, I can now see many different ways to create an inviting open classroom experience for my students and any student who needs help
Going through each week while analyzing different focus questions really helped me understand what a teacher needs to be aware of. The first 2 weeks were Students & Learning Environment and School and Community this really made me look at who the students were as people while also seeing what kind of community these students live and grow up in. knowing this can greatly improve interacting with your students and relating subjects and examples that they would understand, its also good to get the community together with school activities and after school programs to get students engaged.
Weeks three, four and five were Teachers & Knowledge and Inclusive Education-Diversity & Difference. For me, these 3 weeks felt very connected together in their core ideas. it’s important to understand that every person/ student is different, each student will learn differently and have different views and home life. some children will have nuclear families, others may have 2 dads or 2 moms, some may come from split homes and different religions so as an educator its important to be aware of these things and have a classroom that features all different walks of life and that doesn’t segregate anyone.
And finally, we had weeks six and seven which were Curriculum & Instruction and The Role of Technology. I felt like these 2 weeks really focused on how an educator teaches their class and how the students respond. during these weeks I really focused on what the students were understanding and what they were not, while also looking at how they used technology. And from watching Mrs. P handle her students I can definitely see how a consistent daily plan with a well planned out curriculum makes the daily tasks of teaching a lot easier; As well as the importance of utilizing electronics to benefit the students whether it’s for books, writing papers or as rewards for good behavior/exceeding expectations.
To summarize the past several weeks were a lot of fun I feel like I have learned lots but at the same time feel like I have only scratched the surface on all these topics. You really begin to see how every aspect of teaching is connected to each other and how important it is to always be ready to explore new ideas and technologies, However, I look forward and am excited to learn more about these topics during the coming years.