My Teaching Philosophy
My most recent teaching experience was two years in a grade two classroom of 20-22 students with varying abilities and interests. Over the course of these two years I had one student that ranked quite highly on a Wyatt test, four students that were on Individual Program Plans for their academics, and two students on Behaviour Support Plans. Having this variety of students in my classroom helped to shape the teaching strategies that I employed. I worked with my students to develop skills for team building and constructing knowledge together through discussion and hands on activities. I think that this practice helps build independent work habits, as well as, facilitates the need to socialize and learn from others. It allows individuals to share their experiences and personal strengths and knowledge and to excel in areas that they struggle or have less current knowledge. I often utilized varying grouping techniques and both verbal and nonverbal (body language, hand signals, cue card stop lights, visual schedules, etc.) classroom management strategies to reach all students’ needs. |
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As an educator, I am a strong believer in personal reflection, leading to professional growth. Reflection allows us to see our strengths and weaknesses and, not only analyze our mistakes, but correct them for the future. Reflection also allows us to look within one self and discover what defines us as individuals. I believe one should reflect on every lesson in some way and I do so on my own, with my students, with my coworkers, and with the parents of my students. I encourage my coworkers and the parents to come in to our classroom to observe, assist, and share the experiences of our class. In the near future, I am interested in launching a classroom website to further increase the communication between school and home. My positive interactions with others have helped me to develop confidence in my communication skills and I am grateful to have so many minds to collaborate with and experiences to help me develop as a teacher. From my educational experiences, I would say that my strengths are planning and engagement. I am a detail oriented individual, therefore, I like to make my plans far enough in advance that I can rehearse. This allows me time to organize materials, and consider potential problems or concerns, as well as, solutions that may arise. My planning, however, does not deter me from revisiting or further developing a topic of interest or concern, as needed. I can be very flexible in my instruction and can find an educational option within minutes. My attention to detail, however, can hinder my planning for substitute teachers, as they do not always have the time to spend reading my elaborate lesson plans. My love for learning and enthusiasm for educating my students helps me to plan lessons that are interesting and engaging. I feel that this personal enjoyment and creativity with my lesson ideas will help students to enjoy learning as much as I have. Finally, I am knowledgeable about and interested in assessment practices. Assessment was one of my favourite courses and I earned an A in the class. Some assessment techniques I have used during my teaching experiences include self assessments, pre-assessment questions, skills checklists, circulating the classroom and watching students work on their homework, unit tests, review questions, etc. I have also incorporated the use of an exit pass activity. Students complete the activity either verbally or in written form. It often entails reflect about what they have learned, or found hard or confusing about the lesson, before they leave the class or at the day. I have also collaborated extensively with my three grade level coworkers to plan and create common assessments for units in Language Arts, Physical Education, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science. Please view two of the lesson plans that I created and taught during my APT experience. 1) Language Arts - Found Poems
2) Science - Simple Machines (pulleys)
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