As you enter PS1, what are your assumptions, values, and
beliefs about teaching and learning?
As I enter PS1 my major values and beliefs regarding teaching
focus on passion, empathy, and respect; but I also believe what makes
a teacher great is their dedication to go the extra mile. The
combination of these traits create the opportunity for students to truly
achieve their potential, both inside and outside the classroom.
To be successful, teachers strive to pass on their passion for
learning to their students, and I hope to bring in my own experiences
of travelling around the world to bring in new ways to instruct them.
Adaptability helps teachers meet the needs required by their diverse
students who will continually challenge them in different ways. The
teachers job is to create a place where they can facilitate learning for
all students, to recognize that these students all come from different
lifestyles, and all require diverse methods. A large emphasis of my
pedagogy is to not emphasize grading or expectations for students,
but to rather acknowledge the work that they put into their studies.
Acknowledgement that all students are struggling to find success in
their own way, and giving them the respect they deserve while trying
to achieve that success is what teaching and learning should be
focused on. Learning does not just follow the mandated curriculum;
instead learning should be holistic towards a childs development in
all aspects, and not just a focus on a desire for good grades.
To describe the basis of my assumptions and values it would be
that I have very few, because I have little experience understanding
the deeper dynamics surrounding teaching. My goals are to learn
more about the profession before I make assumptions, but I would
describe that the desire to be a teacher must remain, because without
the passion to succeed each year with a new group, it wont be
possible to educate them successfully.