Tuesday, October 19, 2010

My Teaching Philosophy

“To teach is to touch a life forever” ~Author Unknown. This is what my entire teaching philosophy will be based upon for my entire career. My teaching will be focused on the student’s and how it will affect their lives positively. I will not only focus on their education but I will get to know them personally. As a teacher, I must know the students I am teaching. During their time in my classroom, I will strive to affect their lives through knowledge, behavior, high expectations, and self confidence.

I believe students should be given the chance to discover their knowledge. Teachers should not merely tell the students what they need to know, students should be able to discover this on their own so that is actually has meaning. Meaningful learning allows students to have more of an understanding. Not all students will be at the same level within a grade but each and every student is ready to learn. It is my job, as a teacher, to make sure all students are challenged enough that they are eager to learn but not to the point of frustration. I believe in teaching to different students learning needs. By knowing each and every student personally the teacher can accurately cater to their individual learning needs as much as possible. I will be enthusiastic about learning to spread the joy of learning. Students should be able to interact with others while learning. Group work is an important part of learning. I do not think all learning can be done in isolation. The majority of the time, the classroom should act as a community for learning. I also feel there are some things that should be done individually.

The classroom should be a place for learning not disruptions. As a teacher, I believe I should take as many precautions as possible to ensure that all students are not being distracted from learning. This should be approached by having rules with consequences, but also having reasonable rewards for those who comply with the rules. In the beginning of the year I believe I should be stricter so the students know what I expect from them and they know what to expect from me. Throughout the year there may be a few things I could be more lenient on but I still have to have their respect and cooperation. I am a firm believer of students knowing how to stay in their seat unless they have permission to be out it. This allows the classroom to maintain order so I can have more control over the classroom.

I could be viewed as a strict teacher because of the order I want in a classroom and also because of my expectations of the students. I believe in having high expectations, within reason, of the students. I feel if more is expected out of a person the more they will try. Students need strong encouragement in order to do their absolute best. I aim to make learning fun and enjoyable. I truly hope to have students learning without realizing they are learning. This will be approached by using manipulatives and real life scenarios to make their learning meaningful. Teaching is to give a student meaningful knowledge and understanding.

I will do anything and everything I can to give students the best education I can and prepare them for the real world. I want to be a well-rounded teacher that not only cares about the students’ education but their lives.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Out of the Dust- Wordle


I chose these five words because this was the one thing that Billie Jo's mom kept alive. It was kind of a symbol of Billie Jo's mom's perseverance. She never gave up. Even though she had lost babies, she didn't give up on that. Even through the dust bowl she didn't give up on crops. Even though the crops were not making it, because of her they had this apple tree that looked as though there were no dust bowl. Billie Jo was given hope from this tree. She was looking forward to all the treats they were going to have from this tree. They would have pies, pudding, dumplings, cake and many more things just from this tree. She liked just eating the apples straight off the branch. Right before Billie Jo's mom died, the apple tree was completely ruined and Billie Jo did not have the heart to tell her mom.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Out of the Dust p. 3-33: Sketch to Stretch


"He ran into the storm, his overalls half-hooked over his union suit. "Daddy!" I called. "You can't stop dust." Ma told me to cover the beds, push the scatter rugs against the doors, dampen the rags around the windows. Wiping dust out of everything, she made coffee and biscuits, waiting for Daddy to come in."- page 32

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse



I chose this passage out of the book because it depicts their life during the dust bowl. Their lives with dust was like fighting a losing battle. When Billie Jo told her dad you can't stop dust, that really got to me. The dust had taken over their whole world. She had come to terms with living this way. It is sad a young child had gotten used to living with dust that way. They could not grow any crops as they had before. They could barely feed their family. They were to the point of pondering whether they should take out a loan for crops or not. Not only had it eliminated their way to make a living, it was taking over the only thing they had to protect them from the dust, their home. They would have to constantly clean the dust. It was to the point that they had to turn their plates face down and their glasses bottom up or they would be covered in dust before they were able to eat. Once they had food on their plates, their food would be covered in dust. The dust was taking over their lives. I chose this picture because it shows a huge dust cloud completely covering all buildings and land to where you can't even see them through the dust. This is what their lives were like on a daily basis during this time.


http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Ddust%2Bbowl%2Bovertaking%26ei%3Dutf-8%26y%3DSearch%26fr%3Dsfp&w=309&h=204&imgurl=blogs.discovery.com%2F.a%2F6a00d8341bf67c53ef0120a8621f54970b-800wi&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.discovery.com%2Fearth%2Fthe-big-el-nio-that-nobody-saw.html&size=60KB&name=Dust+storm+overt...&p=dust+bowl+overtaking&oid=8eae2fb79eee4133ae56919dc6738b49&fr2=&no=2&tt=4&sigr=123oub47r&sigi=11vb60ll5&sigb=12sq3d5ue

Sunday, August 29, 2010

My Name: Emily

Emily is the English feminine form of Aemilius. My name was not very popular until the British princess, Amelia Sophia came to the throne and was known as Emily. These two names are not related at all but they still called her that. There are 322,504 people in the United States with the name Emily. There are 78 people in the United States with the name Emily Harrington.

http://www.behindthename.com/name/emily
http://ww2.howmanyofme.com/search/