“Both you and Mrs.
Beauregard have made me so much happier to write. Last year writing became so
boring and lame...I hated it. I have loved writing so much in the past and I
am elated to finally be back to loving it! Thanks for helping me come back
around.” -Sophomore
Student, April 26, 2016
|
The above quote
came from one of my sophomore students during my student teaching at Bozeman High School. I finished the internship
before his satirical paper was due, so I emailed him later to ask how it
went. What he said is what makes
teaching magical. It isn’t the
satisfaction of having a student score advanced proficient on a writing
assessment; it’s the fact that he experienced a change within himself. I believe in the teaching of individuals, not
just the teaching of English, and though I will hold the title of teacher one
day, classroom achievement will happen in spite of me not because of me. Knowing
this to be true, I still have a responsibility to create and maintain a
classroom culture that facilitates positive and authentic learning experiences
for my students and the opportunity for them to experience a change toward
greater self-efficacy. Assessment, therefore, should reflect a growth mindset - meaning that perfection should not be expected on the first try, and efforts toward improvement should be awarded. If a student is willing to revise a paper to earn a better grade, I want to honor and encourage that effort by giving back points.
My
priority is to create a community of learners who respect one another’s values
and beliefs and actively engage with one another. Students and I together can achieve this
through interpersonal dialogue, whole class and small group discussion, writing
projects, and relevance in what they are asked to do. In Montana, many students go through their
entire school lives together having the unique opportunity to know one another
very well. A level of intimacy such as
this lends itself well to developing loyalty, accountability, motivation, and
healthy competition among classmates. I
see myself as a multilateral facilitator of learning – teacher to students,
students to teacher, students to students.
I
value creativity, fun, and an affective response to knowledge because those are
the components of authentic learning. On
the middle school level, cultivating a sincere love for learning is paramount
to students’ success in the long run. As
I get to know my students, learning plans will be differentiated and customized
to their individual and communal interests so that they will walk away from my
class having learned something, or better, having considered a new way of
thinking and communicating. I use the
word learning plan as opposed to lesson plan because my goal is to pose
questions and provide tools that challenge students to think critically. My intent is to amplify their innate
abilities to learn in ways
they themselves can recognize and
value, and for even the seemingly least motivated student to have an aha moment
(or several!).
My job is to set
the tone for a safe space to think, create, and share, so that we may learn
together. Education is, after all, a collaborative and
communal triumph. I cannot wait to teach
and, even more, to learn from students how to better differentiate instruction,
manage classroom procedures, and individualize instruction for everyone’s
greatest benefit.
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