My philosophy towards teaching has been building since I decided to go into education. A large part of it was seeing how I had been taught and wanting to ameliorate that for my own students. I know that I could not understand how hard some thing are to deal with until I am in the position to deal with them myself. Yet, there were many reasons, such as differentiated learning, that was unavailable during the time I went to school. Resources were a lot better in high school but definitely not where they could be. Something I want and need to focus on as a teacher candidate is the many ways I need to learn to accommodate my students needs and to make myself able to respond to those needs.
My beliefs towards how students should live in my subject area is slightly different in both. For social studies, I am hoping students are able to develop a lot of critical thinking and learn to avoid presentism. Not only do I want students to learn about Canada’s past, but I’d like them to experience it as well. This could come in the form of a class trip to Batoche or a trip to the Canadian Forces Base in Moose Jaw. These trips can be very stimulating and impressionable to students, both offer different perspectives of Canadian history as well. In my French classes, I would also love to give them experiences, such as a trip to a French play or a festival. In the classroom I would really like for my students to build upon the foundations they’ve constructed by exploring the main areas of speech, writing and reading. The curriculums for many French classes, including French social studies, have finally been updated after years. This is very exciting to me and I cannot wait to make these classes interesting for my students and appealing to all different ways of learning.
Classroom management and assessment have been areas I’ve worried a bit about. As a smaller person, I’m not often taken very seriously. By building relationships and respect with my students I hope to overcome this. I think a connection with my students is very important, not only for them to take me seriously but to take the class seriously. I know that these relationships are not easy to build and will be unique to each of my students, but I am willing to put the effort into them. Assessment has always bothered me for several reasons. It often puts pressure on students which can lead to anxiety, bad self-image, good grades = good self-worth, etc. It does not properly reflect how much your students know and have learned in the classroom. That is why, along with differentiated learning in the classroom. I am hoping to bring in different ways to assess students that does not always conform to taking a written test. Memorizing information is a lot different than understanding information. I hope that differentiated learning and assessment in the classroom can help the students to realize that.
Emma's Teaching Corner 