It is my belief that every student can succeed beyond any expectations. Each and every student is unique and has their own set of individual needs. As a teacher, it is my job to provide them with the tools and information they will need to be responsible informed citizens. I aim to enter my classroom with a smile, a positive attitude, and high expectations for all students. My classroom should always be a safe space for students to be in charge of their own learning and explore new ideas, thoughts, and emotions. As human beings, we are all lifelong learners and it is my job to learn just as much from my students as they do from me.
I want to be able to enhance students’ educational experiences each and every day. In this world, we rely so heavily on technology for so many things. My students should leave my classroom feeling more prepared to be active citizens in society. By having a broad use of technology, and how to use tech, they can better themselves for their adult lives.
As for planning my curriculum and content, I will be doing most of that online so it can be shared among other educators and parents. I think it is important that parents are involved in their child’s education and future. For myself, I want to have a master template that each unit will be planned on. It would be hypocritical for my work to be unorganized if I were asking the students to stay organized. I would break down my week-to-week instruction and what that will hopefully look like. I want there to be some flexibility within my planning. I enjoy the idea that I can then reflect back on how a lesson worked after it was taught by adding comments to the document to be able to refer back to the following year. If I plan in advance then I could potentially add a brief weekly plan to a parent website or online newsletter. At the high school level, I think the students should be able to see what the upcoming week looks like and see most of the lesson plans right on the Google Classroom or Brightspace platform. Having a summary of what the unit is about and what they can expect to learn, as well as the theme for the unit. It can be broken down weekly into what they should expect to master over the coming week and what the essential questions/prompts are. Then it could be broken down even further to each class day with what needs to be done in preparation for class then what we will do in class and any materials they will need. Adding a checklist for the week and a calendar for the unit will help students remember what they should be doing. Using the announcement feature can help me also remind students that way, add extra resources, or make any changes to the plan. Teaching social studies is also about connecting the present and current issues. I would want to have a place for the students to go to get reliable unbiased information about what is happening in the world because it can be hard to always keep up as a high school student.
