Teaching Philosophy
As a teacher I hope to get students excited about learning and to help them find a way to accomplish what they want out of life. I also want to continue to learn from other teachers and to always be refining my teaching to better accommodate my students. I want to make an impression on my students by example.
I want to run the kind of class that the kids go home and talk about at the dinner table. I want them to learn without knowing they are learning. The reason I like science is because you get to learn why everyday things are the way they are. In life there are so many fascinating things that are just looked over because no one really asks why. I want my class to continue asking why. I can remember having conversations at the dinner table with my family and a question would always come up like, why is the sky blue? The conversation would always end with someone saying, ask your science teacher tomorrow at school. I would ask the next day and report back to my family with the answer. I want to be the one who has the answers to those prying questions.
I think that students learn in a variety of ways and no one student is like another. This is why it is important to teach and test in a number of ways. I think that pre-tests in the form of questions that attracts more than "yes" or "no" answers really pulls out what the students know and how they are thinking. By teaching science it allows me to teach in a variety of ways with things like labs, lectures, presentations, and projects. It is also important to implement short quizzes to make sure that the students understand the material. If they aren't, I need to go back and teach it another way.
In terms of classroom management, my big thing is respect. In my class when I am talking or if a student is talking the class is expected to respect who ever is talking and not talk. If we are working on an activity or lab, it is fine to talk with friends. I will not tolerate any sort of put downs in my class. All students will feel safe while they are in my class. If a problem persists, I would take the student into the hall and talk one-on-one with them to try to figure out the problem. If it occurs again, I will call home. And if that doesn't fix the problem, I would take the problem to the administration.
I think the reason a lot of us get into teaching is because we have a passion for young people and science is pretty cool too. If you are becoming a teacher just because you like science, and the kids are second on your list, you should be in a lab somewhere. Teaching is not for you. What the teacher is, is more important than what they teach.