At age four, though there were older neighborhood children, I was always the teacher when we played school. Years of summer camp counselor jobs and church Sunday school, taught me I enjoyed interacting with children and I was pretty good at it. Word got around and I had more babysitting jobs than time. Working in a field that revolved around children was clear; the question was specifically what should that be?
My high school offered both nursery school teaching and elementary school teaching experiences. I took advantage of both, and there was no doubt: in my bones I knew I wanted to be a teacher.
During student teaching in Urbana, I was lucky to have an amazing cooperating teacher. Students in her 3rd/4th grade classroom were treated with respect, and with that came the expectation they would respect one another and their teacher. There were no basal readers or text books of any kind; everything was teacher-created. Nancy taught me that each year was a new one and much of what was to be taught was recreated for that group of students. After all, each class had its own individuals with their own needs. Even after twenty-five years, Nancy still spent evenings and weekends perfecting her craft.
She was respectful, calm, but very firm in her expectations. At staff meetings, if she disagreed with something, you knew you’d hear about it. She did not suffer fools gladly, and was relentless and uncompromising in her support of her belief system.
I learned a lot about education from Nancy. A good example is my belief in looking for ways to improve each year, whether it is lesson construction, my own understanding of a concept, or delving into methods of using technology to improve the engagement of my students. Like her, my style of student interaction revolves around mutual respect in a calm, comfortable learning environment.
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development says that people learn socially, whether by interacting with other students or their teacher. As I reconstruct my science curriculum to be Next Generation Science Standard aligned, I see Vygotsky’s framework a very useful reference. Students learn best by doing: investigating, discovering, getting their hands dirty. Next Gen says to go deeper, but “cover” less material. This fits my philosophy that to “grow” lifelong learners, students need to be empowered to find the answers, not regurgitate them. Setting up learning opportunities, then steering class discussions to introduce the unknown concepts allows students to feel ownership in their own learning. How exciting is that?
Little did I know when I “taught” my neighborhood friends all those years ago what an adventure my life as an educator would be. I couldn’t imagine all of the opportunities I’d have to learn from experience, both life’s lessons and twenty-four years of students. Though some experiences have been challenging, I’m a better person for having experienced them. It is much easier to be an empathetic listener after experiencing sorrow. Maturity has taught me to listen before speaking more often than not. I am a passionate educator who can’t imagine any other path for my life.
My high school offered both nursery school teaching and elementary school teaching experiences. I took advantage of both, and there was no doubt: in my bones I knew I wanted to be a teacher.
During student teaching in Urbana, I was lucky to have an amazing cooperating teacher. Students in her 3rd/4th grade classroom were treated with respect, and with that came the expectation they would respect one another and their teacher. There were no basal readers or text books of any kind; everything was teacher-created. Nancy taught me that each year was a new one and much of what was to be taught was recreated for that group of students. After all, each class had its own individuals with their own needs. Even after twenty-five years, Nancy still spent evenings and weekends perfecting her craft.
She was respectful, calm, but very firm in her expectations. At staff meetings, if she disagreed with something, you knew you’d hear about it. She did not suffer fools gladly, and was relentless and uncompromising in her support of her belief system.
I learned a lot about education from Nancy. A good example is my belief in looking for ways to improve each year, whether it is lesson construction, my own understanding of a concept, or delving into methods of using technology to improve the engagement of my students. Like her, my style of student interaction revolves around mutual respect in a calm, comfortable learning environment.
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development says that people learn socially, whether by interacting with other students or their teacher. As I reconstruct my science curriculum to be Next Generation Science Standard aligned, I see Vygotsky’s framework a very useful reference. Students learn best by doing: investigating, discovering, getting their hands dirty. Next Gen says to go deeper, but “cover” less material. This fits my philosophy that to “grow” lifelong learners, students need to be empowered to find the answers, not regurgitate them. Setting up learning opportunities, then steering class discussions to introduce the unknown concepts allows students to feel ownership in their own learning. How exciting is that?
Little did I know when I “taught” my neighborhood friends all those years ago what an adventure my life as an educator would be. I couldn’t imagine all of the opportunities I’d have to learn from experience, both life’s lessons and twenty-four years of students. Though some experiences have been challenging, I’m a better person for having experienced them. It is much easier to be an empathetic listener after experiencing sorrow. Maturity has taught me to listen before speaking more often than not. I am a passionate educator who can’t imagine any other path for my life.