“Never settle for the mediocre.”
“Best effort doesn’t always mean giving 100%,” To this day, these little nuggets of wisdom are the first to resurface whenever I think about the different teachers and mentors who have poured into my life over the years. The educators who said these words are people who have influenced me in ways that I am still discovering and have helped me grow into who I am today. While these phrases may seem a bit cliché, they have managed to stick with me over the years and now represent much more than the ideas they inspire. To me, these mantras are memories of certain teachers spending extra time working with me when they didn’t have to, pushing me to continually strive for excellence, …show more content…
Each month she would switch up the different groups of students so that we would be able to interact and work with different classmates. Being placed in a new spot in the classroom with different people significantly increased my excitement to learn and reduced the redundancy of coming to class each day. While we were often encouraged to work together and share ideas, my teachers also encouraged us to think critically by ourselves and work independently at other times to practice forming our own thoughts and solutions. I love how this classroom management technique implements the development of social skills in the classroom and how it captures the attention of students without them even realizing it. In addition to utilizing this technique, I believe it is also crucial to start the year by discussing “classroom norms” as Professor Bonner calls them. Implementing and teaching social skills can take up extra class time, but in the long run it can prove to be extremely beneficial and can help to reduce distractions and encourage teamwork among students. (Jensen, 2005, p. 100). The best way to learn according to Dewey, is “the process of communication in which the learner was interacting with others in purposeful activities or investigations of common …show more content…
Between the ages of five and twelve , the brain of a child is ready to begin learning subjects such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Their brains are full of wonder about the world around them. (Jensen, 2005, p.29). Their need for care and their desire to learn is a powerful gift that shouldn’t be taken for granted. One of the biggest lessons that I hope to leave my students with is the value of learning from one another. Each person has such a unique gift of their personal story and background and there is much to be learned from everyone’s experiences. All students are capable of learning and the best learning happens when students are surrounded by knowledgeable and caring teachers, supportive parents, and a safe learning environment. This is only the beginning of my pedagogical understanding and philosophy, and I expect that it will adapt and expand quite a bit over time. I also know that I have much to learn and will never stop modifying my practice as I learn from my future