As a future high school math teacher I want to build a classroom environment where abstract thinking and positive social skills are developed. It is my goal to help students become more proficient in math, lower their anxiety, and promote interest in future studies. I want to encourage students to analyze and challenge how they perceive both their learning ability and conditions outside the classroom.
IUSB #2 Growth and Development
During their high school years students are cognitively moving to abstract thinking. In personal development adolescents are trying to develop an identity through the use of conflict, exploration, and commitment to their findings. As a teacher I can help them practice these skills in the classroom. Proper lesson plans and learning environment can help them practice these skills.
Students need to practice developing abstract skills and social skills. Under my supervision these cognitive and personal skills can be performed in three steps: working on individual homework problems, working on group problems, and having groups develop problems and answers. To develop more social skills, teams will change after each assignment. This type of classroom environment will allow the students to develop their cognitive and personal/social skills. These lesson plans will help students develop abstract ways to look at problems; instead of using rote memorization. Interacting with their fellow students will help develop social skills and have them interact with people they may not normally socialize with outside the classroom.
IUSB #5 Learning Environment (Motivation)
In the classroom it is ideal to have all students mastery oriented, however, students may encounter problems. They may not have all their deficiency needs met. Other needs include not wanting to look foolish in front of their peers. Also, they may see their success and failures as something they cannot control. It is my responsibility to help them overcome these problems.
To move students to be mastery oriented I have to provide excessive feedback and attribute their success to their effort. This should raise their self-esteem, increase their expectations of success, and have persistent achievement behavior.
It is my goal to have students who have a low fear of failure, develop learning goals, attribute their success to effort, know that ability is improved with work, and learn self-regulated learning skills to encourage them to be life-long learners. I want to help students to stay focused and engaged by providing feedback, encourage them to finish their work, and avoid placing heavy emphasis on grades and competition between students. Most importantly I will model a positive motivation to learn by showing enthusiasm for learning and endurance when a problem occurs.
IUSB #7 Instructional Planning
In the classroom it is important to set up an environment that optimizes student learning. Students have a need to be engaged with abstract and scientific learning, and at the same time not look foolish in front of their peers. It is my responsibility to set up a classroom for both behavioral and cognitive learning. In regards to behavioral learning it is important that students have rewarding responses from the classroom stimuli, and have this paired to stimuli in the subject matter. I also want to eliminate behaviors that detract from the learning environment.
When students are learning cognitively it is best to teach them a deductive reasoning method. This starts with introducing the name and definition of a concept, demonstrating many examples, relating the examples to the concept, and giving students individual and group practice problems. I will encourage students to correct their homework so they can be prepared for continued learning.
IUSB #9 Professionalism
It is important for both students and I (as a life-long learner) to continually reflect on strengths and weaknesses, and how they know what they know. Together we can view how we see the world, and change our beliefs through understanding what is going on. This can work with studying both academics and situations outside the classroom.
As someone who lived in a Benedictine monastery while finishing undergraduate school I understand the need for community. Community is needed to develop individuals. I work with my fellow teachers, parents of students, and other members of the community to develop my skills as a teacher. I realize the importance of drawing on other’s experience to improve my ability to teach, and my understanding from where my students are coming.
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