I’ve had experienced many great teachers who I would like to mirror my teaching through and hope to convey those methods in my own classroom.  I have worked with kids in each end of the economic spectrum and have learned overall concepts from each side in relating it to my future teaching style.  For about 2 years I worked in a low income school running the after school program composed of a homework time and something we called enrichment which was a time for the kids to experiment with materials, create art, or get help on a certain subject which they were weak in.  These kids taught me how together we can make a community.  Also for almost the last 3 years I have been working at a private KinderCare where I was the school age teacher.  I taught kids from K-5, I began to see how important the concept of curriculum, parent involvement, discovery learning and discovery areas was to the educational development of the kids.  I believe kids can learn more rapidly in an environment that is safe encourages teamwork, self discovery, and creates a community through out.

            I remember my first couple of weeks at Willow Elementary School, I took the job as the teacher’s assistant to have some extra money during the school year, and little did I know it would change my life.  It became very apparent why kids came to the program not because of how much they cared for their educational careers but because no one was home to welcome them, their wasn’t any food at home so they came to the program for a snack, and sometimes the only loving attention they would get was from the head teacher or myself.  I became extremely close to those kids and wanted to help create a safe haven from the harsh realities of their lives if only for a short while.  The classroom created a mini community where kids came and talk to other kids, where normally they never would have communicated because of every day school politics of belonging to a certain groups.  This was done with the simple ice breaker games to show the similarities of all the kids and how everyone has something in common.  It was even great for teachers because of that one thing that will build a bridge to a certain kid.  Because we love comic books, love pizza, or have a large family I can start to have a connection with a child who feels no one understand him or he doesn’t belong.

Coming up with classroom rules the first day of class is a great way to show the students that it’s not the teacher’s classroom but rather the students.  Kids know all the rules of behaving in a classroom and so why would I want to sit there and tell them what they already know.  I believe kids need to feel like they have some sort of say in what happens in the classroom.  I love the philosophy of my fiancés school, which is “We are a crew not passengers.”  That principle can be administered in my future classroom by making sure every student comes ready to learn and be a participating member of my community.  I will hope to install the importance of education, friendship, leadership, and most of all a sense of belonging and knowing other people will have to rely on them.

Kids are eager to learn and so I found that everyday I asked myself, whether the students learned something new that they hadn’t learned before?  The enrichment part of the after school program asked us to enrich the lives of those students everyday they showed up.  Everyday a student comes into the classroom they are learning important life lessons and future skills that they will carry on to whatever career they may choose.  The teachers responsibility is not only to just teach the basics but go beyond and get the children interested in ideas that they can further pursuit outside of school with parents or friends.

When kids came at to the program for homework help, I felt at times the homework was to hard for the children.  Maybe the teacher didn’t really evaluate the students to see what actual adequate level of homework the children needed.  Thinking about my classroom, I know every child needs to be challenged but I must never forget that not all students are on the same level.  With careful monitoring done through assessment I must determine my students reading and math abilities so I can give adequate assignments and activities in the classroom.  One of the really neat things that I saw in the homework help groups was how the kids helped each other in figuring out problems or made sure that every student understood the homework assignments.  Kids themselves can make excellent teachers and could help others, especially those with lower abilities.  Also I will take it unto myself to make sure those students who are above level learners are being challenged with extra activities to accompany the regular assignments.

Once at KinderCare I was in the driver’s seat, having my own classroom and the freedom to do whatever I wanted.  Of course I didn’t know how to set up my curriculum or build monthly themes so for the next couple of days I think I made the kids color and have “who could be the quietest” contest.  Setting up the curriculum is the most important thing a teacher can do because of course we need to follow guidelines of what students need to master by the end of the year but also find room to plan activities that will enhance the learning experience with projects, field trips, guest speakers, assignments, and have some time to reflect about that day to themselves.

Parent involvement was key to my success in the school age classroom.  Students began exciting activities they would tell parents and in return parents would be interested in what went on the classroom and became involved.  Parents are the most important element to a student educational success.  I need to have parent involvement and the first day of class I will have a letter going home telling the parents about their responsibilities to their child.  I cannot make the student do their homework or read at home so I need the parent to be on my side taking some time to make sure homework and reading to an adult is being done every night.  Parent volunteers are also necessary because of field trips, helping around the classroom, working one on one with the kids and reading to the kids.

KinderCare classrooms are designed with “discover areas” which are areas around the classroom that strengthen math, music, science, writing, art, and social skills.  Every area has manipulatives that kids can use to learn more about a subject and by playing with that object it will create curiosity and will lead them to learn more about that area.  For example in the science area we would have magnets with nuts and bolts, bugs, measuring cups, sandbox, and posters of a human skeleton, planets, and the world.  In the writing area we would have things like journals, writing techniques, thesaurus, dictionaries, and daily journal entries.  Every school age student had a journal that they wrote in everyday about a topic that I chose for them.  I hope to keep this tradition going because I saw the improvement in kids writing, reading, creativity, and most of all somewhere to share all of their feelings, when it was difficult to share with people.

I believe kids can learn best in discovery learning or the teacher bringing out an idea and the student will began to share thoughts on what academic principles they can learn from that idea and how to further explore it.  Students learn best when they can have hands on activities or group work to study a subject.  From what I know of the brain I’m more aware of how personal experiences will leave a lasting image in their minds.  I don’t think teachers need to force feed as much information as possible down the students throat but rather make sure students know the information and how to apply it to situations. 

I was really blown away from multiple intelligence theory by Howard Gardner that I decided to buy a book called “In Their Own Way,” by Thomas Armstrong, which talks about how to discover and encourage children’s multiple intelligences.  On page 212 it gives a diagram that has a blank center and that’s where the subject matter the classroom is studying is placed.  All around the subject matter are the different intelligence spatial, musical, mathematical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist, bodily kinesthetic and linguistic.  In each box it posses a question to answer so that intelligence is being covered by the end of the unit.  At the start of my curriculum I will have a mini diagram for every theme to make sure all the intelligences are being explored.