Reflection 1

As I have been thinking about the things I have learned the last few class periods I have decided that one of the most important things that I need to do is write things down. I am realizing that as Geoff has been teaching us and calling to our attention the many different teaching styles and methods, many different high school and junior high teachers of mine have come to mind. Some of them were good and some of them were bad but I realized that I can use them as "real life examples" to prove certain teaching styles as effective or ineffective, but I will forget them if I do not write them down before I forget what it was like to be a junior high or high school student. I believe that very often the teachers that did not like their job and did not have good teaching styles were the ones that forgot what it was like to be in high school and could not relate to us in any degree. Recently I have been remembering some specific personality traits some of my teachers had that I want to emulate.  Some of which are to get everyone invloved, know my students by name, be clear and descriptive when teaching new concepts, check for understanding by asking questions, use mixed methodologies daily, always be positive, search and see the potential in each of my students, create a happy atmosphere in the classroom and acknowledge the hard working students in the class. Another thing I want to make sure I do is motivate the unmotivated students. I think I could do this by first getting to know the students starting day one and eventually somehow incorporate their hobbies into the subject matter if possible. For example, if I were teaching film, I would show video clips of some of their favorite movies or sports while teaching a certain concept. Or if I were teaching design I would use skateboarding adds as examples (this depends on the students specific likes and hobbies of course). Here is a list of a few things that I do not want to forget about some of my past teachers.

-I grew to love teachers that I knew appreciated the hard work and effort I put into their classes.

-I loved the teachers that knew I could and expected me to get A's in their classes.

-Good teachers constantly encouraged my entire class to do well on tests and assignments because they truly wanted us to learn the subject that they loved.

-I appreciated when teachers gave me informative feedback (told me the things I did well and in what areas I could have improved on the assignment).

I think my next step is to continue remembering past traits but more importantly figure out how to incorporate and actually emulate all of these positive traits I saw in my teachers.