To me the teaching is a profession is the interaction between the teacher and the student. I believe that for students to be truly successful, students need to have a relationship with their teacher. That relationship is a professional relationship that is based on trust. In the ideal world of the classroom the teacher and the student can work together to create the best working environment together. From my special needs background, I have learned that we as teachers need to be able to move and adapt to our student’s needs. The kids that will be in our classroom will have such diverse needs that to just stand at the front of the class and expect your students to learn is a huge mistake. Therefore we as teachers need to differentiate our lessons to the needs of our students.
Along with creating lessons that meet the needs of my students, I believe in the need to have a classroom that represents the makeup of the students in my classroom. As a secondary teacher I understand that to create the physical environment that represents the makeup of the classroom will be difficult. I do believe that having pieces in my lessons and resources that reflect who my students are will help them do the best they can. Along with a culturally represented classroom and lesson that are created to meet their needs, I believe that you can have a classroom that is very successful. Many of the issues that can surround classroom management will be solved.
Classroom management, I believe is then tied to having a culturally represented classroom and differentiated classroom. Other things that I believe help create a classroom that is effective and moves smoothly is having small things like fact of the day or other small questions that help to focus the students at the beginning so we are able to then move into that day’s activities. Dealing with negative behaviour, I believe that the best way is to try and defuse the situation with humor and sarcasm. Most students are going to get what they are doing is inappropriate and they will stop if you use humor. I also believe that I as the teacher need to be upfront with my students about my expectations and what their expectations are for the class. Working together to create the classroom environment will lead to a classroom that helps to manage its self. I also believe that when you set up roles and consequences you have to follow through.
Assessment I believe is a major part of what we do as teachers. While I believe that it is important to have tools that assess students to provide a mark, I believe that most of the assessment tools we use as teachers need to be assessment for learning tools. If I am to make my lesson the best for my students to be able to meet their needs, I need to know what they know. Using things like exit slips, short class reflections periodically, entrance slips. All of these tools to help me understand what my students know and what they do not know so I can fill in the gaps.
At the end of the day I believe that as a teacher, I have to make connections with my students. This connection will allow me to best meet the needs of my students. I can then create a classroom environment that allows my students to feel comfortable and be able to do the best work that they can do.
Daniel Headrick 