Randi Barnes

PDI MW 7:45am
Pate
10 October 2015
Vision Statement
What is teaching? Teaching can mean so many different things to different people. To me,
teaching means more than just making sure my students can pass the course and the standardized
tests at the end of the year. As a teacher, you have been given the opportunity to help my students
develop a passion for knowledge and learning. I also want to encourage my future students to not
let something like their family background or where they are from stop them from following
their dreams and becoming whatever they want to be. When I think of me teaching, I think of
something William Arthur Ward said. The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. I want to change my students
lives. I want to use everything I have learned since I graduated high school and help as many
students as I possibly can. Every day, I learn something new about teaching and about my
students, and I am sure that I will continue to add to my toolbox of teaching as the years go on.
There are many good qualities that a teacher may possess, but there are a couple essential
qualities that a teacher must possess. A teacher must have an engaging personality and attitude
towards teaching and his/her students. Ms. Gruwell in The Freedom Writers Diary had a very
positive attitude towards teaching and her students, no matter what seemed to go wrong. My
primary focus this fall will be to get the Freedom Writers thinking about their future- where they
want to go to school and what kind of career they want to pursue. (The Freedom Writers with
Erin Gruwell, 1999) Ms. Gruwells definition of teaching is very similar to mine. She thinks

teaching is more than just test scores, but also seeing that her students follow their dreams and
find the career they want to make into a life. A second essential quality in a teacher is a strong
rapport with his/her students. In other words, teachers need to have a close relationship with their
students. Some factors that can affect the rapport with your students include respect,
approachability, open communication, caring versus not caring, and last, but not least, attitude.
(Maryellen Weimer, 2010) All five factors are a two way street. A teacher cannot require a
student to give respect or care without expecting them to have to do the same thing. A teacher
also needs to be approachable and have an open communication between their students, because
if a students does not feel like they can talk openly to their teacher, they are not even going to try.
All of this ties back into a teachers attitude. My mom always told me that a persons attitude is
contagious and I have found this to be true. If a teacher has a bad attitude towards something, the
students are going to pick it up and have a bad attitude as well. Although I feel these are
essential, there is still much more than just a good attitude and a strong rapport with the students
that make a great teacher.
There are lots of important elements of a classroom, but the real question is: how many of
those elements create a student-centered classroom? One important element of a classroom that
keeps it student-centered is keeping the difficulty levels of the materials appropriate for every
student. A teacher is going to have a reasonable span of students when it comes to achievement
levels. With that being said, you do not want to have a lesson planned that goes over your
students academic capabilities, so your students can find success in your classroom and find
confidence in what you are teaching. Another thing that is important in the classroom is to show
the students how the material might be relevant to their everyday lives. I know for a fact that if I
do not find something relevant to me, I seem to forget the material as soon as I leave the

classroom. The most important element in the classroom is keeping the learning interactive
where the students are in charge of their own learning. This is where using Kagan Structures in
the classroom comes into play. Structures redefine teaching. Teaching is not what the teacher
says, but rather creating student learning experiences. Cooperative structures maximize students
interaction with each other and with the academic content. (Kagan & Kagan, 2009) All the
Kagan Structures get the students a little bit out of their comfort zone and make the students
realize that they are the ones in charge of what they learn. It is very important to keep the
classroom centered on the students so they can get the most out of their school experience.
It is important that a teacher makes their students appreciate knowledge and learning by
being approachable, being able to relate to the students, and making the classroom studentcentered. My dream is to help my students to be able to take what I teach them and take it out
into the world. I want them to love learning as much, if not more than, I do. I want to make a
difference in this world and I want to teach students that they can make a difference in this
world.

References
Kagan, D. S., & Kagan, M. (2009). Kagan Cooperative Learning. San Clemente, CA:
Kagan Publishing.
Maryellen Weimer, P. (2010). Building Rapport with your Students. Faculty Focus.
The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell. (1999). The Freedom Writers Diary. New York
City: Broadway Books.