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Lori Hyland #14

Professor Robert L. Shkorupa

EDU 202 3001

15 October 2016

Philosophical Portrait of Myself

To teach is to touch a life forever. This was a message printed on a homemade jar that

was first given to my dad during his very first year of teaching. A 2nd grade student named

April and her mother gave it to him during teacher appreciation week. As I grew up, I often saw

this jar on the kitchen counter but never really understood what the message meant. Since my

parents are both teachers, over the years they brought home many such presents and shared many

memorable stories about teaching. I was lucky to have grown up with a happy, successful family

in which education played an important role. However, it was not until I was much older and in

high school that I started considering becoming a teacher myself. Hoping to become a middle

school ELA teacher, I started CSN last spring.

After starting EDU 202, I have gained more knowledge and a better understanding of

what goes on in the classroom and have developed my own philosophy about teaching. As far as

understanding the message on the jar, I now realize that teachers can have either a very positive

or a very negative impact on the lives of students. As a teacher, you never know which comment,

assignment, or classroom experience will influence a students life. That is why I feel teaching is

such an important job. In five years I hope to be teaching 7th grade ELA. As a teacher, I feel it
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is my job to create a positive learning experience for all of my students in which they can all

learn and become successful.

One memorable experience I had in this class was my field observation and my volunteer

activities at Cadwallader Middle School. This experience gave me first hand knowledge of the

daily routines of the classroom. First of all, ELA is an interesting field to teach because there are

so many different types of stories and activities that can be taught. The days I was doing my

field observations, the class was reading and acting out a Shakespeare play, Macbeth, with props,

such as witch hats, a crown, plastic swords, and a cauldron. The students in the afternoon block

were quite boisterous and excited about the unit. I learned through this experience many useful

things, including the teachers routine during hall passing, taking roll, addressing students

questions, and pacing lessons. Interestingly, I learned the differences between morning and

afternoon classes and accelerated versus developmental classes. For instance, the morning and

accelerated classes are much quieter and more studious, but the afternoon classes participate a lot

more. Luckily, I also had a chance to help tutor students who needed help during my volunteer

activities. The kids I worked with were all very nice and wanted to learn, but I realized they

were behind in their reading and writing skills, and would need additional help to improve.

Therefore, this was a very positive learning experience for me.

I think teaching requires a lot of patience and a calm demeanor in order to keep the class

focused and in control. My philosophy as far as classroom management is to make the class as

interesting as possible, giving the students a variety of learning strategies that keep them focused

throughout the class period. As far as learning style preference, I prefer to work together with

partners and collaborate on lessons with small groups, rather than working quietly by myself or

through lectures. I also enjoy reading and writing with a chance to go back to the text and find
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the answers. I feel that in my class I should include teaching activities that engage all learning

styles. To do this, I will have to use a combination of lecture and note taking, hands on projects,

such as foldables, cooperative learning activities, and partner work. I know that some students

will be more successful using certain strategies, so it is important to keep an open mind and

allow students to try new ways of learning.

During this class, we have watched many videos and shared case studies from various

classroom situations. I have learned that teaching has changed and improved a lot since the past.

For example, in the past male teachers were paid more than women and classes were more

quietly structured in boy/girl rows with lecture being the main source of learning. Fortunately,

today women are paid the same as men and can do the job just as well. We now know through

research that quiet rows and lecture only reaches some of the students and is not compatible with

many of the students learning styles. As a result, classroom teachers are now viewed as a

facilitator who observes and circulates among the students, helping each group or partner as

needed, and students are doing the discussing and finding answers based on their assignment and

discussions. I am glad to have learned from this class that teaching has changed with the times

and is now addressing the needs of all students and not just a few.

To sum up, this EDU 202 class has been a very good experience that has given me an

opportunity to learn first hand what it is like to teach in the classroom. Throughout my life,

education has had an important impact on me. Growing up as a daughter of two teachers, I have

seen that it is a career that is good for your personal family because it gives you time off to spend

with your loved ones and the ability to be financially successful. At the same time, teaching is a

rewarding career because it gives you a chance to change lives of young people and help them

grow and reach their full potential.