My defining characteristics have always been curiosity, empathy, and passion. History is the place that I feel all of these things shine. I aim to bring all of these virtues into my teaching to create a rigorous and positive environment for my students that emphasizes individual learning goals. My goal in my classroom is to make my students feel a connection with the content, give them ownership over their educational journey, and create confident scholars who gain a wide skill set they can apply both in and out of the classroom. In my classroom, students will gain an independence to pursue their education in active and unique ways through interactive lessons and student-centered curriculum.
I believe that history classes offer unique opportunities for students to practice a wide variety of skills both social and academic. I believe one of the most important skills for today’s students to master is media literacy, or the ability to intelligently engage with and evaluate digital sources effectively. In my class, we will practice these skills by regularly incorporating technology and digital resources into our learning experiences. We will frequently utilize digital tools like GoogleDocs, FlipGrid, AnswerGarden and Webjets. We will also learn to effectively use rigorous online tools like peer-reviewed journal libraries. Media literacy will be intertwined with historical practices like evaluating primary and secondary sources. This skill set represents an ability to navigate the digital world both in and out of the classroom.
One of the main tenets of my philosophy is giving students ownership over their own educational experience. This will look like students being invited to help create rubrics for various assignments, doing reflections after assessments, and participating in class wide or small group discussions about our content. The value in allowing students to be involved in these processes is that it creates accountability, personal investment, and personalized goals for each class. During my own time as a student, being allowed behind the curtain to collaborate with my teachers gave me a feeling of ownership and responsibility in my own education. This student-teacher relationship based on collaboration and teamwork is what I aim to recreate with my own students.
This relationship is key to creating a place where students feel comfortable to make mistakes on the way to mastery. This level of trust in the classroom is important as it produces an atmosphere that values the process of learning, and gaining historical thinking skills, over memorizing content and achieving letter grades. Traditional assessments and lectures certainly have their place in education, and I believe that these function best when integrated with hands-on learning, creative problem solving, and student centered experiences. I believe that students should learn to succeed on standardized tests and other traditional assessments by understanding how to apply critical thinking skills and high level thinking processes. These values are based on designing an atmosphere that prizes the process of learning and hard work in every student.
History is my first love and I hope that by making these intentional pedagogical choices, I can pass on my love and passion for history to all my students. Since deciding to become a teacher, my life has changed for the better as I think everyday about how I can positively impact the lives of the students who come into my classroom. I have always known that my purpose in life was to help those around me; to leave a positive impact on the people I meet. Teaching to me represents the perfect culmination of my passion for education, empathy for others, and curiosity-fueled learning that I hope to pass on to my students.