My Learning style….
I’m a curious outgoing person; I ask a lot of questions but I have to truly be interested in the topic I am learning in order for me to retain the information being relayed to me. Knowing this as just being a part of an extroverted personality, I now realize how these qualities lead me to the profession of teaching. When I completed the MBTI personality test I was labeled as an ESTJ, extroverted, sensing, thinking, and judging being the dominant traits of my personality and sure enough the top 3 career paths this test proved for me was a place in management, a place in education or something to do with public administration.
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I learn in all ways; meaning certain topics stick with me in certain ways. The VARK test I completed reassured this as many of my scores were quite close in numbers being fairly equal in both kinesthetic and aural learning and then slightly lower but fairly as well in visual and written learning styles. The perfect example of this is the differences in the way I learn math and science concepts. When learning math, I have to physically do many, many examples and slowly build up the skills to do challenging problems. I need to physically write the problem down and step by step work through it, leaving myself notes and tips in writing along the side of the question, pointing out theorems, methods or basic steps I took to complete the problem. In sciences however, I need to have someone verbally explain the concepts to me. I need to be able to hear it and ask questions and listen to it. In science, if I can use this auditory learning style, I retain the information quickly and it stays with me without having to ‘restudy’ or ‘reteach’ it to myself at the end of the semester; the information is just there. As long as I can discuss and have an opinion on the topic, chances are I will retain that information and that knowledge that was passed to me. In the same idea, I need to be a part of what I’m learning, I cannot just memorize things I feel are irrelevant, I need to have some form of control in the knowledge I am acquiring which I believe comes in the form of questions or physical movement in the times of engaging with the subject material. Walking around and reading or thinking about topics is necessary for me in a memorization process, I just need to be moving and thus I’m interacting with the material.
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This allows me a unique opportunity to engage with my students I believe. Because I learn in all these different ways, I understand how vitally important it is to include all these ways of knowing and learning into the lessons. Because I’ve needed all these ways I think I will be more understanding, more open and more willing to differentiate the ways I am teaching in order to benefit my students to the best of my ability. However, with my personality being so outgoing, I will have to be cognitive of the introverted students in my class and learn to recognize that maybe they’re struggling but aren’t asking for help. I will have to be aware that they may require me to help them in peer group settings become comfortable or open to the collaborative ways education relies on; or even making sure the quiet kids who do their best to simply blend in, don’t simply get lost in the system. They are just as valued as any of the extroverted students but are less likely to assert themselves in their learning. I’ll have to be careful I don’t offend anyone if I ask questions that challenge their ideas and their thinking. Be careful that the questions I ask don’t cause hurt or them to feel degraded for believing or thinking a certain way; but rather ask questions to help them see the other views, understand different ways and to hopefully help minimize the possible biases that potentially exist.
My Initial Teaching Philosophy
I believe teaching is an art that changes and adapts with the cultures and the interests of the people over time and believing this lends me to the same goal of having a classroom that changes and adapts to the students who are learning within it. Understanding that everyone acquires knowledge differently, everyone understands differently and everyone’s interests differ, I believe it is my job to adapt the knowledge I wish to pass into a form that the students will retain. Recognizing that each individual has a different skill set, I believe that each of their qualities is useful in their success as a person and as an educator, it is my job to teach them how to use these qualities and skills and help them grow into the most beneficial way possible.
I believe it is of utmost importance for students to learn from someone who is an expert in what they are teaching. Hence I will strive to be highly knowledgeable in any topic before I teach it to the students. This opinion of mine was further enhanced when I completed the TPI test which resulted in my most dominant score being transmission and apprenticeship; these meaning that I believe learners learn best when being taught by someone dedicated to the material they are teaching as well as when they are given tasks to perform that are within their ability levels and their ‘zone of development’. Thus in my opinion, people learn by questioning and inquiring about what is being presented to them. If the students question what the instructor is teaching it means that the students have thought about it and have considered the different aspects of the subject until they couldn’t figure it out, then proceeded to question it. Questions are proof students are attempting to learn and are striving to acquire knowledge. I will always be honored and excited when my students ask questions and challenge what I am teaching them. Then I will know they are not only paying attention but that they actually care about what is being discussed. I always want to be the teacher that students can come to with their questions and thus I strive to be an open and honest person with my students. Having an approachable personality towards students is something I strive to have in order to build relationships with them. I want to be the teacher they feel is trying to help them in life, the person who truly wants them to succeed and will do anything she can to make it happen. I want to be the teacher they can come to and in wonder and times of concern and have their ideas be enhanced, not downplayed or undervalued; they can ask as many questions about the material I am teaching and always be given an answer. This goal for myself is where the desire to be trusted by my students and to be knowledgeable about my subject matter is founded; the students should never feel as though their education is coming from an unknowledgeable person or that their educator is not invested in their learning. As well, I want to be able to offer perspective when answering their questions, come with real life experiences and real world uses because any search engine can give them an answer but I want to give them the human interaction aspect of it. The internet is a wonderful tool that can enhance a students learning but it does not include the human aspect of learning, growing and interacting.
Encouraging them and inspiring students to want to do things out of their own will rather than being forced to learn or forced to participate is an end goal I will strive to achieve through my entire future career; if the students are investing in learning and adapting and developing then they will continue to do that hopefully into their lives after school. Creating good human beings who are effective in their world is above all what education is about, teaching them to live and to develop their minds to handle the stress of becoming competent people. I want to be a part in setting these young people up for success in their lives to the point where they can succeed without constant guidance. Mistakes are part of this growing mindset; allowing themselves to make mistakes when the stakes are not as detrimental or costly as they could be when they are adults. Allowing them to push the boundaries of what they can do and what they know while they have the help and support to do so is such an honor as a teacher. Teaching students how to deal with mistakes, failures and regrets is part of them becoming people and I’m excited to be apart of that; to be understanding of where they are in life and to support them through what they’re going through. Hence I believe that if they put the effort into relearning material they struggled with and if they have received formative feedback for their assessments then they can resubmit their summative evaluations. They have a chance to not “fix” or “change” what they wrote down on the exam but to learn why they were not correct in their thinking and to adapt and relearn the material. Failing an evaluation is not about being wrong or not knowledgeable, it’s about the misunderstanding, and the mistakes in the thinking that just need to be adjusted. Hence I will work with students as much as they want and need to improve; reteaching them so they can relearn.
Teaching kids that they need math and sciences, that they need to read and write, sign their names and own up to their mistakes and behaviors is all part of helping students become adults and to be the one to encourage them through; that is an honorable job description.
tinaECUR165 